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Field Ethos
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By Will Dabbs, MD
My wife is the only truly inspired investment I’ve ever made. Most everything else I really should have just stuffed in my mattress. I have a dear friend, however, who is an exceptionally adroit businessman.
My buddy made his money peddling guns during the glorious Obama years. Every time President Obama uttered the word, “AR-15,” he pumped another quarter million black rifles into circulation. I would be genuinely curious to know if he appreciates that fact today. During the first year of Obama’s Presidency, my friend obtained an FFL and legally sold more than 1,000 AR-15 rifles out of his garage.
My pal’s favorite movie is the Nicolas Cage classic “Lord of War.” He owns three Blu-Ray copies. The first is in case the Internet ever goes away. The second is in the event something bad happens to the first. The third copy is locked up in his safe because we live in a fallen world.
“Lord of War” orbits around a fictional Ukrainian arms dealer named Yuri Orlov, an amalgam of several real-life gun runners. Principal among those was a Russian named Viktor Bout, arguably the most prolific purveyor of illicit weapons of the modern age. Bout was arrested in Thailand in 2008 trying to sell anti-aircraft missiles to Colombian FARC terrorists.
Mr. Bout was convicted in a Manhattan court of about a zillion bad things and sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. In 2022, President Biden traded Viktor Bout to the Russians for Brittney Griner, a Women’s NBA star who hates America. Griner had been arrested for smuggling weed through the Moscow airport.
We obviously got ripped off. The Russians should have thrown in Lenin’s mummified corpse or a couple of cases of Kalashnikovs to sweeten the deal. Since the exchange, Bout has earned a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ulyanovsk Oblast and facilitated a huge illicit sale of AK-74 rifles to the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Old habits, I suppose.
Viktor Bout is indeed a character. However, he pales in comparison to Basil Zaharoff, the original, undisputed Merchant of Death. Zaharoff was both an inveterate opportunist and a sociopath. A congenital inability to empathize with others was his superpower. These curious attributes synergistically combined to make him one of the richest men on Planet Earth.
Basil was born in Constantinople in 1849. His Dad was a notary, and his mother was blind. The young man’s first job was that of tour guide followed by a stint as a firefighter. Turkish firemen of this era were paid to salvage post-fire treasures for their wealthy owners. This unique milieu led to a lucrative side gig as an arsonist.
Basil Zaharoff soon began dabbling in weapons. He started respectably enough with the Swedish armaments powerhouse Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company, ltd. With the Balkans perennially afire, he found a willing market.
Zaharoff’s efforts were not entirely martial, at least not at first. The enterprising Greek recruited destitute young women in Ireland and shipped them to the U.S. to toil in American factories. He also made a decent living as a confidence man and sold railcars for a time. In 1885, Zaharoff passed himself off as Prince Zacharias Basileus and married a wealthy Philadelphia heiress named Jennie Billings. That all went swimmingly right up until he was exposed as a bigamist who was already wed to a young Briton back in Bristol.
Zaharoff wasn’t much encumbered with scruples. He sold ordnance to Great Britain, Germany, both the Russian and Ottoman Empires, Greece, Spain, Japan and the United States. His primary cash cow was the Maxim machine gun. However, that was carefully cultivated.
The Maxim’s performance eclipsed that of the Nordenfelt guns Zaharoff had been peddling. Maxim and Nordenfelt were once scheduled to demonstrate their wares before the Duke of Genoa. Zaharoff tracked down the Maxim sales team the night before at one of La Spezia’s seedier watering holes and went to work.
The following day, these wasted dudes were in no shape to fire automatic weapons in front of royalty, so they lost the contract. After successfully sabotaging the Maxim weapons on a subsequent demo, Zaharoff actually secured a job as Maxim’s primary salesman. He then made a buttload of money, merged the two companies, and showed Thorsten Nordenfelt the door. Now with some proper capital, Zaharoff got busy.
Zaharoff secured the rights to a deathtrap steam-powered submarine designed by English pastor George Garrett. He sold his first copy to the Greeks with payment terms that flirted with bribery. Zaharoff then turned around and sold two more to the Turks, the Greeks’ mortal enemies. With that threat firmly addressed, the arms dealer talked the Russians into a couple as well to counter the Greeks’ and Turks’ newfound undersea capabilities. Everybody won.
The problem, which should have been pretty obvious, is that you can’t make a steam-powered submarine. Whenever their crews attempted to fire torpedoes or maneuver with any particular enthusiasm, the ridiculous vessels just sank. Undeterred, Zaharoff nonetheless sold the things widely.
Zaharoff gained a controlling interest in the English ordnance company Vickers just in time to take advantage of the First World War. This bought him an intimate friendship with British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and his French counterpart Aristide Briand. He also got in on the ground floor at British Petroleum. By war’s end, Zaharoff was rich beyond all reason.
Like most insanely wealthy people, Basil Zaharoff developed an interest in philanthropy later in life. He gave to causes that supported war orphans, aviation, and the Olympics. Zaharoff penned his memoirs only to burn them later, so many spicy details have been lost to history. The great man died of natural causes in 1936 at age 87 in Monaco. His was an extraordinary life veritably drenched in other people’s blood.
The post Basil Zaharoff: The Original Merchant of Death appeared first on Field Ethos.
Continue reading...
