Business Past Present and Future Portfolio

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Rothschild

From the Jewish Ghetto in Frankfurt where goldsmith Amschel Bower (1744-1812), operated a small business, to arguably the most famous banking house in the world (Roth, 1939) the name Rothschild was adopted and it is now synonymous with wealth. Like the Fugger’s and Welser’s the Rothschilds knew that lending money to governments was most profitable and the debts were secured by the nation’s taxes.

International prominence was achieved when Amschel sent his 5 sons to open branches in Europe’s major trading centres. The bankers brought up government bonds in all of these countries. N.M Rothschild Ltd of London was established in 1811 and the investment banking company is still operating today.

It appears that unfortunately like the bankers before them, the Rothschild’s profited hugely from war, notably the Napoleonic wars. There are suggestions that they gained greatly due to the fact that the bankers financed both sides through their respective branches in Britain and France. It is also said that the finance for some of the greatest industrial achievements of the 19th and 20th century was raised by the Bank of Rothschild i.e.; the Suez Canal, rail roads and mining.

Conclusion

From researching all three families I conclude that the Rothschild dynasty have the greatest influence in present day banking. I draw this conclusion purely because they are still operating their financial businesses today. However it must be considered that they are successful because the medieval banking families before them had set a precedent.

(Word Count 601)

References

Blendinger, F. (2014). Encyclopaedia Brittanica. (Available online at) www.britannica.com [Accessed on 10th October 2014]

Clark, G., (1966). Early Modern Europe, 2nd Ed. Oxford University Press.

Grell, B., (2008). The Impact of the European Reformation: Princes, Clergy and People. Ashgate Publishing.

Ossian, R. (2006). Welser Family. Retrieved from Rob Osians Pirate Cove: (Available online at) http://thepirateking.com/bios/welseer_family.htm [Accessed on 15th October 2014]

Oxford Dictionary of The Renassiance. (2003). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Roth, C. (1939). The Magnificent Rothschilds. London: Robert Hale Limited.

Scott B MacDonald, A. L. (2004). A History of Credit and Power in the Western World. Rutgers.

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Week 3

Water Power

America’s first water powered textile mill was opened by Samuel Slater, British by birth he brought the skills and technical knowledge with him when he emigrated from Derbyshire. (Peacock, n.d.) It was 1790 and the seeds of the American industrial revolution had been sown; because the USA was geographically large and sparsely populated, their Industrialisation would progress at a much slower pace than in Great Britain. With water still the main natural resource being harnessed, work began on the Erie Canal in 1817, (Finch, 2011) over 300 miles of waterway linked the great lakes in the interior to the Atlantic Ocean at New York. Bulk goods could now be transported more efficiently, which resulted in once remote places such as Chicago being able to expand commercially. The projects chief engineer Benjamin Wright became known as “the father of American civil Engineering”. (FitzSimons, 2002)

The Railroads

During the civil war 1860-1865 economic activity increased, more cloth was needed for uniforms, munitions were manufactured and new innovations to improve communications were a direct result of the conflict. Conscious of the need for improved transportation to aid the war effort, President Abraham Lincoln approved the federal funding of a transcontinental railroad; it had originally been proposed in 1845 by entrepreneur Asa Whitney. The pacific railway act was passed in 1862. (Bryan Bunch, 1993). Depopulation was a problem, half a million men had lost their lives in the conflict, and building of the railroad was made possible through immigrant labour. The two branches of the railway became the biggest employer in the country (Means, 2001). It could be argued that the railway was the first modern corporation; they had an organisational structure including middle managers, shares were publicly traded to raise the capital needed to grow the rail network across the continent. Some notable captains of industry linked to the railroads are Cornelius Vanderbilt, Leland Stanford and Andrew Carnegie.

Westward Expansion

The building of the railroads resulted in westward expansion; travel was made easier and goods could now be transported. The sparsely populated, rural west was now connected to the more industrialised east. The homestead act of 1862 allowed for the land of Native Americans to be seized for settlement by white farmers. (Andrews, 1962). Large scale irrigation projects allowed for crops to be grown on an industrial scale and surplus produce could be exported. America was seen as an emerging economy, the railways, irrigation and many other projects attracted foreign investors looking to make high returns. The trusted financier J.P Morgan ensured that money belonging to the predominantly European speculators was invested wisely. It is said that prior to the civil war America had around one third of the output of Great Britain and by 1913 the USA produced one third of the world’s total industrial output (Schama, 2008)

(Word Count 554)

References

Andrews, T. C. C. a. W., 1962. Concise Dictionary of American History. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bryan Bunch, A. H., 1993. The Timetable of Technology. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Finch, R. G., 2011. The Story Of The New York State Canals. [Online]

Available at: www.canals.ny.gov/history/finch-history-print.pdf

[Accessed 17 October 2014].

FitzSimons,