Rothschilds
Strategic Concepts & Mechanics
Primary Evidence
""The historical mistake of the Rothschilds was that they never had an American base; a base that we at Lazard have consolidated for more than forty years. Not that Lazard-Paris isn't doing well, far from it. But New York is the "sports center." If you want to be a champion, or even a semi-champion, New York is the ultimate arena. The rest of the world is just provincial in comparison," sums up Michel David-Weill."
"Ludwig’s father before him pioneered development of underwater mines, designed some of the first steam engines to power Russian ships, and installed the first central heating systems to warm Russian homes. Ludwig’s son after him launched the world’s first diesel-driven tugs and tankers while bargaining with the Rothschilds, struggling against Royal Dutch-Shell, and bartering with Standard Oil in Europe’s second Thirty Years War, a petroleum war for control of world markets."
"The Rothschilds arrived at the Court of St James's from the ghetto of Frankfurt-am-Main, where a small trader in old coins and medals became factor to the Landgrave of Hesse-Hanau and laid the foundations of a spectacular banking empire. They remained a close-knit clan ofEuropeans. The Sassoons were courtiers and merchant princes from their earliest days. Their corporate personality came to flower in the East without always transplanting too smoothly, despite Park Lane mansions, grouse moors in Scotland and a persistent entry at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. Consequently, their destiny would prove more convulsive and off-centre than that of the less aristocratic, but relatively predictable, House of Rothschild."
"Her French chef created an opulent cuisine which few gastronomes could resist. They could expect pate-stuffed quails, terrines of turtle, ortolans, wood strawberries from France and the first Tay salmon. Rare eastern fruits became as familiar a Sassoon hallmark as their coffee cake, soaked in cognac and servedflambe with ice-cream and hot stewed cherries. It was a gastronomic riposte to the Rothschilds' celebrated chocolate gateau."