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31-548: The Nordbahn, financed by Salomon Mayer von Rothschild (1774–1855), was Austria's first steam railway company . The first stretch, between Floridsdorf and Deutsch Wagram , was opened in 1837. An extension to Vienna was built in 1838, and the track through Břeclav to Brno in 1839. The first train from Vienna arrived in Břeclav railway station on 6 June 1839. By 1841, the railway had reached Přerov and Olomouc and in 1842 Lipník nad Bečvou . An extension to Ostrava and Bohumín

62-684: A considerable amount of money. Under pressure, the 74-year-old handed over the reins of the bank to his son Anselm, but it was not without rancor. He left Vienna and retired to Paris, where he died in 1855. From his art collection, some of the objets d'art from the Italian and French Renaissance , together with 18th-century works, were donated to the Louvre , including two paintings by Carlo Dolci . De Rothschild Fr%C3%A8res The Banque Rothschild , formally known as de Rothschild Frères ( lit.   ' Rothschild Brothers ' ) until 1967,

93-525: A family-controlled holding company that had escaped the nationalization, into Rothschild & Cie Banque . They were joined by their cousin Eric de Rothschild. In 2003, following the retirement of Evelyn de Rothschild as head of N M Rothschild & Sons of London, the English and French firms merged into Rothschild & Co under the leadership of David de Rothschild. In 1818, James Rothschild purchased

124-578: A hugely prosperous banking business in Germany. Wanting to expand the family business across Europe, the eldest Rothschild son remained in Frankfurt, while each of the other four sons were sent to different European cities to establish a banking branch. Salomon was made a shareholder of the de Rothschild Frères bank when it was opened in Paris by his brother James Mayer de Rothschild in 1817. Endogamy

155-583: A major role in French financial development in the 19th century, and remained significant for much of the 20th century. Jacob Mayer Rothschild , the youngest son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild , settled in Paris in 1812 where his name Jacob was translated to James. In 1817, he formally created the bank MM. Rothschild Frères , whose partners were himself and his brothers Amschel of Frankfurt , Carl of Naples , Nathan of London and Salomon of Vienna . In 1822

186-604: A scene of the steam locomotive "Ajax" steam crossing the bridge over the Danube on the first public run from the North Railway Station in Vienna to Deutsch-Wagram on 6 January 1838. The journey, which caused quite a sensation, was witnessed and cheered by crowds of Viennese who had gathered along its route. Salomon Mayer von Rothschild Salomon Mayer Freiherr von Rothschild (9 September 1774 – 28 July 1855)

217-762: The Chemin de Fer du Nord railway in France that ran from their major hub, the Gare du Nord in Paris, to the English Channel and Belgium. By the later part of the 19th century, the bank was heavily involved in oil exploration in the Baku area of present-day Azerbaijan through their company, the Caspian and Black Sea Oil Industry and Trade Society established in 1883, an investment that proved to be highly lucrative. In 1898,

248-752: The Rue Saint-Florentin and moved there, but the bank remained on rue Laffitte, so that the street's name later became a metonymy for the Banque Rothschild. In 1969, as the bank was expanding into new lines of business, the Rothschilds demolished the historic building and replace it with a modernist office building designed by prominent French architect Pierre Dufau together with American Max Abramovitz , and inaugurated in early 1970. That building has been more recently used as headquarters by Malakoff Humanis  [ fr ] ,

279-600: The k.k. Östliche Staatsbahn (Imperial and Royal Eastern State Railway), a descendant of the Kraków and Upper Silesian, opened a branch form Trzebinia via Oświęcim to Czechowice-Dziedzice , where it met the Northern Railway. The Northern Railway company was nationalized in 1907. It also owned many coal mines and other industry enterprises in the Ostrava region. After the nationalization of its railway network,

310-684: The Rothschild family following the Liberation of France . In 1949, Guy de Rothschild took over the bank's leadership following Edouard de Rothschild's death. In 1953, future President of France , Georges Pompidou , joined de Rothschild Frères and from 1956 to 1962 served as its general manager. In 1962, the bank created Imétal (later renamed Imerys), an umbrella company for their extensive mining ventures. Headed by Guy de Rothschild, Imétal looked outward, investing in Great Britain and

