The Rothschild family ( /ˈrɒθs.tʃaɪld/, ), known as the House of Rothschild, or more simply as the Rothschilds, is a European banking dynasty, of German-Jewish origin, that established European banking and finance houses starting in the late 18th century. Five lines of the Austrian branch of the family have been elevated to Austrian nobility, being given hereditary baronies of the Habsburg Empire by Emperor Francis II in 1816. Another line, of the British branch of the family, was elevated to British nobility at the request of Queen Victoria. During the 1800s, when it was at its height, the family is believed to have possessed by far the largest private fortune in the world as well as by far the largest fortune in modern world history. The family's wealth is believed to have subsequently declined, as it was divided amongst hundreds of descendants. Today, Rothschild businesses are on a far smaller scale than they were throughout the 19th century, although they encompass a diverse range of fields, including: mining, banks, energy, mixed farming, wine, and charities.
Read more about Rothschild Family: Family Overview, The Napoleonic Wars, International High Finance, English Branch, French Branches, Austrian Branch, Naples Branch, Jewish Identity and Positions On Zionism, Modern Business, Cultural References, Conspiracy Theories, Prominent Descendants of Mayer Amschel Rothschild
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“Here was a little of everything in a small compass to satisfy the wants and the ambition of the woods,... but there seemed to me, as usual, a preponderance of children’s toys,—dogs to bark, and cats to mew, and trumpets to blow, where natives there hardly are yet. As if a child born into the Maine woods, among the pine cones and cedar berries, could not do without such a sugar-man or skipping-jack as the young Rothschild has.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The family that perseveres in good works will surely have an abundance of blessings.”
—Chinese proverb.