The legacy of the millionaires of Imperial Russia. The richest people in the history of mankind Millionaires of the early 20th century

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Introduction

Chapter I. Financial dynasties

1.1 John Davison Rockefeller (1839--1937), John Pierrepoint Morgan (1837--1913), Andrew Carnegie (1835--1919)

1.2 Prerequisites for industrialization in the USA

Chapter II. Industrial boom in the USA at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. or "The Heroic Age of American Enterprise"

2.1 Trusts and monopolies

2.2 What contribution did big business make to the development of culture, business, and production at the national level?

2.3 Comparative statistical study by P.A. Sorokina

Conclusion

List of sources and literature used

Appendix No. 1

Appendix No. 2

Appendix No. 3

Appendix No. 4

Introduction

This topic is closely related to the periods of both the formation of the American economy and a number of economic fiascoes at the beginning of the 20th century, and specifically the series of crises of 1903, 1907-1908, 1913. I consider the topic I am researching to be relevant for study in the current, not entirely favorable, economic climate in Russia at the “today” period.

Wealthy people as a special social group have been studied very little to date. There are books on this topic, but most of this literature is far from science. Scientific works and studies like the books of F. Taussig “Inventors and Money Makers”, W. Sombart “Bourgeois” or T. Veblen “The Theory of the Leisure Class” mainly examine the psychology and lifestyle of the rich. On the other hand, the studies of Bertillon, Stewart, Dijney, Heron, Pearson, Paulis and other statisticians touch only on some of the problems of life of the wealthy classes and do not study separately the richest group of people. And there are even more reasons to say this about American millionaires and multimillionaires.

The purpose of this work is to study the personalities of American millionaires of the early twentieth century, namely John Davison Rockefeller (1839 -1937), John Pierrepoint Morgan (1837 - 1913), Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919), as well as to explore the financial side of the studied dynasties by studying research carried out by the outstanding sociologist of the twentieth century, the founder of the Russian and American sociological schools - P. A. Sorokin.

1. Cover the biographical aspect of the famous financial magnates of the early twentieth century:

a) John Davison Rockefeller (1839--1937),

b) John Pierrepoint Morgan (1837 -- 1913),

c) Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919);

2. Answer the question of who the studied personalities remain in the memory of the American people, their contribution to the development of culture, business, and production at the national level.

3. Identify the main financial monopolies and trusts in the light of political events of the time.

This work consists of an introduction, two chapters of three paragraphs, a conclusion and appendices.

The first chapter provides a local biographical overview of three famous millionaires of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, namely John Davison Rockefeller (1839 -1937), John Pierrepoint Morgan (1837 - 1913), Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919);

In the second chapter, it is somewhat more extensive than the first; it talks about the emergence of major trusts and monopolies, the contribution that big business made to the development of culture, business, and production at the national level, and the author also studies a comparative statistical study by P.A. . Sorokina.

In conclusion - results, conclusions.

ChapterI. Financial dynasties

1.1 John Davison Rockefeller (1839--1937gg.)

John Davison Rockefeller See Appendix No. 1 Fig. and was born in 1839. Like many great entrepreneurs, Rockefeller came from a wealthy family. He recalled the “commercial” atmosphere that surrounded him since childhood.

The father, a small businessman, loved to play trading games with his son and taught him how to buy and sell with the greatest profit. Seven-year-old John started his first business under the guidance of his mother - he fed and sold turkeys. Market relations were so rooted in the family that when, 15 months before coming of age, he asked his father for his share of property - $1 thousand to open his own business, he gave it to his son at a high usurious percentage.

Rockefeller's education did not last long, which was typical for most businessmen of that time: three years of school and three months of accounting courses. He later admitted that he was a “difficult student” and no book fascinated him more than accounting. At the age of 16, John was already working as an assistant accountant for the company. And with such intellectual baggage, Rockefeller became the leader of American business. The reason is that his era needed precisely those qualities that his parents raised. What was required was not the education and erudition of B. Franklin and T. Jefferson, but the cold rationalism of the organizer of large-scale production. John Rockefeller became one of them.

He became the first person in history whose fortune exceeded $1 billion. He became the first self-made-men Translation from English - he made all his money himself. , his other characteristic was extreme stinginess. John Davison was a modest Puritan - he did not drink, did not smoke, always carried a Bible in his pocket and lived to be almost a hundred years old. Rockefeller's net worth today would be approximately $190 billion, taking into account all his charitable donations.

John Pierrepoint Morgan (1837 -1913 gg.)

John Pierpoint Morgan See Appendix No. 1, Fig. b one of the most prominent entrepreneurs in the United States of the late 19th century, Morgan became the personification of the era at the turn of the century, an era when free trade had become obsolete. Translation from English. - free trade. , for which more than one generation fought at the beginning of the century, led to the trusting of the economy and the formation of colossal monopolies. But even among these colossuses, J.P. Morgan's enterprises stood out for their gigantism.

On the other hand, Morgan was an outstanding patron of art - for example, the head of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and he collected an excellent library of ancient manuscripts. Belle da Costa Green, a woman who had devoted herself to library work since childhood and was considered the best librarian in the United States, was invited to keep the library. Oddly enough, this strong-willed, educated and intelligent man kept an astrologer with him, answering questions: “To become a millionaire, just chance is enough. To become a billionaire, you need a good astrologer" Magazine "Banzai" No. 11 (49), December, 2006, pp. 100-102 //http://www.nashgorod.ru/n11/news_300.html.

J.P. Morgan was a sickly boy as a child, like all Morgans, he suffered from lupus, which disfigured his face. But health problems only developed his ability to overcome obstacles. He received an excellent education in Europe - the University of Göttingen, where he learned to appreciate art.

At 23, he became head of the New York office of his father's company.

In 1861, John Pierrepoint Morgan founded J.P. Morgan & Co, a company that originally served as a New York office for the sale and distribution of European securities guaranteed by his father's firm, Junius Spencer Morgan (1813 - 1890) - father of J. P. Morgan, becomes a partner of the famous entrepreneur and philanthropist George Peabody (1795 -- 1869) at Peabody, Morgan & Co. It serviced British contributions to the US economy and was based in London. 1864 After George Peabody retired, Junius S. Morgan took sole ownership of the company and renamed it J.S. Morgan & Co. , J.S. Morgan & Co - as we remember, initially the foundation of the Morgan empire was located in London. J.P. Morgan would later take it to the USA.

Andrew Carnegie (1835--1919gg.)

Of the three leaders of American entrepreneurship, only Andrew Carnegie See Appendix No. 1 Fig. came from a poor family (Rockefeller is the son of a small businessman, Morgan is a millionaire).

Andrew Carnegie was born in the Scottish town of Dunfermline into the family of William and Margaret Carnegie. His paternal great-grandfather, according to legend, was the grandson of the Scottish Earl James Carnegie, who participated in the Stuart uprising in 1715 and died an exile in France. It is also reliably known that Andrew’s ancestors were good at the weaver’s craft. As for the Morrisons, relatives on their mother's side, they were considered excellent shoemakers, and grandfather Thomas was a successful leather merchant in Edinburgh before he went bankrupt. As Andrew recalled, both his grandfathers, all his uncles and his father spoke at meetings as radicals, with Dunfermline for a long time being known as the most radical town in the whole kingdom.

At that time, both the English and the Scots were very concerned about the issue of universal suffrage, and at times the country was on the verge of a civil explosion. Although Scotland benefited more prominently than other parts of the United Kingdom from the parliamentary reform of 1832, expanding the electorate from 4,500 to 65,000 ROYLE., WALVIN J, English Radicals and Reformers: 1760-1848. Lexington.1982, p. 147 / Historical portraits. Andrew Carnegie / A.Yu. Salomatin // Questions of history.-1996: No. 2 p. 28, the inhabitants of its cities were not satisfied with the modest political concessions and demanded more. Anti-monarchist talk was popular in the Carnegie family at that time, and the republican form of government and the United States as its embodiment were extolled. And Andrew “was ready, even as a child, to kill a king, duke or lord and would consider such a murder a merit to the state and a heroic act” CARNEGIE A. Autobiography. Lnd. 1920 // Historical portraits. Andrew Carnegie / A.Yu. Salomakhin Questions of history.-1996: No. 2 p. 28. Once upon a time, dreams of a remote and free America should have become a reality. The first to emigrate overseas were the mother's sisters and their husbands. By the end of the 1840s. it was the turn of William and Margaret with their two children.

