The House of Rothschild in Spain

Farham. 2013

Author

Miguel Ángel López-Morell

Amongst the serried ranks of capitalists who drove European industrialisation in the nineteenth century, the Rothschilds were amongst the most dynamic and the most successful. Establishing businesses in Germany, Britain, France, Austria, and Italy they played a major role in fuelling economic and industrial development across Europe, providing capital for major projects, particularly in the mining and railway sectors. Nowhere was this more apparent than in Spain. Yet, despite the undoubted importance of the Rothschild’s role, questions remain regarding the actual impact of their financial activities and the effect they had on financial sectors, companies and Spanish markets. It is to such questions that this book turns its attention, utilizing a host of archive sources in Britain, France and Spain.

Table of contents

• Early Contacts and Failed Attempts to Set Up in Spain, 1812-1833
• Liberalism, Corruption and War Finances, 1833-1840
• The Contradictions of Peace: Financial Problems of the State and the First Moves towards Modernity, 1840-1855
• Financing the Railways
• Years of Financial Euphoria and Crisis, 1856-1868
• The Great Operations of the Sexenio
• The Rothschilds’ Waning lmportance in Public Finances, 1874-1900
• The Industrial Investments, 1874-1913
• The First Symptoms of the End of an Investment Model
• The Slow Journey towards the End of the Rothschild Investments in Spain
• Fundamentals of the Rothschilds’ Activities in Spain
• The Consequences of the Rothschild Years, 1812-1941