Basil Zaharoff was a financier, promoter, and politician.
Background
It is said, that he was born on Oct. 6, 1849, probably in Mughla, Anatolia, of Greek parents. However, on his death certificate, the date and place of his birth were given as Phanar, Turkey, Oct. 20, 1850. About 1852 he removed with his parents to Tatavla, near Constantinople.
Education
About 1852 he removed with his parents to Tatavla, near Constantinople, where he was educated, and at about the age of eighteen he became a money changer.
Career
At about the age of eighteen he became a money changer. Zaharoff's early life is shrouded in considerable mystery. He lived for a time in London, but about 1877 he returned to Greece and soon afterwards was appointed representative of the Swedish gunmaker Nordenfeldt, who operated a small plant in Sweden. Zaharoff's first orders came from Austria and from Russia, and it was in the munitions business in which he spent the remainder of his life. He entered at a most propitious time, and by one means or another he eventually became a power in the field of international politics and finance.
As the Nordenfeldt agent he sold guns and submarines to Greece and Turkey and later to many other nations. He outwitted Hiram Maxim, maker of a rival gun, and then brought Nordenfeldt and Maxim into partnership, later merging with Vickers of England to form what became the powerful Vickers-Armstrong concern.
In 1913 he became a French citizen. Zaharoff became fabulously wealthy. World War I increased his wealth and influence, and this was particularly manifest at the Paris Peace conference through his friendship with Lloyd George and Clemenceau. In debate in the House of Commons in 1921, Zaharoff was referred to as the "Mystery Man of Europe. " Because of valuable financial aid and service as an intelligence agent to the British and French governments during World War I, he was honored by decorations from these countries.
He engaged in shipbuilding and oil enterprises on a large scale, established chairs of aviation in Paris, London, and Petrograd (now Leningrad), endowed chairs at Oxford and at the Sorbonne. He was the subject of a United States Senate investigation into the munitions business in September 1934. In 1926 Zaharoff retired to Monte Carlo.
Achievements
Interests
Zaharoff was fascinated by aviation, and gave money and other support to pioneers in Great Britain, France and Russia.
Connections
In 1885, posing as "Prince Zacharias Basileus Zacharoff, " he married a Philadelphia heiress, Jennie Billings. In September 1924, Zaharoff, almost 75 years old, remarried. (He married an English woman much earlier in life).