341-697: The Rothschilds established the Mazut Transportation Society that developed a fleet of oil tankers operating in the Caspian Sea . In 1911, the Royal Dutch Shell company purchased the Rothschilds' Azerbaijan oil fields. In 1873 de Rothschild Frères in France and N M Rothschild & Sons of London joined with other investors to acquire the Spanish government's money-losing Rio Tinto copper mines. The new owners restructured

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372-547: The United States, a move that put him on the December 20, 1963 cover of Time magazine . Following France's 1966 banking reform, on 1 January 1968 the partnership de Rothschild Frères was re-organized as Banque Rothschild, a limited-liability company. By 1980, the Paris business employed about 2,000 people and had an annual turnover of 26 billion francs ($ 5 billion in the currency rates of 1980). In 1982,

403-576: The company and turned it into a profitable business. By 1905, the Rothschild interest in Rio Tinto amounted to more than 30 percent. In 1887, the French and English Rothschild banking houses lent money to, and invested in, the De Beers diamond mines in South Africa, becoming its largest shareholders. In the 1930s, however, the bank's vast railroad holdings were nationalized . The bank's growth

434-640: The company continued to operate its coal and industry businesses. The original Nordbahnhof in the Austrian capital (Vienna North railway station) was destroyed in World War II . It was rebuilt and re-opened in 1962 as Wien Praterstern together with the bridge across the Danube . Today's express trains from Vienna to Brno now leave from Wien Hauptbahnhof , and Praterstern is served by suburban and regional trains only. Town names are indicated as they were at

465-462: The concentration of vast wealth by the few members of the Austrian elite resulted in a growing civil unrest in the country. By the time of the revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas , anti-Rothschild sentiments were frequently being voiced and written about in broadsheets such as Ein offener Brief an Rothschild . With the fall of Metternich, Salomon lost some of his political clout and his bank

496-514: The direction of Salomon, the Viennese bank was highly successful, playing an integral role in the development of the Austrian economy. In recognition of his services, he was raised to the Austrian nobility in 1816 by Emperor Francis I , the patent being offered to all five brothers, although declined by Nathan Mayer Rothschild . In 1822, Salomon von Rothschild, along with his four brothers,

527-571: The five brothers were awarded the hereditary title of Baron by Emperor Francis I of Austria , after which James used the nobility particle "de" before his name, and the bank was subsequently known formally as de Rothschild Frères . The Banque Rothschild was very active in lending to governments. Following the independence of Belgium , it financed Leopold I of Belgium . Following the July Revolution of 1830 that saw Louis-Philippe come to power in France, James de Rothschild put together

558-528: The former hôtel particulier of 18th-century financier Jean Joseph de Laborde , on rue d'Artois in Paris (No. 19-21). That property had been owned by Joseph Fouché , and purchased from him by Count Moritz von Fries and a Prague-based partner; Fouché still had briefly lived there during the Hundred Days in 1815. To its south lied the Hôtel de la reine Hortense  [ fr ] , and to its north

589-502: The latter's share. Maurice went on to be enormously successful and, having inherited a fortune from the childless Adolph Carl von Rothschild of the Naples branch of the family, moved to Geneva , Switzerland, thus establishing a new Swiss branch of the family. In 1940, the Nazi occupiers forced the Rothschilds to sell the bank together with their other French properties. It was returned to

620-689: The loan package to stabilize the finances of the new government and a second loan in 1834. In recognition of his services to the nation, King Louis-Philippe elevated James to a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor . Following the Franco-Prussian War , in 1871–1872 the bank put together a syndicate that raised the five billion francs the country was obliged to pay Prussia under the terms of Armistice of Versailles . The Banque Rothschild then expanded its investment banking activities. In partnership with N M Rothschild & Sons of England, it owned

