History
In the late 18th century and early 19th century, Mayer Amschel Rothschild rose to become one of Europe's most powerful bankers in the principality of Hesse-Kassel (Hesse-Cassel) in the Holy Roman Empire. In pursuit of expansion, he appointed his sons to start banking operations in the various capitals of Europe, including sending his third son, Nathan Mayer Rothschild, to England. Nathan Mayer Rothschild first settled in Manchester, where he established a business in finance and textile trading. He later moved to London, where he founded N M Rothschild & Sons in 1811, through which he made a fortune with his involvement in the government bonds market.
According to historian Niall Ferguson, "For most of the nineteenth century, N M Rothschild was part of the biggest bank in the world which dominated the international bond market. For a contemporary equivalent, one has to imagine a merger between Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, J P Morgan and probably Goldman Sachs too — as well, perhaps, as the International Monetary Fund, given the nineteen-century Rothschild's role in stabilising the finances of numerous governments."
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