@@timomastosalo Not really. It is about burning books, not buildings. It is a commentary on America's flirtation with censorship over fears of communism in the 1950s. I can't see any connection to the early life of an Ottoman arsonist, who would grow up to be an arms dealer.
'Almost'. Chronologically, it's the other way around. Would you believe, that Fleming working in espionage not that long after Zaharoff's death, tripping over his weapons, would find material for his villains from him?
@@1969cmp There's a story that when Fleming wrote the first Bond book, one of the first things he reportedly said was that Bond was NOT based on Reilly. Which says a lot about Reilly's story being more or less common knowledge.
its true. in any murder case the last consious decion that deliberatly lead to death is at fault ie pulling the trigger. he did nothing even vaguely wrong in the sale of weapons
Hey, the words that spurred Hiram Maxim onto going through with his whole 'machine gun' idea was a man telling him that if she wanted to make real money, best he 'market a device to help these Europeans cut each others throats quicker'.
It was pretty common throughout history and only recently have fire departments stopped burning down houses deliberately. A lot of fire departments were privately owned back in the day, so naturally they had to get "creative" to fund themselves. Marcus Crassus had his men burn/collapse houses on purpose in order to buy the land for cheap and rebuild it with slave labour. If you didn't want it destroyed, you had to pay him. He became one of the richest men of Rome, if not the world as a result of this. Unlike most, he got his comeuppance in the end.
Fire brigades often used arsonists for the interests in the 19th century. Another disgusting way to generate income for the was their influence in politics. Especially in the US, they were hired to incite riots, fires and threatening and beating up voters for the opposing parties by the politicians of the day.
In the story "The Broken Ear" by Herge, from the Tintin series, there is a reference to this character. Although the name had been changed to Basil Bazarov. He too was arms dealer, and the name of his company was "Korrupt Arms".
And people say WW1 was boring. Questions. How did he keep track of all his contacts and move around the world? Did he have a boat which doubled as a HQ?
Facebook doesn't exist on that time so he can move on plain sight without any gossipers nor reckless paparazzi's. Yes there's a BIG news that surrounds him BUT it would take a lot of weeks before they knew what he really was. Once they knew it, the did is done. 1 step ahead while they're 2 steps behind.
It's shame that almost nobody talks about this story.This should be taught in schools. This guy helps to made neutral Grace to go into civil war and later into WW1 in order to sell more weapons.This is closest thing to real life Bond-like villian that you can get. At last at this time.
I am greek .I learned Basil Zacharoff by reading a historical ,biografical fiction story:'Tereza' who was one of the first lovers of Ernest Heminway by a great Greek reporter Freddie Germanos.I was not taught about him from school and there was no reference of him in the public school textbooks.I am really ashamed of my country's poor public education and how classical and general education has been sacrificed to prioritizethe subjects of university entrance . luckily i have a rich library filled with interesting history books and i aspire to cover the gaps that school left me with.Everyone should do that cause if you dont know your history you are doomed to repeat it.
He didn't play the active role that Willy and Nicky played since British monarchs are so limited in power. Seems like it'd be a pretty dull special imo.
@@jambomaltido But King George V did change "Saxe Coburg and Gotha" to the "House of Windsor."he fact he felt compelled to do that, despite the deference to the Royal family that existed at that time, might actually make for an interesting story.
Zaharoff was portrayed by Leo McKern in the 1983 ITV series Reilly, Ace of Spies. If you ever get the chance, see this series or read the book it's based on. It pretty well much covers the whole period Indy just described.
An amazing character played to perfection by Leo Mckern in the equally fantastic story of Sidney Reilly: Ace of Spies. I can't recommend this series enough!
I really love these episodes about figures of WW1, since I've read about the war a fair bit myself, seeing these figures I only knew vaguely get fleshed out for their own story is fascinating.
Glad to see the Tintin mention. Amazing to think of essentially a children's comic book strip self-aware enough to show such a character, along with it's depiction of Japan's invasion of China en.tintin.com/images/tintin/albums/05oreille/Zaharoff.jpg
Really great series. I speak for many when I say thank you for sharing your knowledge. I believe we are in a knowledge revolution because of people like you.
Who said crime doesn't pay? It pays handsomely if you deceive and cheat with confidence and with no moral at all. A small time thief seals a pig. A real great thief steals a state/nation (Chinese saying).