Perhaps the Carnegie family would not have decided to make the troublesome move if the 1840s had not brought about disaster for the Dunfermline weavers. The industrial revolution in England, which began victoriously in the second half of the 18th century, a few decades later reached a Scottish town with a population of 11,000 inhabitants and 3.5 thousand looms. 1836 was still a good year for Carnegie: the family managed to move to a larger house and bought three looms. But just two years later, as a result of mechanization, prices fell, and the situation did not improve any further. In 1843

A textile factory opened in Dunfermline, finally leaving the artisan Carnegie without a market.

And in 1848, 43-year-old William, 33-year-old Margaret, 13-year-old Andrew and five-year-old Tom left Scotland, selling all their property.

These four Carnegies were one of the 188 thousand people who emigrated that year from Great Britain to the USA. The emigration surge in general then increased sharply. The reasons for the increasing pilgrimage from Europe were the “potato disease” and famine in Ireland, crop failure in Germany and Scandinavia and the economic crisis in England, which then spread to other countries. .

Next they had to get to Pittsburgh up the river. Ohio. The trip lasted three weeks. Later, the same route was made by railroad in 10 hours, and in the middle of the century the railroad to Ohio had not yet been built.

Pittsburgh was significantly larger than Dunfermline, ranking third in population among all cities west of the Appalachian Mountains, and had over 30,000 thousand inhabitants. Conveniently located at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, it became an industrial outpost in Western Pennsylvania, specializing in textile and metallurgical production. It was with the first of them that the new stage in the life of father and son Carnegie was connected.

But as you know, the 1840s are considered the apotheosis of the industrial revolution in the textile industry and the period of the formation of the preconditions for capitalist industrialization of the United States. Having failed to establish sales for the tablecloths they produced, Carnegie’s father, and at the same time his son, entered the cotton factory of the Scot Blackton, while their wife and mother worked as an outworker for four dollars a week!

And when he then went to work at the reel factory, for another Scotsman, his routine duties were supplemented by the owner’s assignment to keep the company’s accounts. However, Andrew did not work in his new place for long, since he soon had the opportunity to become a messenger at a telegraph station that was in the center of public attention. The telegraph, after the famous discovery of the telegraph electromagnetic apparatus by the artist S. F. B. Morse (1837), was still in its infancy. But telegraph lines multiplied rapidly. Although such astute entrepreneurs as E. Cornell, S. Field, P. Cooper and G. Sibley rushed into this business, the telegraph business still gave good chances to succeed to its ordinary participants. The first commercial telegraph line, Baltimore - Washington, operated successfully . The year 1850 was truly a turning point in Andrew's life. From the dark basement, where he, smeared with soot, tinkered with a steam engine for two dollars a week, Andy was now transported “to heaven”; among the rays of sunlight, he was surrounded by newspapers, pens, pencils, and the work of a delivery boy seemed interesting and promising to him, because it promised not only cash tips and everyday treats in the form of apples and cakes, but also acquaintance with influential people to whom he delivered telegrams.

The question of when young Carnegie would ascend to the next rung of the social ladder was only a matter of time. Less than a year had passed before he was taken to work in the office, and soon, having mastered the telegraph apparatus, he found himself as a reserve telegraph operator

By that time, Andrew had already adapted as an American and began to live in the interests of his new homeland. His correspondence with Scottish relatives gives a certain idea of his state of mind in those years. He wrote to his uncle Lauder, for example, about the political situation in 1852 in the USA: “You will laugh if you know how low politicians are forced to bow before the holders of sovereign rights, that is, the people. Of the two most distinguished candidates whom I must call warriors, one is General, American Commander-in-Chief Scott, he is a Whig; The Whigs here are for protective tariffs against foreign workers and for a national bank, so they are conservatives. Democrats demand freedom of trade and the prevention of the organization of a National Bank. I take considerable interest in local politics and believe that when I become an adult man I will plunge into it a little. I will be a democrat, or rather a free-soil democrat; The Free Soilers got their name from their hatred of slavery and slave labor. Slavery, I hope, will soon be abolished in the country... Father said this morning that it would certainly happen, and noted just for you that the greatest reform of the century begins here: a law passed by the House of Representatives giving 160 acres of vacant land to everyone to the man who will cultivate it, and when he dies, his children will receive this land... The law has not yet entered into force, but will soon come into force.” . CARNEGIE A. Autobiography. Lnd. 1920 // Historical portraits. Andrew Carnegie / A.Yu. Salomatin K. I. n. Assoc. Penza State University/Questions of History.-1996: No. 2 p. 28

1.2 Prerequisites for industrialization in the USA

The main specificity of the industrial development of the United States, where industry was created as a vast territory was developed, at different stages of interconnected European and American capitalism: from the manufacturing period of the 17th-18th centuries. before imperialism. The first working machines appeared in the Atlantic states with the presence of crafts and manufacturing there, and the colonization of Western lands began mainly at the factory stage of capitalism. Having freed itself from colonial dependence, the US government began to implement a policy of extensive territorial expansion. New areas were annexed on the basis of the conclusion of unequal treaties, trade deals, through direct military violence and seizures. Louisiana (1803) and Florida (1819) became part of the United States. In 1823, the United States proclaimed the “Monroe Doctrine,” according to which any interference by European countries in American affairs was considered a threat to the United States. Thus, the United States gained the opportunity to unleash wars of conquest against Mexico. The following seizures and annexations followed: Texas (1845), New Mexico (1849), Upper California (1848), Oregon (1846). Only in the first half of the 19th century. The territory of the United States increased by 3.5-4 times. Expanding its territories, the United States pursued a policy of systematic extermination and displacement of the indigenous Indians of the mainland to the worst lands. The rights of the Indians and the treaties concluded with them were violated, and enmity was incited between the Indian tribes. Any protests of the Indians were suppressed, tribal leaders were killed, and entire tribes perished. This is how the Cherokee tribe, which had its own alphabet, schools, printing houses and newspapers, perished. Having discovered gold deposits on their territory, the American government drove the Cherokees to reservations allocated to them far to the West. During the resettlement, 4 thousand Indians died - this path went down in history as the “Road of Tears.”

The backwardness and fragmentation of the Indian tribes certainly facilitated the territorial expansion of the Americans.

It should be noted that constant wars in Europe contributed to the rapid growth of American capitalism. The United States, geographically located on another continent, did not participate in these wars, and therefore avoided large expenditures on the army, did not experience military devastation and received income from trade with all the warring countries of Europe. By supplying them with weapons and goods, American capitalists became significantly richer.

As a result of territorial expansion by the middle of the 19th century. the number of states increased from 13 to 30.

Territorial expansion led to important demographic changes: rapid population growth, active migration to the West and gradual urbanization. The following data shows the population rate: in 1790, 3.9 million people lived in the USA, in 1860 - already 31.4 million people. This means that every 25 years the population doubled - no other country in the world has known such a rate of population growth.

The increase in population occurred due to internal factors (natural increase), as well as external ones (the influx of immigrants and the import of slaves). The presence of a huge land fund became an attractive force for the influx of immigrants from Europe. In addition, immigration was encouraged by the government as the growing economy needed labor. Among the immigrants were hundreds of thousands of skilled artisans, engineers, workers, and inventors. For 1821-1860 Over 5 million immigrants arrived in the USA, mainly from Ireland, Germany, and England. Most of them are skilled workers and artisans forced to leave Europe as a result of the industrial revolution. In addition to the creation of an army of wage labor, mass immigration and population growth contributed to the creation of a capacious domestic market, which, in turn, led to an increase in demand for industrial goods, i.e. served as an incentive for the development of production.

