Basil Zaharoff
The 'merchant of death' who sold faulty arms to both sides.
Agence de presse Meurisse · via Wikipedia: Basil Zaharoff · Public domain
Basil Zaharoff was a Greek arms dealer and industrialist born on 6 October 1849.[1] The press called him “the Mystery Man of Europe,” and to his associates he was “Zedzed”.[2]
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Zacharias Basileios Zacharoff
- Born
- 6 October 1849
- Birthplace
- Muğla, Ottoman Empire
- Died
- 27 November 1936
- Place of death
- Monte Carlo, Monaco
- Known for
- Vickers
- Occupation
- Arms dealer, industrialist
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Basilius Zacharoff, a Greek notary and commodity dealer, and his reportedly blind wife Helena Antonides had four children, of whom Zacharias was the only son and the eldest.[3] Zacharias entered the world in Menteşe, a town in southwest Turkey that was then part of the Ottoman Empire.[3] After the anti-Greek "Easter pogroms" of 1821, his family spent more than twenty years living in exile in Russia.[4] Zacharias' initial employment involved guiding tourists in the Galata district.[3]
There is a belief that he later joined Constantinople's fire brigades and engaged in arson for profit.[3] From 1897 until 1927, Zaharoff was employed by the munitions company Vickers.[3]
What the cited sources add
The Vintage News account states that Zaharoff invented a sales technique called Systeme Zaharoff.[2] Mike Dash's article describes Zaharoff as an arsonist, bigamist and pimp, and an honorary knight of the British Empire.[5] Dash notes that Zaharoff was a brothel tout and an intimate of royalty.[5] According to Dash, Zaharoff was more than a match for Aleister Crowley in any contest to be dubbed the Wickedest Man in the World.[5]
The Smithsonian Magazine article states that Zaharoff served Vickers for 30 years as “our General Representative abroad”.[6] The same article notes that Zaharoff bought a château in France and bought up all picture postcards showing it.[6]
References
- Wikipedia, "Basil Zaharoff" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Zaharoff, "Mystery Man of Europe", Dies Armaments Salesman One of the Richest Men", The Calgary Daily Herald, 27 November 1936, p. 1 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Docevski, "Basil Zaharoff, the merchant of death who became Europe’s richest man", The Vintage News. facts only, no text reused. thevintagenews.com
- Wikipedia, "Basil Zaharoff" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Davenport-Hines, "Zaharoff, Basil (1849-1936)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, January 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Basil Zaharoff" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Docevski, "Basil Zaharoff, the merchant of death who became Europe’s richest man", The Vintage News (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Mike Dash, "The Mysterious Mr. Zedzed, the Wickedest Man in the World." A Blast From the Past, 16 February 2012.. facts only, no text reused. mikedashhistory.com
- Dash, "The Mysterious Mr. Zedzed: The Wickedest Man in the World", Smithsonian Magazine, 16 February 2012. facts only, no text reused. smithsonianmag.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Basil Zaharoff (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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