Table of Contents PENGUIN BOOKS Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Acknowledgements Introduction I - Father and Sons ONE - “Our Blessed Father”: Origins TWO - The Elector’s Treasure II - Brothers THREE - “The Commanding General” (1813-1815) FOUR - A“ Court Always Leads to Something” (1816-1825) FIVE - “Hue and Cry” (1826-1829) SIX - Amschel’s Garden SEVEN - Barons EIGHT - Sudden Revolutions (1830-1833) NINE - The Chains of Peace (1830-1833) TEN - The World’s Bankers ELEVEN - “Il est mort” (1836) III - Uncles and Nephews TWELVE - Love and Debt THIRTEEN - Quicksilver and Hickory (1834-1839) FOURTEEN - Between Retrenchment and Rearmament (1840) FIFTEEN - “Satan Harnessed”: Playing at Railways (1830-1846) SIXTEEN - 1848 APPENDIX - Prices and Purchasing Power APPENDIX - Exchange Rates and Selected Financial Statistics NOTES INDEX Praise for The House of Rothschild: Money’s Prophets, 1798-1848 “This is a major achievement of historical scholarship and historical imagination Ferguson’s work reaffirms one’s faith in the possibility of great historical writing.”—Fritz Stern “Ferguson’s first volume on the Rothschilds is a tour de force by a brilliant and industrious young scholar.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review “A great biography.”—Time magazine “Absorbing Their enthralling story has been told before, but never in such authoritative detail.” —The New York Times Book Review “ Well written, superbly illustrated account of the Rothschilds’ phenomenal success.” —The Boston Globe Book Review “ Niall Ferguson’s rich and compelling new book is a feast.” —The Wall Street Journal “Spellbinding, [Ferguson] has done a brilliant job of depicting this far-flung family and also offers an amazing insider’s look His exhaustive study surpasses anything about the Rothschilds to date.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Ferguson’s fluid, masterful synthesis of a vast amount of material brings vitality to a series of compelling issues.” —Business Week “[Ferguson] skillfully weaves together the financial and family themes of the book Any reader fascinated by modern financing and banking will be well satisfied But [The House of Rothschild ] will give even more pleasure to those captivated by a unique dynasty that flourished beyond all dreams.” —The American Statesman PENGUIN BOOKS THE HOUSE OF ROTHSCHILD Born in Glasgow in 1964, Niall Ferguson is Fellow and Tutor of Modern History at Jesus College, Oxford, as well as a political commentator and author His previous publications include Paper and Iron: Hamburg Business and German Politics in the Era of Inflation 1897-1927, the bestselling book, Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals, and The Pity of War PENGUIN BOOKS Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ, England Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England First published in the United States of America by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc 1998 Published in Penguin Books 1999 Copyright © Niall Ferguson, 1998 All rights reserved This is the first of two volumes of The House of Rothschild In Great Britain The House of Rothschild was published as one volume by Weidenfeld & Nicolson under the title The World’s Banker CIP data available eISBN : 978-1-101-15730-5 http://us.penguingroup.com Rothschild, Kalman (brother of Mayer Amschel) Rothschild, Kalman (great-grandfather of Mayer Amschel) Rothschild, Laura Thérèse Rothschild, Leonora Rothschild, Lionel de art collection of 1830 revolution described by 1848 banking crisis and 1848 revolution and Frankfurt disliked by hunting enthusiasm of Irish famine relief and “Lycurgus cup” owned by made partner marriage of Nathan’s illness and death and in Piedmont portrait of Portuguese loans and Spanish loans and Tommaso affair and Rothschild, Louisa Montefiore Rothschild, Louise de Rothschild, Mayer Alphonse, see Rothschild, Alphonse Rothschild, Mayer Amschel (father of Nathan) birth of charity by children of cinematic representations of death of early business career of education of 1810 partnership agreement and Elector’s treasure myth and familial unity and first known balance sheet of French Revolution and George IV and given title of court agent growing wealth of Jewish community and legacy of musical based on Nathan’s correspondence with in Nazi propaganda numismatic interest of personality of political