rŏthˈchīld, Ger. rōtˈshĭlt, prominent family of European bankers. The first important member was Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1743–1812), son of a money changer in the Jewish ghetto of Frankfurt, Germany. His first names are also spelled as Meyer and Anselm. It was he who laid the foundation of the family fortune by his skillful operations as financial agent for the landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (later Elector William I). His five sons were Amschel Mayer Rothschild (1773–1855), who remained at Frankfurt with his father; Salomon Rothschild (1774–1855), who established the Vienna branch of the family; Nathan Meyer Rothschild, who founded the London branch; Karl Rothschild (1788–1855), who established the Naples branch (discontinued in 1860 after the Italian annexation of Naples); and James Rothschild (1792–1868), who settled in Paris.

After the Napoleonic Wars the house of Rothschild attained increasing power, and in 1822 all five brothers were created barons by Emperor Francis I of Austria. Because of their position as creditor of many European governments, the Rothschilds were undoubtedly one of the world's chief financial powers in the 19th cent. Their banks played a major role in financing railroads and mines that made France an industrial power and the English branch financed the British government's acquisition of the Suez Canal. The improvement in state financing late in the century greatly reduced their influence.

The rise of the Nazis forced the family to give up its Viennese branch in 1938 and some family members fled to the United States during World War II. The Rothschilds remain involved in international investment banking, especially in London and Paris, and in 2003 the British and French branches were consolidated into a single holding company. Rothschild family members have traditionally maintained their Jewish faith and have consistently engaged in large-scale philanthropic activities for both Jews and non-Jews. Many later and contemporary members of the family distinguished themselves as patrons of the arts, sportsmen, writers, and doctors.

See F. Morton, The Rothschilds (1962); E. C. Corti, Rise of the House of Rothschild (1928, repr. 1972) and Reign of the House of Rothschild (1928); V. S. Cowles, The Rothschilds (1973); D. Wilson, Rothschild (1988); N. Ferguson, The House of Rothschild (2 vol., 1999); the memoirs of G. de Rothschild (1985).

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