Changes in the demographic situation were reflected in urbanization. The deepening of the social division of labor led to an increase in the urban population. Cities became centers of industry and trade. The share of the urban population increased from 5% in 1790 to 20% in 1860. If in other countries factory centers were populated due to the dispossession of rural residents, then in America - due to industrial and craft elements from among immigrants. New York, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis, etc. became major cities in the United States.

Before the Civil War 1861-1865. Within the framework of a single capitalist mode of production in the United States, systems of slavery and wage labor coexisted. It is obvious that in such conditions the type of industrial development could not be uniform for the entire country. The conflict between free enterprise and plantation slavery can also be viewed as a conflict between two forms of ownership and diametrically opposed types of labor organization by capital: slavery excludes wage labor, and vice versa. Both claimed Lebensraum (free lands) and dominance in the American political system. The country was led to the Civil War by a fatal dilemma: to be or not to be slavery? Although no European power practiced anything like plantation slavery, historians often compare the American Civil War to the bourgeois democratic revolutions. What they had in common was that rapidly growing capitalism eliminated any institutions that interfered with it - absolute monarchy, political fragmentation, remnants of feudalism, as well as slavery. Undeveloped capitalism could not exist without slavery, and when it matured, it destroyed it.

The main result of the Civil War was the abolition of slavery. The remaining components of the American economy - industry, trade, farm agriculture - were successfully developing before it, and in the northeastern United States the industrial revolution was completed by the 60s. The Civil War temporarily reduced the rate of economic growth, but ultimately it paved the way for the development of capitalism on a much broader and freer basis. The Homestead Act adopted in 1862 became the most progressive solution to the agrarian question in world history, and the leadership of the Republican Party, while in power from 1861 to 1884, carried out a whole series of events in the interests of entrepreneurs.

As for the South, even after the Civil War it lagged behind the North and West of the United States in development. Some of the plantations lost their owners and passed to new owners, some were divided into small plots and leased out. Mostly blacks still worked on the plantations, but now as farm laborers or tenant sharecroppers (croppers), who gave the owner part of the harvest (this form of land use is backward in nature and is similar to the “working off” of the former serfs of Russia on the land of the landowners). Along with it, the share of family farming in the South increased significantly, and people from the northern states also acquired land.

The abolition of slavery created a decisive prerequisite for the formation of a labor market in the South, but it did not fully develop even during the years of radical Reconstruction. The American Civil War was also a reflection of the industrial revolution. It cleared the way for the rapid development of capitalism in the United States in all spheres of the economy: industry, agriculture, trade

In the post-war period, the economic development of the United States experienced an upswing. For 1860-1870 Coal production increased fivefold, iron smelting increased threefold, and the length of railroads increased sixfold. And by 1870, the United States took second place in the world in industrial development. Quantitative growth was accompanied by significant qualitative changes: the process of concentration of production was intensive, the structure of industry changed, and new branches emerged. Giant enterprises were created. Their equipment corresponded to the latest achievements of science and technology. The most significant changes occurred in mechanical engineering. New models of metal-cutting machines have emerged - turret and milling machines. The US machine park has surpassed the European one in quantity and quality. This determined the complete independence of American industry from England. The World Exhibition in Vienna in 1873 clearly and vividly demonstrated the advantage of the United States.

Conclusion: so we see that in the last third of the 19th century. The US is undergoing a phase of economic recovery. Heavy industry sectors are developing intensively: electrical, chemical, mechanical engineering. The absence of remnants of feudal society determined the rapid pace of development of the United States compared to the main industrial countries of Europe. The USA takes first place in the world in terms of industrial production. The process of creating monopolistic associations in the form of trusts is underway. In 1890, the Sherman Antitrust Act was passed. As a result, a more flexible form of holding company associations has emerged. Monopoly associations controlled 80% of heavy industries. There was also a concentration of banking capital.

A feature of entrepreneurship in the United States was the intensive system of exploitation, which by the beginning of the 20th century had become form of scientific organization of labor. Thanks to the scientific developments of F. Taylor, F. Gilbreath, G. Ford, labor productivity at American enterprises increased several times. But in terms of industrial injury rates, the United States ranked 1st in the world. The raw material base of the industry expanded, and the demand for building materials, equipment, and manufactured goods increased. The machine tool industry is developing, milling and new designs of planing and grinding machines have been invented. The production of products begins, cheaper and in larger volumes than in Western Europe. Pennsylvania has a growing oil and rubber industry. By the beginning of the 20th century. The volume of foreign trade has increased. The export of capital to colonial countries increased (cheap raw materials were exported from Canada and Latin America).

Thus, by the beginning of the 20th century. The growth rate of the American economy was very high, the United States became an advanced industrial power.

ChapterII. Promyshlesignificant rise in the USA at the end of the 19th century -early XXV. or "The Heroic Age of American Enterprise"

2.1 Trusts and monopolies

Last third of the 19th century. - the time of the formation of large production and big business in America. This period is sometimes called the "Heroic Age of American Enterprise." True, representatives of big capital, in addition to flattering assessments - “heroes of the nation”, “captains of industry” - also received others. Farmers called them “robber barons,” and corporations called them “monsters” and “octopuses.”

They even talked about the arrival of a “new feudalism.”

At that time, in the United States, thanks to the widespread introduction of machinery, small-scale farming was replaced by large-scale mass production. The steam engine replaced horsepower. Heavy industry developed rapidly. More railways were built in the country than in the whole of Europe. The mechanization of the economy caused a huge increase in production and its concentration in large enterprises. During the period from 1860 to 1900, the cost of industrial products increased 5 times, agricultural products - 3 times. As a result, America by the beginning of the 20th century. has become the first industrial power in the world, overtaking the former leader Great Britain in terms of total production. The creation of large-scale production was stimulated by the domestic market, the most capacious in the world due to the large number of land owners - farmers, and high wages of workers.

Large-scale production required new methods of organization, management and financing. The independent manufacturer - owner of the enterprise was replaced by a joint stock company, or corporation, as it was called in America, which made it possible to unite small capitals in the country. A joint stock company is an organized business with collective rather than individual ownership. In it, the function of capital ownership was separated from management, which passed into the hands of specialists - managers. By 1900, corporations owned 60% of the nation's industrial output.

The owner's personal experience in managing an enterprise turned into a scientific system. The creator of the first theory of scientific management was the American engineer Frederick Taylor. Frederick Taylor's contributions to the development of management / World of business and money // http://woldbizz.ru/index.php?newsid=9 date of visit 04/12/09. In the 1880s. he conducted experiments to improve labor productivity and management efficiency. Then the number of business schools grew rapidly: by the beginning of the 20th century there were already 320 of them with 70 thousand students. The USA and Germany were the first to undertake the training of professional managers with higher education. In 1881, the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce was opened at the University of Pennsylvania, then at the University of California and the University of Chicago. In 1903, the Harvard Graduate School of Government was founded, becoming a national center for such education.

Large volumes of production, mass production of products, and the growing interdependence of individual industries did not allow the market to successfully cope with the function of a spontaneous regulator of the economy. The “invisible hand,” as A. Smith called the market, stopped working successfully. To regulate production in certain industries, associations of joint stock companies - pools, trusts - were created. In 1882, a monopoly in industry arose - the Standard Oil oil company, which became the first modern large corporation, and its creator John D. Rockefeller (1839 -1937) became the leader of American big business.

Success in business has not always been achieved by honest means. The history of American big business has many dark pages. The rise of Rockefeller and his company is a classic example of this.

The joint stock company Standard Oil of Ohio was formed in 1870. It included brothers John and William Rockefeller and three other businessmen. At that time, the Cleveland Rockefeller company owned no more than 10% of the country's oil refining, but by 1879 it controlled 90 - 95%, and its capital grew from 1 to 70 million dollars. One of the most important reasons for success is the establishment of close ties with the owners of the railroads that ensured control over the transportation of oil.

