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>was also where most modern billionaires made their fortune Could you explain this claim?

palmfacehn 2y ago
The Baku oil fields were capitalized by the Rothschild banking dynasty, which was already immensely wealthy before the oil age. Perhaps others will weigh in, but as I recall this was in response to the fabulous wealth Rockefeller was realizing in the United States. Petroleum had always been present around Baku and elsewhere, but it hadn't been exploited on the same industrial scale. It was sometimes regarded as an inconvenience which devalued land.
- kjellsbells 2y ago
  Exactly so. A really good, very readable book on this and oil in general is Daniel Yergin's The Prize.
  - mistrial9 2y ago
    yes agree that is an enjoyable and informative read..
- Arainach 2y ago
  Sure - I don't doubt that Baku made some people fabulously rich, I'm more curious about "most modern billionaires", specifically "most". I'm not even convinced that most modern billionaires made their billions through petroleum, much less Baku.
  - palmfacehn 2y ago
    Not sure what that poster meant by that. In this case, the Rothschilds were already a powerful European banking dynasty. There are many shadowy speculations about the different branches of this family. Perhaps this is where the confusion originates. The Nobel family did better relative to their previous station. In the end the Baku concerns were sold to Rockefeller before being nationalized after the Russian Revolution.
  - 1oooqooq 2y ago
    i think you're making the common meaning mistake between modern and current times when in a history discussion context.
- 1oooqooq 2y ago
  thats and the Nobels are the more public ones. there's also billionaires from the astrian dynasties all over baku. also stalin journalism career took off there.
kaonwarb 2y ago
I suspect the intended context is most Russian billionaires.
Aspos 2y ago
Nobel (the Nobel prize guy) made his fortune in Baku, IMSMR
- anonymousDan 2y ago
  I thought he made his fortune from TNT and then founded the Nobel prize out of guilt?
  - Aspos 2y ago
    I believe that's where he invented it
    - ablation 2y ago
      Nobel didn’t invent TNT. That was invented by Wilbrand. Nobel invented dynamite. Both were invented in Germany.
  - mometsi 2y ago
    He (Alfred) was well-known for explosives but most of his money came from his shares in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branobel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branobel, run by his brothers.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

The Baku oil fields were capitalized by the Rothschild banking dynasty, which was already immensely wealthy before the oil age. Perhaps others will weigh in, but as I recall this was in response to the fabulous wealth Rockefeller was realizing in the United States. Petroleum had always been present around Baku and elsewhere, but it hadn't been exploited on the same industrial scale. It was sometimes regarded as an inconvenience which devalued land.

kjellsbells 2y ago
Exactly so. A really good, very readable book on this and oil in general is Daniel Yergin's The Prize.
- mistrial9 2y ago
  yes agree that is an enjoyable and informative read..
Arainach 2y ago
Sure - I don't doubt that Baku made some people fabulously rich, I'm more curious about "most modern billionaires", specifically "most". I'm not even convinced that most modern billionaires made their billions through petroleum, much less Baku.
- palmfacehn 2y ago
  Not sure what that poster meant by that. In this case, the Rothschilds were already a powerful European banking dynasty. There are many shadowy speculations about the different branches of this family. Perhaps this is where the confusion originates. The Nobel family did better relative to their previous station. In the end the Baku concerns were sold to Rockefeller before being nationalized after the Russian Revolution.
- 1oooqooq 2y ago
  i think you're making the common meaning mistake between modern and current times when in a history discussion context.
1oooqooq 2y ago
thats and the Nobels are the more public ones. there's also billionaires from the astrian dynasties all over baku. also stalin journalism career took off there.

kaonwarb 2y ago

I suspect the intended context is most Russian billionaires.

Aspos 2y ago

Nobel (the Nobel prize guy) made his fortune in Baku, IMSMR

anonymousDan 2y ago
I thought he made his fortune from TNT and then founded the Nobel prize out of guilt?
- Aspos 2y ago
  I believe that's where he invented it
  - ablation 2y ago
    Nobel didn’t invent TNT. That was invented by Wilbrand. Nobel invented dynamite. Both were invented in Germany.
- mometsi 2y ago
  He (Alfred) was well-known for explosives but most of his money came from his shares in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branobel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branobel, run by his brothers.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]