1873 The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern World

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Masters of Money comes this timely and fascinating book, which provides a comprehensive analysis of the first truly global financial disaster and the famous banking family at the heart of this storm.During the 1850s and 1860s, in the first era of globalization, the world witnessed an unprecedented economic boom. One of the factors that fueled this expansion was the global bond market boom, which had one family at its heart - the Rothschilds, arguably the richest banking family in history.While the huge sums of capital made available through the bond market built the railroads, the most transformative investments of the century, the money raised also unleashed a wave of speculation, massive overinvestment, and profligate borrowing by governments.As increasing euphoria led to great disillusionment, the economic bubble burst in the early 1870s. Stock markets collapsed from Vienna to New York, and dozens of railroads and many governments defaulted on their debts. Financial officials responded by sliding into a hasty reshaping of the global monetary system, exacerbating the subsequent economic collapse and paving the way for decades of punitive deflation that ignited waves of anti-globalization populism.As Liaquat Ahmad shows us in this engaging historical book, the Crisis of 1873 was, among other things, a fatal blow to US Reconstruction and the immediate cause of the gradual collapse of the Ottoman Empire.Ironically, although the Rothschilds had wisely remained silent during the market boom, when the crisis came, they were brutally held accountable as part of a broader hatred directed against “Jewish finance,” a kind of anti-Semitism that would reach its peak during the twentieth century.The book *"1873*" provides a comprehensive look at the dimensions of the crisis, from its beginning to its long repercussions. The Rothschilds and a host of other witnesses give us a human perspective. We also enjoy an accomplished financial historian's deep understanding of the major powers at play, resulting in a global narrative with astonishing explanatory power.