At that time, John Rockefeller told his brother Frank, who worked for one of the competing firms in Cleveland: “We have entered into an alliance with the railroads and intend to buy up all the oil refining in Cleveland. We will give everyone the opportunity to join... Those who refuse will be destroyed." In less than a month, 20 of the 25 owners transferred their business to Standard Oil. Independent entrepreneurs turned to Pennsylvania authorities for help and got the deal terminated. However, J. Rockefeller had already established control over all of Cleveland, and no measures by the authorities could break his relations with the railroads, whose leaders, Vanderbilt and Scott, soon became shareholders of Standard Oil. Transportation benefits for the corporation have resumed.

Equally strong relationships were established with the owners of oil pipelines, which also came under the control of Rockefeller. Standard Oil prevented the creation of independent oil pipelines: it delayed the passage of a law in Pennsylvania allowing their construction; bought land through which the oil pipeline was supposed to pass. The most common method of dealing with competitors is the principle of “different prices for different manufacturers.” The company sold kerosene 10-12% cheaper in each new region and in this way eliminated rivals in oil refining.

The most famous case is that of George Rice of Marietta, Ohio. The energetic engineer founded an oil refining plant in 1876. Standard Oil, in order to destroy its competitor, began selling kerosene to Rice's clients at lower prices, but Rice refused to give up his business. He appealed to the authorities, the press, the court - everything was useless. Rice was ruined, like many of Rockefeller's rivals.

An alliance with railroads and control of oil pipelines allowed Standard Oil to suppress or annex, following Cleveland, all the major oil regions of the country. Control over transportation and refining, in turn, ensured the corporation's dominance in oil production. Thus, in 1879, the entire US oil industry, until then torn apart by fierce competition, was united. True, the unification took place through no less brutal means, which resulted in the formation of a monopoly, and with it centralized management of the entire industry.

In the same 1879, an investigation into abuses on the railroads began in the state of New York, which forced Rockefeller and his partners to think about the legal form of their association, which, while maintaining a single management, would leave all companies the appearance of independence. It was proposed by Standard Oil lawyer S. Dodd. He resorted to the long-standing practice of English common law - management by proxy. By agreement of 1879, the stockholders of Standard Oil and its related companies transferred their shares to three trustees, receiving certificates in return. This made it possible during the investigation to deny Standard Oil’s connections with other companies. The proposed form was successful, and a new agreement followed in 1882, in which 40 companies participated. This time, the nine largest investors, led by J. Rockefeller, acted as trustees. Of the 70 million dollars of total capital, the trustees owned 46 million, and more than half of this amount belonged to J. Rockefeller himself. 1882 is usually considered the date of birth of a new form of association - the trust.

Standard Oil's experience quickly spread, and from 1887 the number of trusts began to grow. Only this year trusts appeared - lead, sugar, whiskey. 1887 - 1897 - the heyday of trusts. When a new wave of mergers began in 1898, it was no longer the trust that turned out to be the most common form of association, but the holding company, which out of habit was also called a trust, because its essence remained the same - the unification of production and distribution. Only the form of financing has changed: the holding holds in its hands the shares or property of companies that were formally independent under the trust. A significant role in the emergence of the holding was played by the Sherman Antitrust Act adopted in 1890. The Sherman Act - in the USA - the first federal antitrust law of 1890, which: - declared monopoly, restriction of trade, attempts to establish a monopoly and restrict trade, the creation of a union of firms and the entry into criminal offenses in conspiracy for the same purpose; and - provided the federal government or the injured party with the right to bring legal proceedings against those who commit such crimes. .

However, monopolization did not become the leading trend of the 20th century economy, as predicted by V.I. Lenin in his work “Imperialism as the highest stage of development of capitalism.” It also did not lead capitalism to decay and the socialization of production, although monopoly does harbor a tendency toward stagnation and loss of dynamism. Capitalism turned out to be more flexible, and the monopoly period was short-lived. Almost no association managed to maintain a monopoly for long. Under private ownership, ever-increasing production invariably prepares the way for new competitors. This happened with Standard Oil, which lost control over oil production at the beginning of the 20th century, when new fields were discovered in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. It owned only 1/6 of the production, but it continued to lead in oil refining and sales.

In addition, the enormous scale of production outgrew the capabilities of effective centralized management; in the 1920s. monopoly in the United States was replaced by oligopoly—dominance in the industry by several large corporations. In addition to the oil industry, Rockefeller extended his influence to other industries: railroads, gas, coal, lead, and shipbuilding. By the beginning of the 20th century. his capital was invested in copper, steel, tobacco trusts, and in many small enterprises. From industry he moved into banking - he owned National City Bank. As a teenager, Rockefeller told a classmate: “I want to be worth a hundred thousand dollars.” He realized his dream and became the richest man in America, the owner of a one and a half billion dollar fortune.

If Rockefeller started in industry and later came to banking, then John Pierrepoint Morgan (1837-1913) immediately took up financial transactions, spreading in the 1880s. its control over transport and industry. He headed another financial and industrial empire.

Railways especially needed centralized control, so from the 1870s. the process of their unification began. They became the first American big business. As a result, by the end of the last century, six giant railway systems operated in the United States, covering half of all roads in the country. The leading role here belonged to Morgan. In the 1880s. A real “organization” of the railways was taking place. Only two of the six systems did not fall within Morgan's sphere of influence. By the beginning of the twentieth century. he was the director of 21 railroads, three insurance companies, Federal Steel, General Electric, Western Union corporations, a Pullman car company, etc. This is how an integrated financial and industrial system arose, inevitable with the development of large-scale mass production.

Of the three leaders of American entrepreneurship, only Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), as we mentioned above, came from a poor family. Originally from Scotland, from a weaver's family, at the age of 12 he began working first at a weaving factory for $1.20 a week, then at the Pennsylvania Railroad, and only in his mature years left the service, going into independent business. In 1864, Carnegie organized the Rail Manufacturing Society in Pittsburgh, then, together with Pullman, founded the Sleeping Car Society. In the 1870s switched to metallurgy.

At that time, the Bessemer method of steel smelting was rapidly spreading. In the middle of the 19th century. Due to the rapid growth of production, the demand for steel increased sharply. The critical processing, crucible steelmaking and puddling that existed at that time could not satisfy this need.

At the end of 1854, at the height of the Crimean War, a powerful artillery shell designed by the Englishman Henry Bessemer was tested at the Vincennes training ground in France. The head of the expert commission, Captain Minier, noted that the matter is small: create a cannon to fire such shells. This prompted Bessemer to begin developing a new gun.

The first is a material that can withstand significant stress when firing large-caliber projectiles. The bronze and cast iron used at that time did not suit him and he decided to obtain cast iron of a higher quality. Bessemer first carried out his experiments in a small forge, then in a fiery (pudding) furnace. During another experiment, he noticed several pieces of cast iron that, despite the intense heat, did not melt. The inventor released a strong stream of air to enhance combustion. Half an hour later, Bessemer saw that only thin films of decarbonized iron remained from the pieces of cast iron. So, atmospheric air can decarbonize cast iron, turning it into malleable iron without puddling or other operations. Bessemer himself explained what happens in the metal when it is exposed to air as follows: the carbon contained in cast iron “cannot be in the presence of oxygen under conditions of white-heat heat, without combining with it and, thus, not producing combustion... Consequently , it is enough to bring oxygen and carbon into contact so that significant quantities of them are subject to mutual action in order to obtain a temperature not yet achieved in the largest furnaces.” Although in fact more heat is released when silicon, rather than carbon, reacts with oxygen, the essence of the idea did not change; in order to decarbonize molten cast iron, it should be blown with air.