activism of secrecy of and transition of business to sons in transition to banking William IX’s relationship with will of Rothschild, Mayer Amschel (son of Nathan) Rothschild, Mayer Carl Rothschild, Miriam Rothschild, Moses (grandfather of Mayer Amschel) Rothschild, Moses Amschel (brother of Mayer Amschel) Rothschild, Nathaniel (Nat) (son of Nathan) apprenticeship of 1848 revolution and Hannah Mayer’s marriage and made partner after Nathan’s death railway investment and Tommaso affair and Rothschild, Nathaniel Mayer (Natty) (son of Lionel) Rothschild, Nathan Mayer accounting procedures of Alliance Assurance Company and Austrian subsidy deal and Bank Committee testimony of Bank of England and bribery as practiced by Britain’s Napoleonic War financial crisis and brothers’ relationship with business methods of caricatures of charity by children of cinematic representations of commemorations of consul title of contemporary perception of crisis of 1825 and described in Don Juan economic assertiveness of education of children and 1830 revolution and 1836 partnership agreement and in emigration to England fictional representations of financial leverage of financial malpractice suits against financial markets after death of funeral of Hebrew talisman legend and Herries and illness and death of industrial finance and insurance business and Jewish emancipation issue and lavish hospitality of and loans to royalty marriage of Mayer Amschel’s correspondence with Napoleonic Wars and Netherlands-Belgium crisis and obituary on personality of political connections of portrait of press and prodigious memory of Prussian subsidy deal and Pückler’s description of real estate of reform crisis and religious observance by Russian loans and Russian subsidy deal and as smuggler social rank as disregarded by South American “bubble” and Spanish loans and sterling exchange rate speculation by Thackeray’s verses on tight-fistedness of Times and total wealth of in transition to banking “two chairs” joke and Vansittart and Waterloo myth and Wellington and will of William IX’s British investments and working mode of Rothschild, Salomon Albert (son of Anselm) Rothschild, Salomon James (son of James) Rothschild, Salomon Mayer von approachability of Austrian loans of 1830-32 and Austria’s Italian intervention and Belgian crisis of 1838-39 and Charlotte’s death and children of described 1848 banking crisis and 1848 revolution and emancipation issue and fictional portrayal of fraternal unity and Gentz and Heine and insolvency of lavish entertainment by Metternich and Nathan’s relationship with Nathan’s will and personality of Pressburg trip of railway investment and real estate of religious observance by social graces lacked by Spanish loans and vertical integration strategy used by Rothschild, Victor banking as defined by Rothschild, Wilhelm Carl (son of Carl) Rothschild & Cie Banque “Rothschild and the Finances of Europe” (Weill) Rothschild Brothers Rothschild family: agents of Almadén mines deal and anti-Semitic criticism of arbitrage transactions by art collections of authors and Balzac’s relationship with Bank of England and Baron title and Belmont as agent for Bethmann’s resentment of bills of exchange as used by Brazil and bribery as used by British consols sold by brokers used by brothers’ personal relationships within bullion smuggling by BUS affair and business rivals’ resentment of Canning’s tenure and caricatures and cartoons of central banks and charity by cinematic representations of clerks of coat of arms of collecting penchant of collective identity of communications network of competitors and conspiracy theories and conversion to Christianity repudiated by couriers of crises of 1831-32 and crisis of 1836-39 and education as seen by 1810 partnership agreement of 1815 partnership agreement of 1818 partnership agreement of 1825 partnership agreement of 1836 partnership agreement of 1848 “congress” of 1848 revolution and elite pursuits of as “the exceptional family,” exchange rate speculation by and expansion of partnership fame of Fampoux derailment disaster and faulty accounting procedures of female line excluded from business by financial leverage and diplomacy and fraternal strife within fraternal unity and French-Spanish intervention and generational conflict in as “gentlemen,” George IV and Hannah Mayer’s apostasy and Hebrew talisman legend and Heine’s