Gerson von Bleichröder
This article is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic. (August 2016) |
Gerson von Bleichröder | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 18 February 1893 | (aged 70)
Nationality | German |
Occupation | Banker |
Spouse | Emma Guttentag |
Children | Hans von Bleichröder James von Bleichröder Georg von Bleichröder Elsa von Bleichröder |
Parent(s) | Samuel Bleichröder and Johanna Levin Aron |
Gerson von Bleichröder (22 December 1822 – 18 February 1893) was a
Bleichröder was born in Berlin. He was the eldest son of Samuel Bleichröder, who founded the banking firm of S. Bleichröder in 1803 in Berlin. Gerson first joined the family business in 1839.[1] In 1855 upon the death of his father, Gerson became the head of the banking firm.[2] The bank maintained close contacts with the Rothschild family; the banking house of Bleichröder acted as a branch office in Berlin of the Rothschilds' bank.
Traditionally, the Rothschilds represented the banking interests of the Austrian-controlled German Confederation in Europe.[3] In the conflict between the rapidly rising and expanding nation of Kingdom of Prussia and the "pro-Austrian" German Confederation, the Rothschild Bank was largely caught in an uncomfortable position in the middle of the conflict.[4]
Meeting Bismarck
Since 1851, Otto von Bismarck had been serving as the Prussian ambassador to the German Confederation headquartered at Frankfurt-am-Main, a free city of the Confederation in what is now western Germany.[5] However, in March 1858, Bismarck was appointed ambassador to the Russian Empire.[6] In one of his last actions before leaving Frankfurt for St. Petersburg, Russia, Bismarck consulted Baron Mayer Carl von Rothschild for the name of a banker in Berlin to whom he could turn for personal as well as Prussian state business.[7] Just why Bismarck would turn to the Rothschild Bank to supply him with the name of a competing bank to whom Bismarck and the Prussian nation could turn may not be as hard to understand as first thought. Everyone in Frankfurt knew that the Prussian nation would have to distance themselves from the Rothschild Bank given the Rothschilds' close diplomatic relations with Prussia's main rival—Austria-Hungary. Yet neither Bismarck nor the Prussian nation wanted to burn their bridges and totally alienate the Rothschilds.[8] What better way to avoid this fissure with the Rothschilds than to ask the Rothschilds to provide the name of an alternative bank.
Rothschild gave the name of Gerson Bleichröder, who took over Bismarck's private banking transactions as well as the transfer of credits and/or placing of loans on behalf of the Prussian state and the German Empire. Thus, Bleichröder became intimately involved with not only Bismarck but also with the inner dynamics of the unification of Germany.
Unification of the German States
Over the decades since the life of Bismarck, it has become an article of faith among German historians that Bismarck, himself, was the agent most responsible for the unification of Germany under the Prussian throne. This proposition, based on the "Great Man Theory" of history has been effectively challenged by recent historians. Importantly, German economic historian Helmut Böhme argued that the Zollverein customs union of northern Germany, not Bismarck, was the most important agent in unifying Germany.[citation needed]
Consider the largely German-speaking territory in the middle of Europe at the end of the Napoleonic Era. There was no single German state. Rather there was a vast patchwork of small principalities, dukedoms and kingdoms. As the largest and most powerful of the German-speaking states in middle Europe, the Austrian Empire assumed the role of leader of all the German-speaking states of middle Europe. The
Because of the rising power of the Zollverein,
Between 1850 and 1860, the members of the Zollverein adopted a common currency, a common postal system and a common commercial code.
The
Banker for Bismarck and the Prussian State
Gerson Bleichröder served Bismarck at several crucial points during the period of time that Bismarck was the chief minister to the Prussian king. As a result of the Schleswig War of 1864, Prussia and Austria, as joint victors in that war, were awarded the two German-speaking duchies of Schleswig and Holstein on August 1, 1864.[22] Prussia annexed the more northern duchy of Schleswig, while Austria was given annexation control over the more southern duchy of Holstein.[23] Austria did not share any border with the newly acquired duchies, but the duchy of Holstein was located between Schleswig to the north and Prussian-controlled territories to the south. Austria sought to create difficulties for its up-and-coming rival—Prussia—by entertaining the idea of inviting the heir of the deposed House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg—Duke Frederick VIII of Augustenburg—back to administer the Holstein duchy.[24] This solution was intolerable to Prussia because the Duke of Augustenburg was related to the royal family of Denmark. The fear was that this would have brought Danish troops right back to same frontier that they had occupied prior to the war. Furthermore, the Prussian-annexed Schleswig duchy (where the Prussian government was intending to upgrade the Kiel Canal) would be isolated from the rest of Prussian Germany.
Accordingly, a plan was developed for Prussia to purchase all Austrian "rights" to the duchies before any transfer of those rights could be made to Duke Frederick. The deal had a good chance of succeeding because the Austria Empire was in financial trouble at the time. Gerson Bleichröder opened secret negotiations with Moritz Ritter von Goldschmidt to pay a large sum of money to Austria for any and all rights to the two duchies of Holstein and Schleswig.[25] In the end, the administration of Holstein was not settled until 1866, after the Austro-Prussian War.