This brilliant idea, which soon revolutionized metallurgy, at first seemed absurd to many, to say the least. Thus, when Bessemer told the foundry worker hired to conduct the practical melting that he wanted to blow cold air through the liquid metal, he said without a doubt: “The metal will soon turn into a lump.” And the master was very surprised when, after blowing into the mold, a dazzling stream of metal flowed down the chute. Bessemer wrote: “I am unable to convey how I felt when I saw this red-hot mass slowly rising from the mold. It was the first large ingot of cast iron that the human eye has ever seen.” // http://myrt.ru/news/inter/1092-lite-stali.html. He immediately allowed us to move on to its mass production. “Within 20 minutes,” Carnegie wrote in his memoirs, “we received the same amount of cast steel as was produced in 24 hours using previous methods.” CARNEGIE A. Autobiograpraphy. Lnd.1920 historical portraits. Andrew Carnegie/A.Y. Salomatin // Questions of history. - 1996 No. 2 p. 41.

The first Bessemer steel was smelted in Pittsburgh in 1875 at the plant of the Edgar Thompson steel company, whose partner was E. Carnegie. Gradually, the business expanded, and coal and iron ore mines and coke production came under Carnegie’s control. G. K. Frick, the grandson of a wealthy farmer who made a half-million fortune by producing whiskey, fulfilled his youthful promise to himself to become a millionaire. With enviable obsession, he bought, with money borrowed from relatives and friends, areas with open deposits of well-coking coal, and by 1873 he became the owner of more than 400 acres of such deposits and 200 furnaces for converting it into coke. This business, which had previously not brought any noticeable profits to anyone, became profitable for Frick, because as metallurgy developed, the demand for coke increased sharply. Two, then three, then four dollars per 1 ton, the prices for the fuel needed by the metallurgical industry grew and grew. Having entered into an alliance with Carnegie, Firk received the opportunity to increase the capital of his company to $2 million in 1883; expanded assets to 3 million, and Carnegie and his partners received in return over 50% of the shares of Frick's company. Andrew, through Frick, not only found access to valuable fuel, but also found a manager who was tenacious in business./A.Yu. Salomatin // Questions of history p. 35, railways. In 1881, all enterprises were merged into one company, which later became known as the Carnegie Steel Company. Its initial capital was $5 million, but already in 1892 it grew to 25 million, of which 14 million belonged to Carnegie himself, and by the end of the century - up to 320 million. The company became the largest steel and coke producer in the world . Its enterprises employed 30 thousand people.

Carnegie's important acquisition was the Homestead steel mill near Pittsburgh. “We produced there,” Carnegie recalled, “absolutely everything that could be made of steel, starting with thin nails and ending with twenty-inch beams... This was the last link in our Pennsylvania chain” CARNEGIE A. Autobiograpraphy. Lnd.1920 historical portraits. Andrew Carnegie/A.Y. Salomatin // Questions of history. - 1996 No. 2 p. 41. Carnegie was the first in metallurgy to create a production vertical, combining the entire process of steel production - from the mines where iron ore was mined, to casting and transportation of finished products. His experience was used in other regions.

Carnegie loved to publicly proclaim the brotherhood of capitalist and worker, and his support for the right to trade unions, as sacred as the rights of businessmen. However, in real life things were different. Many trusts did not tolerate trade unions, preferring to hire unskilled workers, mostly immigrants. Carnegie's plants, like Standard Oil's, had a secret service hunting down agitators. One of the first major clashes between workers and corporations occurred at the Carnegie plant. It was the Homestead strike in 1892. The mistakes of the American socialists, the isolation of the AFL as an organization of trade unions, the decline of the Order of the Knights of Labor - all this caused irreparable damage to the labor movement, which, in the conditions of the economic crisis and the general aggravation of the social situation in the first half of the 90s years was left without proper leadership, without a clearly developed platform uniting the allies of the proletariat in the anti-monopoly struggle, in the general democratic movement. In the strikes of 1892-1894, in clashes with such powerful trusts as Carnegie, not only unorganized workers were defeated, but also members of the AFL trade unions.

In the 90s, the leading sectors of heavy industry, mining, and railway transport were covered by the strike movement. “Events developed against the backdrop of a severe economic crisis that broke out in 1893, as a result of which by March 1894 the wages of metallurgists, miners, and textile workers were reduced by 10-20%, and, according to AFL estimates, 6 million people lost their jobs. Unemployment was widespread. Rallies of the unemployed took place in industrial cities. In Boston, they attacked official buildings. The governor called the police to disperse people demanding work 50.

Masses of unemployed people from all over the country marched on Washington in the spring of 1894 to demand that the federal government take measures to combat unemployment, set out in the Unemployment Relief Bill, drawn up by the leader of the campaign, J. S. Coxey. This movement, called the “Army of the Common Welfare,” relied on the sympathy and support of many populist organizations, trade unions (AFL representative in California Carl Brown was one of the organizers of the campaign), and local ORT assemblies. Along the route of the unemployed, rallies arose with the participation of workers and farmer organizations, and propaganda campaigns were carried out to explain the goals and objectives of the campaign. Reinforcements from unemployed and bankrupt farmers joined the ranks of “General Coxey’s army.” According to Justice Department agents,

About 60-70 thousand people approached Washington 51. Official Washington ignored the demands of the unemployed, Coxey and Brown were arrested.

The strike movement of these years, which reached its greatest heights in 1894 (610 thousand participants) 52, began with major demonstrations in 1892 by workers of New Orleans, switchmen in Buffalo, and miners in Tennessee. In the summer of 1892, the famous steel strike broke out

Homestead versus Carnegie monopoly. The main reason for the discontent was another sharp reduction in prices and worsening working conditions. The owner of the company and the manager took an irreconcilable position, and the United Association of Steel and Iron Workers, an influential member of the AFL, a union of skilled workers, which led the strike, weakened its position, refusing to cooperate with the unorganized proletarians of this industry / Kuropyatnik G.P. Farmer movement in USA: From the Grangers to the People's Party, 1867-1896. M.. 1971, p. 231./

US Department of Labor. Strikes..., p. 29.// http://www.history.vuzlib.net/book_o071_page_18.html, which became an excellent commentary on the businessman’s declarations of love for the working man.

At that time, 12 thousand people lived in the city, most of them worked at the Carnegie plant. Half of the workers are immigrants. Only a small part of the qualified personnel belonged to the union - the United Iron and Steel Workers Association, one of the largest American unions, with more than 24 thousand members. Carnegie wanted to get rid of him, believing that he was too expensive for the company.

In 1892, when the agreement with the trade union was expiring, plant manager G. Frick announced a 30% wage reduction due to the crisis. Carnegie himself chose to hide in his castle in Scotland. The workers did not agree and went on strike. They were supported by all employees of the enterprise, about 4 thousand people. The 300 Pinkerton secret police guards called by the administration were rebuffed and were captured by the strikers. The workers took over the entire city, creating a militia. For a whole month, Homestead was ruled by a strike committee, until the governor of Pennsylvania called in the state militia. The strike was crushed, and with it the metallurgists' union, which lost its influence.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, fierce competition continued in the American metallurgy, until in 1901 Carnegie decided to sell his company to Morgan, completely retiring from business and devoting the rest of his life to charity. As a result of this transaction, the super-union United States Steel Company arose, which became the largest US corporation, the first with a billion-dollar capital ($1.4 billion). It controlled 65% of the national metallurgy.

The emergence of big business awakened in US society a never-fading suspicion of large property. Americans saw the concentration of wealth as a threat to economic and political freedom, which is why all social movements at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. adopted an anti-monopoly character. Farmers opposed big capital, considering it hostile to society. They called railroad owners "robber barons." The average American has long identified big business with the idea of robbery. F. Norris in the novel “Octopus” Norris Frank is an American writer and journalist. Born in Chicago, into the family of a wealthy businessman. He studied at an art studio in Paris, at the University of California and Harvard University. He began his creative career as a journalist. He was a war correspondent in South Africa and Cuba, and editor of Wave magazine (San Francisco). Norris's first novels are marked by the influence of Emile Zola - Vandover and the Beast (1895, published in 1914), McTeague (1899). The pinnacle of Norris's work is considered to be the novel "Octopus" (1901) - the first part of the unfinished trilogy "The Epic of Wheat". Its second part - "Whirlpool" - was published in 1903, but the third - "Wolf" - was never written. Norris also penned a collection of literary critical works (1903). Died October 25, 1910 in San Francisco. conveyed the attitude of farmers towards railway corporations as an exorbitant monster, beyond the control of human will. The liberal intelligentsia also came out in the press with revelations about the activities of the trusts. Writer A. Beers published several articles against the Central Pacific company. He said: “We consider these people to be enemies of society and real criminals.” Beers was a public prosecutor in the trial of tycoon C. Huntington, who was convicted despite attempts to bribe the writer. Journalist Henry D. Lloyd became best known as an opponent of trusts thanks to his book about Standard Oil. It was the beginning of the “maccraker” movement, i.e. muckrakers who told the public about the abuses of large corporations. L. Steffens “Shame of the Cities”, E. Sinclair “The Jungle” and others wrote on these topics.

