Recollections

The autobiography of Werner von Siemens. The eight unusually presented stories bring to life the adventures of Werner von Siemens in Egypt or on the high seas.

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Intro Werner von Siemens’ life story is filled with pioneering inventions, courageous decisions and exciting experiences – and not so different from the career of one of today’s startup entrepreneurs. Enter the world of this visionary entrepreneur and company founder and find out how a young man without much money built a global corporation out of nothing, solely on the basis of good ideas, firm principles, persistence and endurance.

Chapter 1 Werner von Siemens’ life didn’t always take the most direct route, and he saw a number of highs and lows, both privately and professionally. The pattern already began in his youth. When his parents could not afford the high tuition for the architectural academy, he abruptly decided to join the Prussian army, in the hopes of getting his scientific training there. He shunned no endeavor or effort to pass the difficult examination for acceptance as an artillery officer.

Chapter 2

Early business successes

Within a few years, Werner von Siemens’ knack for technology and his inventive mind began to pay off. He made a crucial improvement in the technical principle of the pointer telegraph, investing all his hopes in electric telegraphy. With the prospect of lucrative military contracts, he and precision mechanic Johann Georg Halske founded a new telegraph company – the Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske – in Berlin in 1847.

Success in Russia

The company’s founding years were followed by a period of turbulence. Werner von Siemens expanded the company into Russia. After long, exhausting journeys for negotiations, months of illness and a mistaken imprisonment, he succeeded at last. He and his younger brother Carl landed a major government contract to build one of the longest telegraph networks of the day.

Chapter 3

Business flourished, and Siemens & Halske now also began laying telegraph cable in the Mediterranean. Werner von Siemens’ taste for adventure always kept him in the forefront of all new endeavors and repeatedly led him into curious and even dangerous situations: from “doing magic” on an Egyptian Pyramid to being shipwrecked on a desert island. That was too much excitement for his partner Johann Georg Halske; Halske found the submarine cable business too risky and withdrew from Siemens & Halske’s English branch.

Chapter 4 Werner von Siemens was never just a successful businessman. He was also active politically. As a Deputy to the Reichstag, he argued for a “Made in Germany” seal of quality – which he considered an incontrovertible sign of “manufacturer’s pride.” He was also a major advocate for eliminating customs borders within Europe – here too, as in so many other ways, he was ahead of his time.

Chapter 5

The Indo-European Telegraph Line

Werner’s international relationships and a good political climate enabled him to take on his most ambitious project yet: to connect London and India by telegraph across a distance of more than 10,000 kilometers. He founded a company especially for the purpose, and the good name of Siemens made financing it no problem.

Success and major changes

One of Werner von Siemens’ pioneering achievements was inventing the dynamo machine, thus revolutionizing energy technology. At the same time, his company was increasingly becoming a major international corporation, enabling him to concentrate on management activities that looked beyond day-to-day business. He took advantage of the resulting leeway to conduct further scientific research and to spend time with his growing family.

Chapter 6 At age 60, Werner von Siemens could look back on a successful life as an entrepreneur. He continued to work with the company, became involved with politics once again and advocated strengthening German business. Another important point for him was that his employees should be happy at the company and feel they were paid fairly. In a practice that was far from common at the time, he instituted a profit-sharing arrangement for the team and offered them numerous social benefits. This strengthened their sense of loyalty to the company and thus laid the groundwork for the ownership culture that has distinguished those who work for Siemens in thought and action right down to today.