The 48 Laws Of Power

OBSERVANCEOFTHELAW’

The Rothschild

bankingfamily

hadhumble

beginnings

inthe

Jewish

ghetto

of

Frankfurt,

Germany.

The

city‘s

harshlawsmadeit

impossible

for

Jews

to

mingle

outsidethe

ghetto,

butthe

Jews

hadturnedthisintoa

virtuemitmadethem

self—reliant,

andzealousto

preserve

theircultureat

all

costs.

Mayer

Amschel,

thefirstoftheRothschildstoaccumulatewealth

bylendingmoney,

inthe

late

eighteenth century,

wellunderstood

the

power

thatcomesfromthiskindofconcentrationandcohesion.

First,

Mayer

Amschelalliedhimselfwithone

family,

the

powerful

princes

ofThomundTaxis.Insteadof

spreading

hisservices

out,

hemade

himself

these

princes’primary

banker.

Second,

heentrusted

noneofhis

businessto

outsiders,

usingonly

hischildrenandcloserelatives.Themore

unifiedand

tight-knit

the

family,

themore

powerful

itwouldbecome.Soon

Mayer

Amschel’sfivesonswere

running

thebusiness.Andwhen

Mayer

Amschel

laydying,

in

1812,

herefusedtonamea

principal

heir,

insteadset-

tingup

allofhissonsto

continue-the

fa.mily'

tradition,

sothat

they

would

stay

unitedandwouldresistthe

dangers

ofdillusion

and

of

infiltration

by

outsiders.

Once

Mayer

Amschel’ssonscontrolledthe

family

business,

they

de-

cided

thatthe

key

towealthona.

larger

scalewastosecureafootholdinthe

finances

of

Europe

asa

whole,

ratherthan

being

tiedto

any

one

country

or

prince.

Ofthefive

brothers,

Nathanhad

alreadyopenedupshop

inLon-

don. In 1813

James

moved to Paris. Amschelremainedin

Frankfurt,

Salomonestablishedhimselfin

Vienna,

and

Karl,

the

youngest

son,

went

to

Naples.

Witheach

sphere

ofinfluence

covered,

they

could

tighten

their

hold

on

Europe’s

financialmarkets.

This

widespread

network,

of

course,

opened

the

Rothschildstothe

verydanger

ofwhichtheirfatherhadwarnedthem:

diliusion,division,

dis-

sension.

They

avoidedthis

danger,

andestablishedthemselvesasthemost

powerful

forcein

European

financeand

politics,by

once

againresorting

to

the

strategy

ofthe

ghetto-——excluding

outsiders,

concentrating

theirforces.

TheRothschiidsestablishedthefastestcourier

system

in

Europe,allowing

themto

get

newsofeventsbeforealltheir

competitors.They

heldavirtual

monopoly

on

information.Andtheirinternalcommunicationsandcorre-

spondence

werewritteninFrankfurt

Yiddish,

andinacodethat

only

the

brotherscould

decipher.

There

was

no

point

in

stealing

this

information—-

noonecouldunderstandit.“Eventheshewdestbankerscannotfindtheir

waythrough

theRothschild

maze,”

admittedafinancierwhohadtriedto

infiltrate

theclan.

In 1824

James

Rothschilddecideditwastimeto

get

married.This

pre-

senteda

problem

forthe

Rothschilds,

since

it

meant

incorporating

an

out-

siderintotheRothschild

clan,

anoutsiderwhocould

betray

itssecrets.

jarnes

thereforedecidedto

marry

withinthe

family,

andchosethe

daugh-

ter

ofhisbrotherSalomon.Thebrotherswereecstatic—~thiswasthe

per-

fectsolution

totheir

marriageproblems.james‘s

choicenow

became

the

family policy:

Two

years

later,

Nathan married offhis

daughter

to

fzissirig

atewrrvmze

who

passesby,you

bringuponyourself

the

deri5z'orx

ofall

belmid-

err.

I

confess

thatIam

onlyformed

tomove

upon

the

ground,

but

how

graceful

is

my

rmzkefHowwelltumml

my

lz'mb.r.’How

highly

finishedmy

whole

burly!

How

greatmy

strength!

Hawaston-

irhing

myspeed/I

had

muchratherbe

confined

toone

elerm-nt,andbe

arlmirml

m

that,

than

be 11

goose

m011.’

”

mmlzsmom

um~r:At“cio.-mo

CHAUCER.

Du..l<)H.N

Arum,

l747~»lR22

Beware

t)j'tIi.r.\'i[:aIiIig

yourp(:wer.r:

Xtriw:

consrmnly

toconcen-

trate(hem.Genius

I/rinksitcandowizar-

everitrepsothers

doing.

butitissureto

repentu/every

ill-

jutlgcdoutlay.

JOEIANNVONGm-:rmz.

1749-1832

LAW 23

I73