651-447: The mansion of Anne Jean Marie René Savary , both of which would later be absorbed into the Rothschild compound. Further north (No. 27) lied the mansion of banker Jacques Laffitte , after whom the street was renamed in 1830 (during his lifetime) as rue Laffitte . In 1836, James de Rothschild had his property remodeled by designers Duponchel and Bellenger. In 1838, he purchased the storied Hôtel Saint-Florentin  [ fr ] in

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682-424: The recently elected Socialist government of François Mitterrand nationalized the Banque Rothschild, paying 150 million French francs to the Rothschild family, and rebranded it Compagnie Européenne de Banque , the name of a former mortgage subsidiary. That bank was privatized in 1991 and acquired by Barclays . In 1987, David de Rothschild and his half-brother Edouard de Rothschild renamed Paris Orléans ,

713-521: The same year, 1820, he established S M von Rothschild in Vienna . The business financed the Nordbahn rail transport network, Austria's first steam railway, and also funded various government undertakings where large amounts of capital had to be raised. He made connections amongst the country's aristocracy and its political elite through Prince Klemens von Metternich and Friedrich von Gentz . Under

744-514: The time of opening. The railway used a telegraph system designed by Alexander Bain , in particular along the Vienna to Bochnia line, as late as 1886; the system was slower at messaging than the later Morse systems. The Northern Railway was selected as the main motif of a very high-value collectors' coin: the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand's North Railway commemorative coin , minted on 13 June 2007. The reverse side depicts

775-541: Was a Frankfurt -born banker in the Austrian Empire and the founder of the Austrian branch of the prominent Rothschild family . Born as Salomon Mayer Rothschild in Frankfurt am Main , he was the third child and second son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812) and his wife, Gutlé Schnapper (1753–1849). In 1800, he married Caroline Stern (1782–1854). They had the following children: His father had built

806-450: Was an essential part of the Rothschild family's strategy for future success in order to ensure that control of their businesses remained in family hands. Therefore, in 1824, Salomon's daughter Betty married her uncle James Mayer de Rothschild, head of the Paris bank. Trained in finance and with years of experience, Salomon was sent in 1820 to Austria to formalize the family's existing involvements in financing Austrian government projects. In

837-613: Was completed in 1847. The Nordbahn never directly reached Kraków or Bochnia . The first rail connection to Kraków via Bohumín, Kozle , and Mysłowice was provided by the Prussian Wilhelmsbahn and Oberschlesische Eisenbahn (Upper Silesian Railway). The line from Mysłowice to Kraków was built by the Krakau-Oberschlesische Bahn (Kraków and Upper Silesian Railway). An entirely Austrian rail route from Vienna to Kraków did not exist until, in 1856,

868-486: Was further honoured when the Emperor awarded him the hereditary title of Freiherr (German for ' Baron '). In 1843, Salomon Freiherr von Rothschild became the first Jew to ever be given honorary Austrian citizenship. Salomon's personal wealth was enormous, and he acquired extensive properties and made investments in art and antiquities. Despite the fact that he made substantial contributions to philanthropic causes,

899-570: Was run by his sons Alphonse (d. 1905), Gustave (d. 1911) then Edmond (d. 1934) together with Alphonse 's son Edouard . James de Rothschild had stipulated "that the three branches of the family descended from him always be represented." For the next seven decades that was the case but in 1939, Edouard and his cousin Robert de Rothschild (son of Gustave), experiencing friction with their other cousin Maurice de Rothschild (son of Edmond), bought out

930-416: Was spectacular and near-continuous. According to the bank's records, in 1815 the capital of the Paris banking house James Mayer de Rothschild founded amounted to £55,000 (equivalent to £4.8 million in 2023); by 1852 the figure was £3,541,700 (equivalent to £523.4 million in 2023), and in 1878, just ten years after his death, £16,914,000 (equivalent to £2.2 billion in 2023). After James, the Banque Rothschild

961-501: Was the family-controlled bank of the Rothschild banking family of France . It was established in 1817, expropriated by Vichy France in 1940, returned to the Rothschilds after the liberation of France in 1944, and nationalized in 1982 after which it operated under the name of its subsidiary Compagnie Européenne de Banque ( lit.   ' European Banking Company ' ) and was eventually sold in 1991 to Barclays . It played

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