And that's the most scariest part. We don't even know if HE did started the war. Hitler? Japan? Who knows! He died with the history on his own mind. Through old age but still, people like him wouldn't even bother revealing it till to their grave. That's how hiding in the shadows are MORE powerful than being a show off.
Growing up and reading Tintin, I never knew that the arms dealer character was based on a real person. Finding that out a couple years ago was quite a surprise.
Interesting..after she died, I found a scrapbook from my mother's youth and in it she'd put Zaharoff's obituary notice. Would've liked to have asked her "wtf, mom?"
This reminds me, how are people so upset about a Jewish conspiracy when you have Onasis and Zaharoff and prominent Greek lobbies in Washington? If anything people should be talking about a Greek conspiracy.
Psychopaths like Basil Zaharoff have existed in every Era and are a constant Plague to Humanity. Eventually Humanity WILL have to figure a way to accurately ID these people and remove them BEFORE they cause harm...
Any chance of one of these episodes focussing on Adrian Carton de Wiart? His story is absolutely incredible, plus fun, and I think he deserves to be better known. Viewers would love the tales of his Great War experiences (and injuries).
And succeeded without a creepy crippled boy with mind bending powers. Boy I love GoT but damn, they killed Littlerfinger like a fan fiction. At least in real life, there's no magics.
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"And what do you do for a living?"
"I'm an arsonist for the fire department."
*"WAIT WHAT?!"*
Fahrenheit 451
@@vincedibona4687 So that too, was based on Zaharoff
Terry Pratchett's inspiration.
@@timomastosalo Not really. It is about burning books, not buildings. It is a commentary on America's flirtation with censorship over fears of communism in the 1950s.
I can't see any connection to the early life of an Ottoman arsonist, who would grow up to be an arms dealer.
@@zarabada6125 r/woosh
Zaharoff sounds almost like a James Bond villain.
Well he has been expected him
He is featured in 'Reilly Ace of Spies' who some thing Reilly is who James Bind is based off. The whole series is on youtube.
'Almost'.
Chronologically, it's the other way around. Would you believe, that Fleming working in espionage not that long after Zaharoff's death, tripping over his weapons, would find material for his villains from him?
@@1969cmp There's a story that when Fleming wrote the first Bond book, one of the first things he reportedly said was that Bond was NOT based on Reilly. Which says a lot about Reilly's story being more or less common knowledge.
@@georgew2014 ThanKS 😎
"What do I care about 10.000.000 dead, I just sold them the weapons. I never said they should be used to kill each other..." B. Zaharoff
Spoken like a true j.e.w
Sounds like the reasoning of Yuri Orlov in Lord of War
its true. in any murder case the last consious decion that deliberatly lead to death is at fault ie pulling the trigger. he did nothing even vaguely wrong in the sale of weapons
Hey, the words that spurred Hiram Maxim onto going through with his whole 'machine gun' idea was a man telling him that if she wanted to make real money, best he 'market a device to help these Europeans cut each others throats quicker'.
I mean, he wasn't entirely wrong. He didn't kill anybody. Just like any arms maker/dealer.
"He was also a philanthropist"
*Awkward silence follows.... *
"Arsonist for the fire department" ...when real life is weirder than even Terry Pratchett's Discworld.
Fastwinstondoom He didn't a lot of the more absurd Discworld stuff from history.
Love it
It was pretty common throughout history and only recently have fire departments stopped burning down houses deliberately. A lot of fire departments were privately owned back in the day, so naturally they had to get "creative" to fund themselves. Marcus Crassus had his men burn/collapse houses on purpose in order to buy the land for cheap and rebuild it with slave labour. If you didn't want it destroyed, you had to pay him. He became one of the richest men of Rome, if not the world as a result of this. Unlike most, he got his comeuppance in the end.
Like in Fahrenheit 451, when Firemen burn books with flamethrowers.
Fire brigades often used arsonists for the interests in the 19th century. Another disgusting way to generate income for the was their influence in politics. Especially in the US, they were hired to incite riots, fires and threatening and beating up voters for the opposing parties by the politicians of the day.
What a loyal patriot!
Welcome to Greece. Greece is known to produce heroes and traitors in equal amounts.