relationship with heirs and honors, titles sought by horse-racing enthusiasm of horticultural passion of hunting enthusiasm of ideal of fraternity and insurance business of intermarriage strategy of international bullion market and Irish famine and Jerusalem hospital scheme and Jewish community and Jewish emancipation issue and land purchases by lavish hospitality by liberal criticism of literary critiques of London-Paris conflict and male children preferred by male descendants as inner circle of motto of as multinational partnership music enthusiasm of mythic status of name origin of national identity and in Nazi propaganda as “new money,” nicknames used by noble status of outsiders and parental rivalry among pastimes of perceived as reactionary perceived power of political dimension to criticism of in popular literature portraits of Portuguese loans of post-Napoleonic War finances and postwar Austrian loans of and preservation of Vienna house press manipulated by private correspondence of privileged status of profit sharing within Prussian loans of 1830 and rapid growth of real estate acquisition by religious observance by royalty and royalty in debt to Russian loans of 1832 and secrecy used by social, cultural assimilation and Spanish loans of and le style Rothschild succession debate in system of cooperation of Tommaso affair and uniforms favored by U.S interests of Rothschild I, his Valets and his People Rothschild Frères, de Rothschilds, Die (film) Rothschilds, The: A European Family (museum exhibition) Rothschilds, The: A Family of Fortune (Cowles) Rothschilds, The: A Family Portrait (Morton) Rothschilds, The: The Financial Rulers of Nations (Reeves) Rothschild: The Wealth and Power of a Dynasty (Wilson) Rothschild Wins at Waterloo (Müller) Roworth, John Royal Exchange, The (Cruikshank) Rubens, Peter Paul Rubinstein Ruisdael, Jacob van Rumania Rumpf, Friedrich Rüppell & Harnier Russell, John Russell, William Russia, Imperial crises of 1831and Decembrist movement in fiscal policy of 1834-41 of Nathan’s subsidy deals with Ottoman conflict with Polish uprising and Rothschild influence in Rothschild loans of 1832 to Ruysh, Rachel St Albans, Duke of Saint-Simon, Henri de Salisbury, Marquess of Salomons, David Salomons, Sheriff Salomon Salomons Salon, Der (Heine) Sand, Karl Sándor, Móric Saphir (satirist) Sardinia Sarto, Andrea del Sassoon, Siegfried Savagner (police commissioner) Savigny, Friedrick Karl von Saxe-Coburg Saxe-Coburg, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, House of Saxe-Meiningen, Prince of Saxe-Weimar Saxony Sayéon Scharfenberg (agent) Schaumburg Scheffer, Ary Scherb, Friedrich von Schiller, Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schlemmer, Dr Schleswig, duchy of Schleswig-Holstein Schlotheim, Caroline von Schminke (Army Councillor) Schnapper, Abraham Schnapper, Anton Schnapper, Mayer Schnapper, Wolf Salomon Schröder family Schwarzenberg, Felix zu Schwinner (Austrian official) Scotland Scottish Free Church “Scriptures for America,” Sebastiani (French minister) “Secret Committee on the Expediency of the Bank Resuming Cash Payments,” Seven Years’ War Shadow of a Great Man, The Shaftesbury, Earl of Sichel, Bernhard Sichel, Juda Simon G Sina company Simon of Trent “Simplicissimus” (Heine) Siroe (Metastasio) Skolnick, Sherman H Smidt (Bremen Bürgermeister) Smirke, Sydney Smith, Payne & Smith S M von Rothschild Snake in the Grass: Love Unbinding the Zone of Beauty (Reynolds) Société Commanditaire de l’Industrie Société de Commerce de Bruxelles Société de Secours Société Générale Société nationale pour enterprises industrielles et commerciales Society for the Encouragement and Aid of Jewish Indigents Society of Friends of Foreigners in Distress Sombart, Werner Somerset, Duke of Soult, Nicolas-Jean South American “bubble,” Southampton, Lord Soviet Union Spain Almadén mines of Cadiz mutiny in Cortes constitution of dynastic conflict in French intervention in Rothschild bond loans to Speculation of 1870 to 1884, The (Chirac) Speyer, Joseph Isaak Splendours and Sorrows of Courtesans (Balzac) Spohr, Louis Städel, Johann Friedrich Stadion-Warthausen, Johann von Stafford, Marquess of Standard Bearer, The (Rembrandt) Stanley, Edward George, Lord State Debt Decree (1819), Prussian Steed, Henry Wickham Stein, Baron vom Steinmann, Friedrich Stendhal Stephenson, George Stern, Caroline, see Rothschild, Caroline