Meanwhile, Bismarck still faced the problem of raising money to pay for the Schleswig-Holstein War. To be sure, the victory in that war had brought glory to Bismarck and the Prussian nation. However, the elected United Prussian Diet which had the authority to raise public funds to pay for the war was still dragging its feet about paying for the Schleswig War despite the glory to the Prussian nation. Furthermore, Bismarck as a monarchist had long detested elected parliaments of all kinds and he especially hated going "hat in hand" to the United Diet to beg for money. Accordingly, Gerson Bleichröder developed several plans by which money could be raised without going to the United Diet. For instance there was the Preussische Seenhandlung, a bank that had been founded by Frederick the Great in 1772, that still operated as an independent institute under the Prussian throne.[26] Money could be raised by the king independently of the Diet by either selling shares of the bank or by arranging a bond issue through the bank. In the summer of 1865, the Rothschild Bank, working through Gerson Bleichröder, underwrote an entire public offering of bonds against the government shares of Seehandlung.[27]
Furthermore, much of the railroad-building in Germany had been done with public funds. In exchange for the public funds the government had taken part ownership in the railways. Consequently, by 1860, the government had a large investment in all the railroads in Germany. One of these railroads was the Cologne-Minden Railroad. Gerson Bleichröder just happened be the banker for the Cologne-Minden Railroad and sat on the Board of Directors of the railroad.[28] Once again the government could sell its shares in this railroad or establish a loan with the government shares as collateral. In the end the government shares in the Cologne-Minden Railroad were sold to raise money independently of the United Diet.[29]
The spectacular victory of the Prussian Army at the
As the chief banker for Bismarck and the Prussian state, Gerson Bleichröder was also in a position to help several influential German families in their hour of need. In 1868, an ambitious 915-mile railroad project in Rumania, which would link the Rumanian capital, Bucharest, with all other major parts of the country, was touted to investors by financier
The German-American historian
See also
- Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder, an investment bank.
Notes
- ^ Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder and the Building of the German Empire (Vintage Books: New York, 1977) p. 9.
- ^ Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck ' Bleichröder and the Building of the German Empire, p. 9.
- ^ Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder and the Building of the German Empire, p. 15.
- ^ Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichroder and the Building of the German Empire, p. 15.
- ^ Jonathan Steinberg, Bismarck: A Life (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011) p. 110.
- ^ Jonathan Steinberg, Bismarck: A Life, p. 146.
- ^ Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder and the Building of the German Empire, p. 17
- ^ Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder and the Building of the German Empire, p. 17.
- ^ H. W. Kock, A History of Prussia (Dorset Press,: New York, 1978), p. 207.
- ^ H. W. Kock, A History of Prussia, p. 85.
- ^ Jonathan Sperber, Bismarck: A Life, p. 557.
- ^ H. W. Kock, A History of Prussia, pp. 226-227.
- ^ Alan Palmer, Bismarck (Charles Scribner's Sons Publishers: New York, 1976) p. 40.
- ^ Alan Palmer, Bismarck, p. 40.
- ^ Alan Palmer, Bismarck, p. 40.
- ^ William T. Couch et al. "Germany" contained in Collier's Encyclopedia: Volume 9 (P. F. Collier and Son Pub.: New York, 1959) p. 61.
- ^ William T. Couch,"Germany" contained in Collier's Encyclopedia: Volume 9, p. 61.
- ^ H. W. Koch, A History of Prussia, pp. 256-257.
- ^ James K. Pollock, et al., Germany in Power and Eclipse (D. Van Nostrand Publishing Co.: Toronto, Canada, 1952) p. 350.
- ^ James K. Pollock et al., Germany in Power and Decline, p. 115
- ^ Alan Palmer, Bismarck, p. 159.
- ^ Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder and the Building of the German Empire, p. 50.
- ^ Jonathan Sperber, Bismarck: A Life, p. 226.
- ^ Jonathan Sperber, Bismarck: A Life, p. 227.
- ^ Jonathan Sperber, Bismarck: A Life, p. 227.
- ^ Jonathan Sperber, Bismarck: A Life, p. 230.
- ^ Jonathan Sperber, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder and the Building of the German Empire, p.231.
- ^ Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder and the Building of the German Empire, p. 62.
- ^ Jonathan Sperber, Bismarck: A Life, p. 230.
- ^ Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder and the Building of the German Empire, p. 93.
- ^ Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder and the Building of the German Empire, p.121.
- ^ Alan Palmer, Bismarck, p. 133.
- ^ Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder and the Building of the German Empire p. 132.
- ^ Keith Hitchins, Rumania: 1866-1947 (Clarendon Press: Oxford, England, 1994) p. 199.
- ^ Keith Hitchins, Rumania: 1866-1947, p. 199.
- ^ Alan Palmer, Bismarck (Charles Scribner's Sons Publishers: New York, 1976) p. 204.
External links
- Literature on an about Gerson Bleichröeder in the catalog of the DDB
- Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Bleichröder, Gerson, Baron von". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
- Newspaper clippings about Gerson von Bleichröder in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW