How European bankers Rothschilds managed to become the main financiers of the Russian Empire, and what this led to

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The name of the Rothschilds is known all over the world, but despite this, it is difficult to find complete and reliable information about the activities and capabilities of bankers: it always intertwines lies with truth, and fiction with real facts. They are credited with secret power over the world, villainous designs against humanity, and also unlimited influence on Russia, which they have been using for their own good since tsarist times.

How the Rothschilds began to actually manage the royal treasury and received the right to conduct transactions with gold on behalf of the Russian Empire under Alexander II

The activities of the Rothschilds in Russia began unofficially - at first they provided financial services to the imperial court, the details of which were known only to those close to them. Having thus earned the trust of the ruling dynasty, the bankers of the clan in 1822 received the right to issue loans for the urgent needs of the country.

54 years later, in 1876, after an agreement with Alexander II, the Rothschilds could conclude deals and conduct operations with gold, acting on behalf of the Russian state. Their powers also included the ability to place parts of the gold reserves abroad - for storage. In the same 1876, for this purpose, 48,000 tons of precious metal were sent from Russia to Spain: 19 people were to be responsible for it, among whom was the financial manager of the royal treasury, who was a representative of the Rothschilds.

At the same time, bankers' agents were engaged in government bonds of Russia - they placed them outside the country, made interest payments and entered into transactions for the purchase and sale of securities.

Why did the conflict between the Rothschilds and Alexander III arise and how was it resolved

The family of bankers also showed interest in oil fields - they actively invested in Baku oil production, applying new technologies in order not only to develop fields, but also to efficiently transport the product for supplies to the foreign market.

The revival that gripped the financial world of St. Petersburg by the middle of 1890 began to decline sharply when, in the early spring of 1891, Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov took over as governor of Moscow. Having replaced Dolgorukov, who was loyal to the Jews, the Grand Duke already at the end of March 1891 issued a decree prohibiting Jewish artisans from living in Moscow and the Moscow province. In other words, it was a decree on the expulsion of persons of Jewish nationality abroad of the designated settlements; to organize its execution was entrusted to the Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Nikolaevich Durnovo.

Although the decree spoke only of artisans (tailors, shoemakers, jewelers, bakers, etc.), in fact it was understood that all Jews should be evicted: the only exceptions were persons with higher education, and merchants of the first guild. Of course, the Rothschilds were not in danger, but they belonged to Jews, and therefore did not hesitate to show a reaction in the form of refusal to work with Russian loans. Moreover, using their authority and influence in the banking environment, they tried to organize an international credit boycott of Russia and forced the Parisian banks controlled by the Rothschilds to refuse to cooperate with it. The consequence of this initiative was a sharp drop in the value of Russian securities, which occurred on the Paris Stock Exchange in the first half of May 1891.

The confrontation lasted three years - in 1894, Alexander III, concerned about the acceleration of industrial development and the lack of money for it, decided to reach a compromise with representatives of the family, sending an agent of the Ministry of Finance, Artur Rafalovich, to negotiations. An official endowed with special powers, in exchange for investment incentives for the Rothschilds, who were given the right to invest in Baku oil, had to agree on the purchase of Russian bonds. The trip to London justified the goal: the Rothschilds became interested in the proposal, removing the "Jewish question" that had angered them from the agenda.

How did the Rothschilds put Nicholas II on the "financial needle" and dragged the Russian Empire into the "Golden Club"? Gold ruble S. V. Witte

Capital was required for the development of the country's industry, but there was not enough public finance, so they had to resort to external loans. So, in the period from 1894 to 1896, with the participation of the Rothschilds, Russia made two loans for the amount of 200 million rubles in order to redeem bonds ahead of schedule for some of the strategic and industrial facilities that became the property of the state.

To get out of the situation, it was necessary to ensure the stability of the ruble and attract foreign investors to the country. To this end, with the consent of Emperor Nicholas II, Minister of Finance Sergei Witte in 1895-1897. carried out a monetary reform, which resulted in the emergence of a gold-backed ruble. This did not become an international innovation, as the "gold" currency was already used in the UK, USA, Germany, Japan and several other European countries.

Having joined the "Golden Club", Russia did not have reserves of a precious metal capable of making a full-fledged gold currency out of the ruble. But the Rothschilds had such reserves, which provided the states, including the Russian Empire, with gold on a paid basis and with the obligatory return within the agreed time frame.

What consequence did the Rothschild's "golden needle" have for the Russian Empire? The end of the "gold standard"

The introduction of the gold standard did not solve the lack of money, since the ruble was backed not by the state, but by the borrowed precious metal of the Rothschilds. In order to somehow improve the situation, an active policy was pursued to attract foreign investment to the country. After a short time, most of the banking and industrial sector was controlled by foreigners, while the capital they invested did not solve the problem in any way: in terms of the size of external debt, Russia took the leading place among all world countries. There was a clear tendency, thanks to the gold ruble, to turn into a colony of the West, losing its own sovereignty.

The First World War demanded its own expenses, and European countries became unable to adhere to the gold standard, which required separate costs. Russia “left the game” at the end of July 1914 - it was during this period, by order of the Ministry of Finance, that the country was prohibited from exchanging paper money for gold. The grandiose plan of the Rothschilds to sell gold to countries in debt, receiving interest from it - this time failed.

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