Battles & Wars › Industrial wars › Franco-Prussian War
Schneider of Le Creusot
founded 1836; France's main gunmaker after 1870· Arms maker, factory or program· Arms makers & war industry
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
French family ironworks at Le Creusot, Burgundy, that became France's leading private arms maker after the defeat of 1870.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Brothers Adolphe and Eugène Schneider bought the Le Creusot works in 1836 and built locomotives, ships, rails and bridges. After Krupp-armed Prussia beat France in 1870–71, the firm moved into steel armor plate and artillery. Its 100-ton steam hammer of 1877 forged guns and armor. It bought Gustave Canet's gun designs in 1897, sold cannon to Russia, the Balkans and Latin America, made heavy guns and shells in World War I, and built France's first tank.
Why it matters
It gave France a private arms giant to rival Krupp, armed France's allies before 1914, and shows how one family company town tied heavy industry to national defense.
How we know
The company archives, kept at Le Creusot by the Académie François Bourdon; French army and navy contracts; and the surviving 1877 steam hammer, displayed in the town.
Still debated
Schneider's share in arming the French army itself is often overstated: state arsenals made most army guns, and the famous French 75 mm field gun was a state design.
Connections (3)
▸Schneider of Le Creusot became France's great gunmaker after the Franco-Prussian WarWell documented
The connection
In 1870 Prussia's Krupp steel breech-loaders outranged France's bronze guns and helped crush the French army. France wanted steel guns and armor of its own. Schneider, already a big ironworks, built steel mills and its giant steam hammer, won an 1876 armor-plate trial in Italy, and moved into artillery, exporting widely after French law eased private arms sales in 1885.
When and how
Le Creusot, Burgundy, 1870s–1890s; Henri Schneider, who ran the firm from 1875; La Spezia armor trials, Italy, 1876.
How we know
Company archives, French and foreign contracts, and records of the 1876 La Spezia trials.
Debates and open questions
How quickly Schneider became a true gunmaker is debated; its big artillery business came only in the 1880s and 1890s.
▸Schneider of Le Creusot was France's answer to Krupp of Essen (Alfred Krupp, the 'Cannon King')Mostly agreed
The connection
From the 1880s to 1914 Schneider and Krupp competed for gun orders worldwide. Krupp armed the Ottoman Empire and much of Latin America; Schneider armed Russia, Serbia, Greece and others. In the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, Serbian and Greek Schneider guns faced Ottoman Krupp guns, and both firms used the results in sales pitches.
When and how
Le Creusot and Essen; arms markets in Russia, the Balkans and Latin America, 1880s–1914; Henri and Eugène II Schneider against Friedrich Alfred Krupp.
How sure are we?
Sales contracts, diplomats' reports and histories of the prewar arms trade.
Debates and open questions
They were not only rivals: both joined patent pools for armor plate, so how fierce the competition really was is debated.
▸Schneider of Le Creusot built France's first TankWell documented
The connection
In late 1915 Colonel Jean-Baptiste Estienne urged an armored tracked vehicle to cross trenches. Schneider engineer Eugène Brillié built one on an American Holt tractor chassis, and France ordered 400 in February 1916. The Schneider CA1 first fought at Berry-au-Bac on April 16, 1917, where 57 of 132 were lost, many burned. The lighter Renault FT did better.
When and how
Le Creusot and Paris, 1915–17; Estienne and Brillié; Berry-au-Bac, on the Chemin des Dames front, April 16, 1917.
How we know
French army orders, Estienne's reports and battle records; a surviving Schneider CA1 is displayed at the French tank museum in Saumur.
Debates and open questions
Loss figures for Berry-au-Bac vary by source. France and Britain developed tanks separately, and credit for the idea has long been argued.