Stern Stern, Fritz Stewart, Charles Stewart, Lord Stockmar, Christian von Strauss, Johann Streicher, Julius Stuart, Lord “Study of Corporate and Banking Influence” (Allen) Stüve, Johann Surtees, Robert Smith Sussex, Duke of Süss-Oppenheimer, Joseph Sutherland, Duke of Sweden Switzerland Syria Széchényi, István Széchényi, Layos Tahiti Talabot, Paulin Talleyrand, Charles de Talmud Torah in London Society Tancred (Disraeli) Tatichev (Russian ambassador) Tay-Sachs disease Ten Days in the Reign of Rothschild I, King of the Jews Teniers, David (the Younger) Thackeray, William Makepeace verses on Nathan by Thiard (spy) Thiers, Adolphe downfall of Tommaso affair and Thomson, Charles Poulett Thornton, Henry Thurneyssen, Auguste Thurn und Taxis, Prince of Thurn und Taxis family Tierney, George Tilsit, Treaty of Times (London) Hannah Mayer’s marriage in Nathan’s obituary in Nathan’s relationship with Tischbein, Wilhelm Titian “To All Working People” (Eckart) Tocsin des Travailleurs Toleration, Edict of (1782) Tolstoy, Leo Tommaso, Father Toreno (Spanish minister) Torlonia (banker) “To Rothschild” (Hugelmann) Toussenel, Alphonse Transylvania “Travel Sketches” (Heine) Travers, Benjamin Treaty of Adrianople (1829) Treaty of Chaumont (1814) Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) Treaty of Paris, First (1815) Treaty of Pressburg (1805) Treaty of Tilsit Treaty of Treplitz (1813) Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi Trianon, Edict of (1810) Trollope, Anthony Trollope, Frances Troppau, Congress of Turkey, see Ottoman Empire Tuscany, Grand Duke of “two chairs” joke Two Sicilies, Kingdom of the Ugarte, Count Union Générale United Diet (Landtag) United States Rothschild interest in United Synagogue Univers Unkiar Skelessi, Treaty of “Un petit train de plaisir (Comico Imitatif )” (Rossini) Unser Verkehr Untoward Event, An, or A Tory Triumph Upper Italy, Kingdom of Van Dyck, Anthony Van Notten & Son Vansittart, Nicholas Vasters, Reinhold Vatican Bank Velazquez, Diego Venetia Vermischte Schriften (Heine) Vernet, Horace Vernet, Jadin Verona, Congress of Victoria, Queen of England Rothschild couriers used by Vienna, Congress of Jewish emancipation issue and View on a Frozen River (Cuyp) View of Haarlem (van der Heyden) View from the Royal Exchange, A (Dighton) Vigny, Alfred de Villèle, comte de bond conversion scheme and Villiers, Charles Virgin and Child (Luini) Virtue Faltering (Greuze) Vitrolles (French minister) Voix du Peuple Völkische Beobachter Waagen, Gustav Wagg, Alfred Wagg, John Wagner, Cosima Wagner, Richard Wagram, battle of Wales, Prince of Warburg (banking family) Warburg, Paul War on the Swindlers Waschnek, Erich Waterloo, myth of Weber, Max Weenix, Jan Weill, Alexandre Weimar, Duke of Weissenberg (foreign minister) Weisweiller, Daniel Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of in anti-Rothschild cartoons Jewish emancipation opposed by as prime minister reform crisis and Rothschild banking relationship with Wertheimstein, Leopold von Werther (Prussian ambassador) Westminster, Marquess of Westphalia Wilde, Oscar William II, Elector of Hesse-Kassel William II, Emperor of Germany William IV, King of England William IX, Landgraf and Elector of Hesse-Kassel background and personality of Mayer Amschel’s relationship with Napoleonic Wars and Williams & Co Wilson, Derek Wilson, Thomas Wilson & Co Windischgrätz, Alfred zu Wise Men of the East and the Marquiss of the West, The Witkowitz Ironworks Wittgenstein, Prince Wolf, Lucien Wolzogen, General von Wood, Charles World War I, Worms, Benedikt Moses Wouwermans, Philips Wright & Co Württemberg Wynant, Jan York, Frederick Augustus, Duke of Young Lady with her Page (ter Borch) Zanuck, Darryl Zichy-Ferraris, Melanie Zionists, Zionism Zola, Emile Zucker, Mordechai ... deposits the money with the Jewish banker, Meyer Amschel Rothschild in Frankfurt The abusive use of this money becomes the foundation for the power of the Rothschilds Amschel Rothschild sends the money. .. least one Rothschild anecdote—most commonly the myth of the immense profits Nathan Mayer Rothschild made by speculating on the outcome of the battle of Waterloo; almost as often the story of the purchase... respect of the earlier period, accepting a low rate of interest only as from the time of his return By recommending the House of Rothschild [to others], especially at the Congress of Vienna, the