Steel on Steel – When It Comes Hard Against Hard

By Eben va Tonder, 27 June 2025

Table of Contents

Introduction

Nigeria is challenging for many reasons. I have been working here since 2018. At first I wanted to run away because it challenged everything I knew about meat science. Slowly but surely I had to re‑examine every premise, every aspect of my training and experience, questioning matters I held as gospel. Eventually I came to the point where I knew the problems and the pieces of the puzzle, but I lacked the tools to put it together. Christa and I approached Almi, the Austrian spice company, for assistance, and eventually we achieved massive success.

But many challenges are not scientific. They are environmental. Personal. Strategic clashes. Events transpire that make you question everything. It was within this context that I encountered the German phrase hart auf hart, while reading thirteen leadership lessons from Colin Powell. The phrase captured my imagination. I learned about Prussia and the forging of Germany.

Known as the Soldier King, Frederick William I (ruled 1713–1740) shaped a fragile kingdom into a military structure of astonishing efficiency. He wore his uniform daily and lived like a non‑commissioned officer. He built the largest standing army in Europe proportionally, yet never sought war. For him, military excellence was not expansion but order. His son, Frederick II – Frederick the Great – turned discipline into precision. Strategy and speed became art. If Frederick forged the weapon, Otto von Bismarck welded the empire. In 1871, he proclaimed the German Empire under Prussian guidance through a
Blut und Eisen policy.

Inspired, my mind drifted south to Bavaria, to Styria, to the hardened people of the Alps. I dug deeper into the origins of hart auf hart. To my astonishment the roots are indeed deep in this land. I share the results and the inspiration it brought. Am I meeting soft meeting hard or hard meeting hard? Steel on skin or steel on steel? Spear tip meeting spear tip?

Meaning and Usage

The German idiom „Wenn es hart auf hart kommt“ (literally “when it comes hard against hard”) means that a situation reaches its most critical or intense point – essentially, the worst-case scenario. It is used to indicate that when matters escalate to the harshest conditions, decisive action or steadfast resolve is required. For example, „Wenn es hart auf hart kommt, halten Soldaten eben zusammen.“ (“When things get critical, soldiers stick together.”). In sense, the phrase parallels the English expression “when push comes to shove,” conveying that under extreme pressure, true character or necessary measures will show.

Origins and Historical Context

Linguistically, the expression evokes the image of two equally unyielding forces colliding – hart against hart. One explanation ties the origin to physical confrontation: „wenn Schwertklingen aufeinander treffen“ (“when sword blades strike each other”) (Kluge, 2020). It suggests a confrontation where neither side yields, a moment of escalation or “coming to a head.”

Its roots are even older. In the 9th‑century Hildebrandslied, we find „mit gêru scal man geba infâhan, ort widar orte“ (“with the spear one shall receive a gift, point against point”) (Behaghel, 1923). Ort widar orte – “point against point” – carries the same idea as hart auf hart: the image of strong things colliding, an ultimate standoff.

Earliest Attestations in Austria and Styria

Historical records show that hart auf hart was in use in early modern German, especially in Austrian regions. The Deutsches Wörterbuch by the Grimm Brothers cites a 1533 Austrian Anabaptist chronicle: „… sondern auff Christo, auff seinem Wort, wenn es hart auf hart geht“ (“… but on Christ and His word when push comes to shove”) (Grimm & Grimm, 1893). This indicates the idiom’s presence in spiritual discourse.

A 1639 Styrian municipal report reads: „… daß jhre (der Stadt) fürnembste Nahrung auff dem Kauffhandel … hart auf hart geht“ (“… that their foremost livelihood, trade, comes under severe pressure when things come to the crunch”) (Grimm & Grimm, 1893). This formal use shows the phrase’s integration into civic language by the 17th century.

Continuity and Conclusion

Across centuries, „wenn es hart auf hart kommt“ has endured as a metaphor for critical turning points, capturing the moment when compromise fails and resolve becomes necessary. Its vivid imagery remains powerful in both historical and modern contexts.

This phrase lit something inside me. In Lagos, amid its hustle, its failures and friction, I now see every challenge anew. They will find steel here. Hard steel.

Leadership is not forged in comfort; it is formed when it comes hard against hard. Training meets trial. Conviction is tested. When the spear tip meets its twin, I know—I will not bend.