This is an excellent description of a family, noted for their involvement with the steel industry and especially the manufacturer of arms. They struggle with Germany's economy and influence Germaine's foreign policy covering about 400 years between 1587 and 1968.
It looks like a lengthy volume however it is over just as you are getting started. A side benefit is the technical information added helps you imagine what is like to design and sell the arms.
In some cases arms were almost given away for a cause. At other times they mercenarily sold arms to may conflicting countries on both sides. This story parallels other books on history and makes the world seem that it is made up of people not just historical facts. Speaking of historical facts, one of the things I like to do is to read books that become movies and movies that are novelized. This would have to be a mini-series.
Notice that in the book; interestingly enough William Manchester mentions that George Bernard Shaw actually based a play on the Krupp family, "Major Barbara" which consequently was made into a movie with windy Hiller in 1941.