However, as large corporations grew stronger, so did their defenses. The ideal of the farmer-worker and politician was replaced by the cult of business. The press was literally flooded with materials about the lives and activities of the rich. Society was persistently indoctrinated that big business was useful, and its representatives were the color and hope of the nation. Such articles were published not only by paid journalists, but also by businessmen themselves. These ideas are especially characteristic of E. Carnegie’s journalism.

TOP 10 richest people on the planet in history

John Rockefeller

1. John Rockefeller. The fortune of this famous multi-billionaire from the United States was equal in terms of current dollars, taking into account inflation $318 billion, which is more than 4 times more than the richest person of our time, Bill Gates.

John Rockefeller is the richest man on earth in its entire history and the world's first dollar billionaire. In old dollar terms, he created $1.4 billion in wealth during his lifetime, which was 1.54% of annual US GDP at the time.

John Rockefeller was born in 1839 into a poor large family (his father was a lumberjack, and then became a traveling elixir merchant). At the age of 7, he began working part-time in his neighbors’ garden and got himself a little book in which he wrote and put all his earnings in a piggy bank. At the age of 13, he borrowed $50 to a farmer he knew at 7.5% per annum.

His only official paid employment was a short-lived job as an accounting assistant, which Rockefeller took at the age of 16, having previously completed accounting courses. John did not like that his salary was set less than that of his predecessor, and he soon quit.

Next, John Rockefeller became a partner of the entrepreneur, with whom he opened a joint trading business. Moreover, he borrowed the missing $800 from his father at 10% per annum. Later, he was able to convince a representative of one of the banks to give their company a loan for business development, due to which turnover was significantly increased.

In the early 1860s, kerosene lamps began to spread in America, which increased the demand for oil, the raw material for the kerosene used in lamps. John Rockefeller met a chemist involved in oil refining, and together they created a small oil refining company. And already in 1870, Rockefeller created his main vital asset - the Standard Oil oil company, which began searching for and producing oil.

Developing and increasing turnover, John Rockefeller bought up other oil companies, and was soon able to conclude a profitable deal with railway companies, which allowed him to crush his competitors by reducing the cost of oil transportation. Rockefeller presented them with a choice: merger with him or bankruptcy, and competitors chose the first option.

So in 1880, John Rockefeller became a monopolist oil magnate, concentrating 95% of US oil production in his hands. Gradually he expanded his business to other areas of activity.

It is noteworthy that from a young age, John Rockefeller constantly spent 10% of all his income on charity. Rockefeller died at the age of 97.

John Rockefeller's most famous quote: He who works all day has no time to make money.

Andrew Carnegie

2. Andrew Carnegie. American businessman, originally from Scotland, whose fortune in modern currency amounted to $310 billion.

Andrew Carnegie was born in 1835, he came from a poor family of weavers who huddled in one room. From the age of 13, Andrew worked in a textile factory 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, and earned $10 a month for his labor. Then he changed jobs to a telegraph company with a salary of $4 a week.

At the age of 20, he left his mother's house as collateral and took out a loan of $500, with which he purchased stock in the Adams Express railroad company. They began to bring good profits to Carnegie, which he began to invest in securities of metallurgical enterprises involved in car building, shipbuilding, railway construction, as well as in oil producing companies.

Thus, having become rich from the growth in stock prices, he was able to become the largest steel and iron producer in the United States by 1885, first forming the Carnegie Steel Company and then the U.S. Steel, which made him a dollar billionaire.

Like John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie allocated a portion of his earnings to charity throughout his life.

Nicholas II

3. Nicholas II. The TOP-3 richest people on the planet in the entire human history is closed by the All-Russian Emperor Nicholas II Romanov. His financial condition in today's money was $253 billion.

However, unlike the aforementioned billionaires, he, as a tsar, inherited all his wealth, considered the sovereign’s property, from his father Alexander the Third. There is no information in popular sources about whether he was in any way involved in increasing his fortune; attention is paid only to his government.

As you know, the life of Nicholas II was tragically cut short in 1918, when he, along with his family and associates, were shot by the Bolsheviks.

William Henry Vanderbilt

4. William Henry Vanderbilt. Next in the TOP of the richest people in the world is the 19th century American capitalist William Vanderbilt, whose name is not so well known and there is little information about him. However, he ranks 4th in the TOP of the world's richest people in history - his financial fortune in terms of almost $232 billion.

Vanderbilt inherited a large fortune from his father, who at first did not want to allow him into the family business (he had 11 children in total, of which three were sons), but then, convinced of William’s abilities as a businessman, gradually took him into the share.

After the death of his father, William Henry Vanderbilt inherited a fortune worth $90 billion, and then increased it by more than 2 times. His main asset was the railway company. In 1885, Vanderbilt was considered the richest man in the world at that time.

Osman Ali Khan

5. Osman Ali Khan. Rounding out the TOP 5 richest people in the world in history is Osman Ali Khan Asaf Jah the Seventh, originally from India. His fortune was almost $211 billion at the current rate.

Osman Ali Khan had a princely title: he inherited the throne of one of the Indian states from his father. At the same time, he was the head of the largest diamond trading business - a global monopolist in the supply of these precious stones. In the early 40s of the 20th century, his wealth was estimated at 2 million then dollars, which at that time amounted to 2% of US GDP.

Andrew Mellon

6. Andrew Mellon. American banker who briefly served as US Secretary of the Treasury and US Ambassador to Great Britain. His fortune was almost $189 billion translated into modern currency.

Andrew Mellon was born in 1855 in the USA and followed in the footsteps of his father, who was also a banker. First, at the age of 17, with the help of his father, he opened a manufacturing enterprise engaged in logging, and then, at the age of 27, he became a bank manager.

Throughout his life, Andrew Mellon worked in various areas of business, and already in old age he held major government positions.

Henry Ford

7. Henry Ford. Here, finally, is a familiar name again - the famous automobile tycoon Henry Ford, whose fortune amounted to $188 billion.

Henry Ford can serve as a good example of how to achieve great success and become a dollar billionaire from scratch. He was born in 1863 in the USA into a family of immigrants living on a farm. At the age of 16, Ford ran away from home and went to look for work in Detroit, where he began his career as a mechanical engineer and gradually rose through the ranks.

In 1883, he independently assembled his first car (not for work, but as a hobby), then became a co-owner of the Detroit Automobile Company, and in 1903 founded his own automobile company, the Ford Motor Company. This company began to independently produce cars: first the Ford A brand, but its main success was brought by the Ford T brand, production of which began in 1908.

Ford Motor Company repeatedly faced serious competition, and Henry Ford even suffered losses in this struggle, but did not stop and moved on. He constantly improved production technologies and, as a result, switched to a full production cycle: from the extraction of iron ore to the production of the finished car.

Henry Ford also became famous for paying his employees the highest wage in the United States at that time - $5 a day.

As you know, the business started by Henry Ford lives on to this day: Ford cars are a huge success all over the world.

Marcus Licinius Crassus

8. Marcus Licinius Crassus. Ancient Roman commander. Unlike other representatives of the TOP 10 richest people in the world throughout history, Crassus lived all the way back to 115-53 BC. However, he was able to achieve wealth, which in today's money amounted to almost $170 billion.