My wife is the only truly inspired investment I’ve ever made. Most everything else I really should have just stuffed in my mattress. I have a dear friend, however, who is an exceptionally adroit businessman.
My buddy made his money peddling guns during the glorious Obama years. Every time President Obama uttered the word, “AR-15,” he pumped another quarter million black rifles into circulation. I would be genuinely curious to know if he appreciates that fact today. During the first year of Obama’s Presidency, my friend obtained an FFL and legally sold more than 1,000 AR-15 rifles out of his garage.
Art Imitates Life
My pal’s favorite movie is the Nicolas Cage classic “Lord of War.” He owns three Blu-Ray copies. The first is in case the Internet ever goes away. The second is in the event something bad happens to the first. The third copy is locked up in his safe because we live in a fallen world.
“Lord of War” orbits around a fictional Ukrainian arms dealer named Yuri Orlov, an amalgam of several real-life gun runners. Principal among those was a Russian named Viktor Bout, arguably the most prolific purveyor of illicit weapons of the modern age. Bout was arrested in Thailand in 2008 trying to sell anti-aircraft missiles to Colombian FARC terrorists.
Mr. Bout was convicted in a Manhattan court of about a zillion bad things and sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. In 2022, President Biden traded Viktor Bout to the Russians for Brittney Griner, a Women’s NBA star who hates America. Griner had been arrested for smuggling weed through the Moscow airport.
We obviously got ripped off. The Russians should have thrown in Lenin’s mummified corpse or a couple of cases of Kalashnikovs to sweeten the deal. Since the exchange, Bout has earned a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ulyanovsk Oblast and facilitated a huge illicit sale of AK-74 rifles to the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Old habits, I suppose.
Viktor Bout is indeed a character. However, he pales in comparison to Basil Zaharoff, the original, undisputed Merchant of Death. Zaharoff was both an inveterate opportunist and a sociopath. A congenital inability to empathize with others was his superpower. These curious attributes synergistically combined to make him one of the richest men on Planet Earth.
Origin Story
Basil was born in Constantinople in 1849. His Dad was a notary, and his mother was blind. The young man’s first job was that of tour guide followed by a stint as a firefighter. Turkish firemen of this era were paid to salvage post-fire treasures for their wealthy owners. This unique milieu led to a lucrative side gig as an arsonist.
Basil Zaharoff soon began dabbling in weapons. He started respectably enough with the Swedish armaments powerhouse Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company, ltd. With the Balkans perennially afire, he found a willing market.
Zaharoff’s efforts were not entirely martial, at least not at first. The enterprising Greek recruited destitute young women in Ireland and shipped them to the U.S. to toil in American factories. He also made a decent living as a confidence man and sold railcars for a time. In 1885, Zaharoff passed himself off as Prince Zacharias Basileus and married a wealthy Philadelphia heiress named Jennie Billings. That all went swimmingly right up until he was exposed as a bigamist who was already wed to a young Briton back in Bristol.
The Grim Reaper
Zaharoff wasn’t much encumbered with scruples. He sold ordnance to Great Britain, Germany, both the Russian and Ottoman Empires, Greece, Spain, Japan and the United States. His primary cash cow was the Maxim machine gun. However, that was carefully cultivated.
The Maxim’s performance eclipsed that of the Nordenfelt guns Zaharoff had been peddling. Maxim and Nordenfelt were once scheduled to demonstrate their wares before the Duke of Genoa. Zaharoff tracked down the Maxim sales team the night before at one of La Spezia’s seedier watering holes and went to work.
The following day, these wasted dudes were in no shape to fire automatic weapons in front of royalty, so they lost the contract. After successfully sabotaging the Maxim weapons on a subsequent demo, Zaharoff actually secured a job as Maxim’s primary salesman. He then made a buttload of money, merged the two companies, and showed Thorsten Nordenfelt the door. Now with some proper capital, Zaharoff got busy.
Underwater Opportunities
Zaharoff secured the rights to a deathtrap steam-powered submarine designed by English pastor George Garrett. He sold his first copy to the Greeks with payment terms that flirted with bribery. Zaharoff then turned around and sold two more to the Turks, the Greeks’ mortal enemies. With that threat firmly addressed, the arms dealer talked the Russians into a couple as well to counter the Greeks’ and Turks’ newfound undersea capabilities. Everybody won.
The problem, which should have been pretty obvious, is that you can’t make a steam-powered submarine. Whenever their crews attempted to fire torpedoes or maneuver with any particular enthusiasm, the ridiculous vessels just sank. Undeterred, Zaharoff nonetheless sold the things widely.
The Big Leagues
Zaharoff gained a controlling interest in the English ordnance company Vickers just in time to take advantage of the First World War. This bought him an intimate friendship with British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and his French counterpart Aristide Briand. He also got in on the ground floor at British Petroleum. By war’s end, Zaharoff was rich beyond all reason.
Like most insanely wealthy people, Basil Zaharoff developed an interest in philanthropy later in life. He gave to causes that supported war orphans, aviation, and the Olympics. Zaharoff penned his memoirs only to burn them later, so many spicy details have been lost to history. The great man died of natural causes in 1936 at age 87 in Monaco. His was an extraordinary life veritably drenched in other people’s blood.
The post Basil Zaharoff: The Original Merchant of Death appeared first on Field Ethos.
Continue reading...
