ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the House of Rothschild’s rise to the apogee of European high finance. Following an outline of the early career of Nathan Rothschild it is demonstrated how, thanks to the highly integrated nature of their business, the Rothschild brothers were ideally placed to assist the British government’s war effort via remittance payments and arbitrage dealings. In addition to examining how the House of Rothschild’s far-sighted and influential focus on integration and the rapid communication of news greatly facilitated the British war effort, the symbiotic nature of their relationship with the British government is also examined. In particular, the House of Rothschild’s focus on fostering influential contacts in governmental circles (via bribery and corruption on an institutional scale) is discussed. This chapter also examines how the House of Rothschild sought to consolidate their position, via the export of the ‘essence’ of the British funding system (a permanent National Debt funded by increased taxation and ‘managed’ by a nascent central bank) to European governments post-1815 and discusses how this move was only possible thanks to the backing of the British government and the Bank of England, whose tacit support backed their credit-fuelled financial endeavours.
