Friedrich Engels was born on 28 November 1820 in Barmen, Prussia, to a wealthy textile manufacturer and his wife. Raised in a Calvinist household, Engels was expected to follow in his father's business footsteps. However, he left school at 17 to become a mercantile apprentice. In 1838, he was sent to Bremen for an apprenticeship, where he began to engage with Hegelian philosophy and write critiques of industrial society under the pseudonym 'Friedrich Oswald'. After completing his military service in the Prussian Army, he published articles in the Rheinische Zeitung, which was edited by Karl Marx, although they did not meet until late 1842.In 1842, Engels moved to Salford, England, to work in a textile mill owned by his family. There, he observed the harsh realities of industrial life, which inspired his seminal work, The Condition of the Working Class in England, published in 1845. His relationship with Mary Burns, a factory worker, began during this time and lasted until her death in 1863. Engels's writings during this period highlighted the exploitation of workers and the social injustices of capitalism.Engels returned to Germany in 1844, where he met Marx in Paris. They quickly became collaborators, producing works such as The Holy Family and The German Ideology. They joined the Communist League, which commissioned them to write The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848. Following the revolutionary wave in Europe, Engels and Marx returned to Cologne to edit the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, a newspaper that supported revolutionary causes.Engels participated in the 1848 revolutions, notably in the Baden and Palatinate uprisings. After the revolutions were suppressed, he fled to England, where he continued to support Marx financially and politically. Engels worked in the family business in Manchester and later became a partner. He wrote extensively during this time, including The Peasant War in Germany and Anti-Dühring, which defended Marxist theory against critics.In the 1860s, Engels moved to London, where he lived until his death. He continued to collaborate with Marx, editing and publishing the second and third volumes of Das Kapital after Marx's death in 1883. Engels's own works, such as The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, and Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy, contributed significantly to Marxist theory.Engels died on 5 August 1895 in London from throat cancer. His ashes were scattered at Beachy Head, as per his wishes. Engels's legacy includes his foundational role in developing Marxist theory and his influence on socialist movements worldwide.