Spandau Arsenal

Spandau Arsenal was the centre for development of military small arms for Imperial Germany from the Industrial Revolution until 1919. Spandau engineered and tested improved infantry weapons.

History

The Royal Prussian Rifle Factory was established on the river Havel at Potsdam in 1722 by Frederick William I of Prussia. The facility was leased to private manufacturers until machinery was moved upstream to the confluence with river Spree in the westernmost Berlin borough of Spandau about 1850. Early arsenal operations were east of the Spandau Citadel, but the arsenal later expanded into the Renaissance fortress. Spandau became the focus of government small arms production through the Second Industrial Revolution until the arsenal was demilitarised by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. Following demilitarisation, arsenal machinery was used for manufacture of civilian goods by the state-owned conglomerate Deutsche Werke AG. By the 1930s, the arsenal became a laboratory for development of organophosphate insecticides. The citadel became a museum following World War II.