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232 THE CREATURE FROM JEKYLL ISLAND
After the revolution was resolved by negotiation rather than by
arms, the new government in Brussels was a natural target
financial takeover. James Rothschild laid out the strategy that has
become the model of such operations ever since:
Now is the moment of which we should take advantage to make
ourselves absolute masters of that country's finances. The first step
will be to establish ourselves on an intimate footing with Belgium's
new Finance Minister, to gain his confidence ... and to take all the
treasury bonds he may offer us.
PERPETUAL WAR IN OGHTEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND
Wars, great and small, have always been a plague to Europe,
but it was not until they were easy to finance through central
banking and fiat money that they became virtually perpetual. For
example, the following war chronicle begins immediately following
the formation of the Bank of England which, as you recall, was
created for the specific purpose of financing a war:
1689-1697 The War of the League of Augsberg
1702-1713 The War of Spanish Succession
1739-1742 The War of Jenkin's Ear
1744-1748 The War of Austrian Succession
1754-1763 The French and Indian War
1793-1801 The War against Revolutionary France
1803-1815 The Napoleonic Wars
In addition to these European conflicts, there also wer^ two
wars with America: the War for Independence and the War of 1812.
In the 126 years between 1689 and 1815, England was at war 63 of
them. That is one out of every two years in combat. The others were
spent preparing for combat.
The mark of the Rothschild Formula is unmistakable in these
conflicts. The monetary scientists often were seen financing both
sides. Whether ending in victory or defeat, the outcome merely
preserved or restored the European "balance of power/ 7
And the
most permanent result of any of these wars was expanded government
debt for all parties.
SUMMARY
By the end of the eighteenth century, the House of Rothschild
had become one of the most successful financial institutions the
1. Derek Wilson, p. 100.
for
world has ever known. Its
THE ROTHSCHILD FORMULA 233
meteoric rise can be attributed to the
great industry and shrewdness of the five brothers who established
themselves in various capitals of Europe and forged the world's
first international financial network. As pioneers in the practice of
lending money to governments, they soon learned that this provided
unique opportunities to parlay wealth into political power as
Before long, most of the princes and kings of Europe had
well.
come within their influence.
The Rothschilds also had mastered the art of smuggling on a
grand scale, often with the tacit approval of the governments
whose laws they violated. This was perceived by all parties as an
unofficial bonus for providing needed funding to those same
governments, particularly in time of war. The fact that different
branches of the Rothschild network also might be providing funds
for the enemy was pragmatically ignored. Thus, a time-honored
practice among financiers was born: profiting from both sides.
The Rothschilds operated a highly efficient intelligence gathering
system which provided them with advance knowledge of
important events, knowledge which was invaluable for investment
decisions. When an exhausted Rothschild courier delivered the first
news of the Battle of Waterloo, Nathan was able to deceive the
London bond traders into a selling panic, and that allowed him to
acquire the dominant holding of England's entire debt at but a tiny
fraction of its worth.
A study of these and similar events reveals a personality
profile, not just of the Rothschilds, but of that special breed of
international financiers whose success typically is built upon
certain character traits. Those include cold objectivity, immunity to
patriotism, and indifference to the human condition. That profile is
the basis for proposing a theoretical strategy, called the Rothschild
Formula, which motivates such men to propel governments into
war for the profits they yield. This formula most likely has never
been consciously phrased as it appears here, but subconscious
motivations and personality traits work together to implement it
nevertheless. As long as the mechanism of central banking exists, it
will be to such men an irresistible temptation to convert debt into
perpetual war and war into perpetual debt.
In the following chapters we shall track the distinctive footprint
of the Rothschild Formula as it leads up to our own doorstep in the
present day.