It turns out that even before our era it was possible to run a thriving business. Marcus Licinius Crassus made his fortune mainly by buying houses for next to nothing that had been damaged by fires, which were a common occurrence in Ancient Rome due to wars, restoring them with the help of 500 hired workers and reselling them at a significantly higher price. Crassus also made money from the slave trade and silver mining.

Marcus Licinius Crassus was known as a very greedy and dishonest man. There were rumors that he even deliberately set fire to houses in order to build a business on it. As a result, he was killed; according to one version, he was executed by having molten gold poured into his mouth, as a symbol of his greed.

Basil II

9. Basil II. Byzantine emperor from the family of Alexander the Great, whose reign spanned 976-1025. His net worth in today's money was $169 billion.

There is little information about this man, who is among the TOP 10 richest people in the world in history. It is only known that he was able to significantly expand the borders of the Byzantine Empire, annexing other lands to it. What’s interesting is that after his death the empire soon collapsed.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

10. Cornelius Vanderbilt. American businessman, father of William Henry Vanderbilt, who occupies 4th position in the TOP 10 richest people in the world. His wealth in today's money was $167 billion.

Cornelius Vanderbilt was born in the USA in 1794 into a family of poor farmers. At the age of 11, he decided that studying at school would not bring him anything good (he said “If I got an education, I wouldn’t have time to learn everything else”), he dropped out and went to work as a ferryman.

At the age of 16, he borrowed $100 from his mother, with which he opened his own business: he began transporting people on a small barge. A year later, he gave away 11 times more money: $1,100, which he managed to earn from this business.

Then Vanderbilt began to buy other ships, and soon he had a whole flotilla at his disposal. Later he switched to the railway business, and also began organizing transcontinental transportation.

Cornelius Vanderbilt was known as a very tough man, merciless in competition. It is believed that it was thanks to this character trait that he was able to achieve such magnitude.

This is what the TOP 10 richest people in the world in history look like. As you can see, there are both good and bad role models here. But it can still be argued that the majority of the richest people on the planet, mainly US citizens, were able to do it on their own, through investing and developing businesses, coming from poor families and starting from scratch. Which once again confirms the fact that this is possible.

I hope that it was not in vain that I carefully collected this information, and that the information received will have a certain motivating effect on you. Stay on, improve your financial literacy, and perhaps in the future you will be the one who will be able to bring your financial condition, your wealth and success closer to these historical characters. See you again!

Estimate:

There is never too much money, and the more money there is, the better a person feels, because he can afford a comfortable, carefree life. Therefore, humanity has been chasing wealth for centuries. The most fortunate (smart, strong – underline as necessary) managed to amass and increase their capital, forever becoming one of the richest people in the history of mankind, reports usa.one.

10. Genghis Khan

Years of life: 1162 – 1227
A country: Mongol Empire
State: a lot of land

Genghis Khan can easily be called one of the most successful commanders of all time. As the leader of the Mongol Empire, which at its height stretched from China to Europe, he controlled the largest state in history. However, despite his enormous power and abundance of land, scholars say that Genghis Khan was never able to accumulate personal wealth, because the khan's generosity was the key to his influence.

The fact is that Mongol soldiers, unlike other armies of those times, were forbidden to collect trophies. After a territory was conquered, everything of value and not much was inventoried by official officials and then distributed among the military and their families. And although Genghis Khan received a share of the spoils equally with everyone else, this hardly enriched him.

Source: flickr

9. Bill Gates

Years of life: born 1955
A country: USA
State:$78.9 billion

Well, who doesn’t know the richest man of our time, the creator of Microsoft, Bill Gates. Forbes magazine named him the richest man on the planet several times: from 1996 to 2007, in 2009 and in 2015. And at the same time, Mr. Gates is one of the record holders for the amount of funds donated to charity. He invested an incredible $28 billion in good deeds. Such generosity is worthy of respect.

Source: flickr

8. Alain Rufus, nicknamed Red

Years of life: 1040–1093
A country: England
State:$194 billion

William the Conqueror's nephew, Alain the Red, joined his uncle in the Norman conquest of Britain. For his service and courage in battle, Alain received from King William extensive possessions in Yorkshire and other counties of England. The center of the lands he owned was the Richmond Castle he built - the first stone castle in England. When Alain died, his estate totaled £11,000, which scholars say amounted to 7% of England's GDP at the time. In modern terms, this amount would be equal to $194 billion.

Source: wikimedia

7. John Rockefeller

Years of life: 1839–1937
A country: USA
State:$341 billion

John Davison Rockefeller became the first official dollar billionaire in human history. He made his fortune through oil: the young entrepreneur began investing in the oil industry in 1863, and by 1880 his company, Standard Oil, controlled 90% of American oil production. According to his obituary in the New York Times, Rockefeller's fortune at the time of his death was estimated at approximately $1.5 billion, equivalent to almost 2% of US GDP in 1937. Today that amount would be $341 billion.

Source: wikimedia

6. Andrew Carnegie

Years of life: 1835–1919
A country: USA
State:$372 billion

Although Rockefeller gained worldwide fame due to his fortune, Andrew Carnegie is considered to be the richest American of all time. Scottish immigrant sold his company to U.S. Steel to J.P. Morgan for $480 million in 1901. This amount is equal to approximately 2.1% of US GDP at the time, which would be equivalent to approximately $372 billion today.

Source: wikimedia

5. Joseph Stalin

Years of life: 1878–1953
A country: USSR
State: complete control over the finances of a country that produced 9.6% of world GDP

Stalin is not the most standard figure in modern economic history: a dictator with absolute power who controlled one of the world's largest economies. It is almost impossible to separate Stalin's wealth from the wealth of the Soviet Union. This unique combination of economic power and complete control over the country makes many economists name Stalin among the richest people of all time. And although the money did not belong directly to Stalin, he had the opportunity to use all Soviet economic power at his own discretion.

Source: wikimedia

4. Akbar I

Years of life: 1542–1605
A country: India
State: ruled an empire that produced 25% of world GDP

India's greatest Mughal emperor, Akbar, controlled an empire that accounted for about a quarter of world output. India's per capita GDP in Akbar's time was comparable to that of Elizabethan England, but the extravagant lifestyle of the ruling class there was far superior to that of European high society. The Indian elite was richer than their counterparts in the west. This is written by economist Branko Milanovic, whose research shows that the Mughal dynasty was one of the most effective empires of all time in siphoning money from the population.

Source: wikimedia

3. Emperor Shenzong

Years of life: 1048–1085
A country: China
State: ruled an empire that produced 25–30% of world GDP

The Chinese Song Dynasty (960–1279) was one of the most economically powerful empires of all time. Its wealth came from both technological innovation and an advanced way of collecting taxes that was hundreds of years ahead of the European equivalents of the period. The government of the Song dynasty was highly centralized, which meant that the emperor controlled the economy.

In this section we have collected biographies of the richest and most successful people in the world. The goal is to understand what helped them earn millions and billions of dollars, what skills and abilities they possess, what qualities they develop in themselves and what values they are guided by.

As one of them said, to become a millionaire, you must first become a millionaire. And we will add on our own behalf, in order to become a million-dollar person, you need to study the stories of successful individuals, try to get into their heads and learn to think like them. We hope our materials will help you with this. We wrote them primarily for ourselves.

The section is constantly updated, so add the page to bookmarks or subscribe to the site news to learn about the release of new biographies.

Bill Gates is the legendary founder of Windows, which owns the most popular operating system in the world. He is also the richest man on the planet for more than a decade, he is also a charismatic business leader, innovator, knight of Great Britain and father of three children. What events from Gates' biography and qualities of his character helped him become who he is?

Warren Buffett is a genius of the financial world, the most successful and unrivaled investor in the world, and also one of the richest people on the planet. Want to know the secrets of his success?

Steve Jobs, co-founder of the company, as well as several other companies, including the animation studio Pixar, is an innovative businessman who gave the world many interesting, intelligent toys such as iPod, iPhone, iPad, Mac, etc.

