BOC#015 Box of Chocolates

De Beers, Rothschild, Rhodes, & Maxim

Apr 14, 2025

4 MINUTE MUNCH

THE ‘SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA’ INVOLVED THE CARVING OF THE CONTINENT BY EUROPE…

… such that by 1914, almost all of the continent, with the exception of Liberia and Ethiopia, had been colonized by Europe; a third of which fell under British control. With the assistance of the London based Rothschild bank, British imperialist Cecil Rhodes set his sights on the diamond mines of South Africa. Upon arriving at the Kimberley diamond fields, over one-hundred companies were already competing for the regions most sought after commodity. At the suggestion of a Rothschild agent in 1882, these companies were amalgamated until there were only four. A year later, the Rothschild bank financed a merger between the Rhode’s De Beers Company and Compagnie Francaise, followed by a final merger with the Kimberley Central Company. The De Beers company was to become the last remaining monopoly, primarily owned by Nathaniel De Rothschild and Cecil Rhodes. By 1888, however, Rothschild held twice as many shares as Cecil Rhodes.

In 1889 Rhodes founded the British South Africa Company and set his sights on central Africa and the gold mines of Matabeleland (present day Zimbabwe). Financed by Rothschild and with the assistance of the newly engineered Maxim gun (see below), the company opened fire on the Matabele ‘savages’, losing only four of their seven-hundred men. Rhodes renamed the conquered territory Rhodesia (modern day Zimbabwe). The De Beers jewelry and diamond company is still in operation today with a store located at the heart of London’s Old Bond Street.

Nathaniel Rothschild was the first Jew to receive a peerage into the House of Lords in 1885.

THE MAXIM GUN WAS INVENTED BY AMERICAN INVENTOR HIRAM STEVENS MAXIM IN 1884…

Having travelled to England in 1881, he established the Maxim Gun Company based out of his Hatton Gardens workshop. In 1888 the Rothschild bank funded the £1.9 million merger of the Maxim Gun Company and the Nordenfelt Gun Company, later becoming Vickers Sons and Maxim in 1896. The British War Office adopted the gun, and in 1901 Maxim became a British citizen, and was knighted by Queen Victoria. The rapid fire, belt-fed, water-cooled machine gun allowed the British to defeat armies thirty times as large. The weapon was put to use by colonial forces in Africa and branded WW1 as the ‘machine gun war’. Such was the weapons’ impact that the recipients of its wrath, most notably the African Matabele people, reported that the gun ‘spat bullets as the heavens spat hail,’ and even thought British victories to be mysterious and witchcraft-like. Maxim’s son, Hiram Percy Maxim, is credited with inventing the first commercial firearm silencer in 1902.

PASSAGE FROM 1986 PULITZER PRIZE WINNING LONESOME DOVE BY LARRY MCMURTRY:

“If you only come face-to-face with your own mistakes once or twice in your life it’s bound to be extra painful. I face mine every day—that way they ain’t usually much worse than a dry shave.”

ON THIS DAY: 14th APRIL

…in 1865 Abraham Lincoln was shot by Confederate supporter John Wilkes Booth. The original plan had been to kidnap him with Vice President Andrew Johnson, but the plan was later changed to assassination. Lincoln was shot in the back of the head and died the following day.

In 1912 the Titanic struck an iceberg at 11.40PM on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. It is said that the ship’s musicians, lead by Walter Lord, continued playing even as the ship was sinking.

In 1981 the first Space Shuttle returned to Earth commanded by astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen whose mission was to demonstrate the shuttles capabilities.

And in 2010 the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted in Iceland for the first time since 1823, causing the cancellation of over 100,000 flights. The volcano had previously erupted in 920 and 1612.

WORD OF THE WEEK: CHORUS

The word Chorus comes from the Greek Khoros, which means ‘dance’ or a ‘group of dancers’. People of the ancient world used to dance while performing poetry in honour of the gods at religious festivals. With the advent of theatrical Greek dramas, choral dancers played the interludes between the main acts. The chorus also provided dramatics and commentary, responding to the action on stage on behalf of the audience, often protesting and responding to impending doom through dance and recitation.

“DEATH MUST BE SO BEAUTIFUL…

…To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one’s head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forgive life, and to be at peace.” - Oscar Wilde

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