Henry Ford

Ray Kroc is an American entrepreneur, founder of McDonald's, a chain of fast food restaurants. For the businessman’s contribution to the formation and development of the public catering industry, Time magazine in 1998 included him in the TOP 100 most significant people of the 20th century.

Thomas Edison is a famous American inventor and businessman, co-founder of General Electric Corporation. During his professional career, Thomas received 1,093 patents at home and about 3,000 outside the United States. He improved the telegraph and telephone, and designed the phonograph. Thanks to his persistence, millions of incandescent light bulbs lit up the world.

Coco Chanel is an outstanding female fashion designer, founder of a fashion house, who proved that elegance is impossible without convenience. Her designer imagination includes a little black dress, a women's trouser suit, a handbag on a chain and other signature items that create a sophisticated style.

Walt Disney is a legendary American artist, producer and director. The creator of the first musical and feature-length cartoons in the history of cinema, he produced about 700 cartoons, won 29 Oscars and 4 Emmys, received honorary degrees from Yale and Harvard universities, and was awarded the highest civilian government award in the United States - the Medal of Freedom. On the Hollywood Walk of Fame, two stars are dedicated to Disney, one for the development of television, the other for his contribution to the art of cinema.

Richard Branson is one of the most brilliant and talented businessmen in the world, a billionaire, the founder of the international corporation Virgin, a record holder in aeronautics, and the owner of his own island.

Donald Trump is an American construction magnate, owner of the Trump Organization, who later became President of the United States. He is also known as the owner of the Miss Universe beauty pageant and the host and executive producer of the reality show The Candidate. Time magazine named him Person of the Year in 2016.

Madonna is one of the most successful women in the world who was able to work her way up from poverty. There was a period in Madonna's life when she spent the night in attics, and sometimes even checked the contents of garbage cans in search of food. But it didn't break her. What helped our heroine get to the very top and become one of the most influential women on the planet?

Elon Musk is an American entrepreneur, inventor, co-founder of PayPal, founder and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, and member of the Board of Directors of SolarCity. The Model S electric car released by Tesla accelerates to 96 km/h in 2.28 seconds. For his contribution to the commercialization of space, Elon Musk was awarded the Heinlein Prize and received $0.5 million (2011). Fortune awarded him the title of "Businessman of the Year" (2013), and The Wall Street Journal - "CEO of the Year" (2013).

Mark Zuckerberg

Pavel Durov is a Russian businessman, programmer, developer and co-founder of the social network VKontakte, led VKontakte as CEO from 2006 to 2014, and is currently the founder and CEO of the Telegram messenger.

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For many of us, the rich people of our time seem to be the most successful in the world. However, if you look at how rich people of the 19th century are, you can doubt the level of wealth of today's oligarchs. Wealthy people of the 18th and 19th centuries had so much money that their entire lives were not enough to spend it. Why was this? In fact, there are many reasons for this.

This is how rich gentlemen dressed in the 19th century

Incredible wealth in the 19th century came to those who knew how to set goals for themselves and, breaking barriers, go towards them. In general, today persistent people are also achieving financial independence. However, even if we compare the rich people of today and the wealthy of the 19th century, the difference in capital is quite high. In those days, the income level was many times higher.

However, there is a significant difference between the rich of those times and the present. Today, people who achieve success in one of the business sectors become rich, sometimes opening several types of activities. It is by running this business that they achieve success. Nevertheless, even the richest person of our time does not have even one tenth of the wealth that wealthy citizens had in the 19th century. Why? The answer is quite simple.

TOP richest people of the 19th century

There were quite a lot of rich people in the 19th century. And this is not easy to say, but is actually confirmed and proven by concrete facts. The list of the most prosperous inhabitants of the globe in the nineteenth century included the following personalities.

Anika Stroganov

He lived during the government of Ivan the Terrible. Anika was a very important entrepreneur of those times. He is responsible for the northern trade in products and goods delivered from England. Also, Anika was the discoverer of many lands in those days.

Images of Anika Stroganov's house in Solvychegodsk

He was involved in the development of the salt industry. Anika also organized Ermak’s expedition. The total amount of his wealth is not precisely known. But without a doubt, his level of wealth was several times higher than that of the current Russian oligarchs.

Portrait of Yakovlev Savva Yakovlevich

When Catherine took power over the people, Savva collected enough money to build six factories in the Ural region and buy sixteen ready-made factories. In history, besides Savva Yakovlev, there have been no people recorded who became so rapidly and significantly enriched in a short period.

Potemkin Grigory

Many people know that Potemkin was the most beloved gentleman of Catherine II. It is clear that Catherine had enough funds. Nevertheless, Potemkin was persistent and wanted to achieve success and wealth on his own.

Potemkin Grigory with Empress Catherine II

The noble army commander led military forces during several wars. After the victory over the enemies, Potemkin found himself in possession of a huge amount of land, which was donated by the empress herself. These plots made Potemkin the wealthiest man in Russia at that time.

Orlov Grigory

Gregory became one of the participants in the coup d'etat aimed at expelling Peter the Third from the throne. After which the government was headed by Catherine the Second. When Empress Catherine ascended the throne, she thanked Grigory Orlov very generously.

As a reward, the Orlovs received expensive and rich houses and estates, impressive sums of funds, as well as the title of count. But Gregory’s enrichment did not end there; in 1771, he successfully completed the mission of organizing and restoring the situation with the plague epidemic that broke out in Moscow.

Perlov Vasily

Vasily Perlov managed to achieve incalculable financial well-being thanks to tea. He became the first in Rus' who was able to conquer the tea market. It was he who introduced packaged tea to consumers. But he did not stop there, also conquering Europe.

Trademark of Vasily Perlov

They supplied him with tea from China, where tea products have always been of high quality and recognized among consumers. Perlov Vasily even organized a company and opened tea shops in different countries of the world. The tea industry brought Vasily a huge amount of money, because financial streams poured into his hands from different parts of the globe.

Polyakov Samuil

Samuel made his fortune by handing out railroad concessions. By contributing his funds to the construction of the tracks, Samuel was able to receive huge savings.

Polyakov used his capital very wisely; he spent it on opening educational institutions. In 1913 the wealth was $544 billion.

Patron of arts Pavel Tretyakov

Pavel Tretyakov's fortune at the end of his life amounted to almost four billion rubles.

Knop Lev

Knop had at his disposal a factory that was directly involved in the production of cotton products. Many believe that Knop got rich due to the fact that he could always keep in touch with the right people at a feast, however, in any situation and regardless of the amount of alcohol he drank, he remained sane.

This is what Lev Knop looked like during his lifetime

His wealth was $187 billion.

Smirnov Petr

Peter founded a factory for the production of vodka products. His goods were in high demand, so the income from his activities was significant, more than fifteen billion rubles a year.

Overall, Peter Smirnov’s wealth amounted to more than ninety-five billion dollars.

John Rockefeller

This man opened the largest corporation for refining and selling oil. He was deservedly called the first oil tycoon. And this is not surprising, because his idea is still popular today.

Photograph of John Rockefeller

John's wealth exceeds $300 billion. The most interesting thing is that Rockefeller achieved his success himself, because he was born into a rather poor family. Watch the video biography and life story of John Rockefeller.

William by inheritance became the owner of the royal empire.

Through proper management and action, he was able to acquire a fortune of more than $230 billion.

It is worth noting that William was prepared for government on the throne from a very early age.

Portrait of William Henry Vanderbilt

His father treated his son strictly and without mercy. However, we can say that he helped the heir become financially literate for those times.

Ford Henry

A very popular character who led a prosperous life thanks to his efforts. Henry was born into a poor family, where the lot was to work in the fields and enjoy what nature gives. However, Henry Ford was not going to settle for little. Since childhood, Henry Ford dreamed of being a mechanic; when he turned sixteen, he went to work at a factory.

The legacy of the millionaires of Imperial Russia. The richest people in the history of mankind Millionaires of the early 20th century

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TOP richest people of the 19th century

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