@@cerealkiller7143 And sometimes both at the same time. Themistocles and Alcibiades for starter.
CEREAL KILLER technically he was an ottoman product but you can keep it in Greece it’s like we don’t want him but...
-every nation he sold stuff to
@@Alchymicae He was an Ottoman Greek. Actual history does not care about anyone's feelings or views.
Wow, you never hear about people like that in mainstream documentations.
Funny Farmer because mainstream documentaries only cover mainstream topics
"He was also very involved in Philanthropy."
Well, then that's alright. All else forgiven Basil!
This guy was truly the Littlefinger of WW1
Yeah.
You could say he brought chaos to Europe. A great big pit in the earth to swallow us all.
Wait for it :D
Mr. Smile chaos is a ladder.
omg GoT is degenerate
Despite the fact Zaharaoff was not kill by a 12 years old girl.
oopsie spoiler
The Chief gets it :D
This one was really great, thoroughly enjoyed it, and learned a lot.
Be honest did you guys photo shop a puggle in to that shot in Athens?
In the story "The Broken Ear" by Herge, from the Tintin series, there is a reference to this character. Although the name had been changed to Basil Bazarov. He too was arms dealer, and the name of his company was "Korrupt Arms".
Are we sure this guy didn't pay the Black Hand to shoot Franz Ferdinand? He sounds like the kind of Littlefinger to do this.
+P K There is also a rumour that he financed the Freikorps
Serbia recently dedicated a statue to Gravil Princip.
jerome sassani really?
uhm, unless all of the historians and documents are lying, Young Bosnia killed archduke. and the members were (oh shock!) from Bosnia
@@ferdblu1946yeah, why? There are many streets named after him as well
Why isn't this story a movie
Not a movie, but a biased documentary: ruclips.net/video/VJpG_7qEPOI/видео.html
I believe the first Sherlock Holmes movie was inspired by this story
He does appear a few times in "Reilly, Ace of Spies".
thedudepdx he's in the Sidney Reilly mini-series.
It was the second Sherlock Holmes. An arms supplier stoking anarchy to pit the European nations against each other.
I think there's only one thing to say about Basil Zaharoff: What a character.
We still have our own modern Zaharoffs, though.
Leo And his name was Captain Jack Sparrow.
A curse on all weapon dealers houses
And they pretty much run the world
what a life though...
nikos carrotkiller it's near incompressible how he was able to do so much
People where really productive without the internet back then.
@@PetarJovanovic993 Just imagine with the internet
*Cries in Cisco*
he sure had bollocks
You could say that he was the Wolf Of Arms Industry
Spartan 412 War Dogs?
And people say WW1 was boring.
Questions. How did he keep track of all his contacts and move around the world? Did he have a boat which doubled as a HQ?
+Mr. Smile he had many agents, from politicians to prostitutes, so he was in everything
Facebook doesn't exist on that time so he can move on plain sight without any gossipers nor reckless paparazzi's. Yes there's a BIG news that surrounds him BUT it would take a lot of weeks before they knew what he really was. Once they knew it, the did is done.
1 step ahead while they're 2 steps behind.
It's shame that almost nobody talks about this story.This should be taught in schools. This guy helps to made neutral Grace to go into civil war and later into WW1 in order to sell more weapons.This is closest thing to real life Bond-like villian that you can get. At last at this time.
It makes you wonder what sort of moral paragons are running our current arms businesses.
I am greek .I learned Basil Zacharoff by reading a historical ,biografical fiction story:'Tereza' who was one of the first lovers of Ernest Heminway by a great Greek reporter Freddie Germanos.I was not taught about him from school and there was no reference of him in the public school textbooks.I am really ashamed of my country's poor public education and how classical and general education has been sacrificed to prioritizethe subjects of university entrance . luckily i have a rich library filled with interesting history books and i aspire to cover the gaps that school left me with.Everyone should do that cause if you dont know your history you are doomed to repeat it.
This episode takes the cake! I've watched and rewatched for years but this one is too much. Thank you for this bit of history.. truly.
You've done two of the three cousins at war: Kaiser Wilhelm II and Tsar Nicholas II so what about King George V?
you know it's coming tho
He didn't play the active role that Willy and Nicky played since British monarchs are so limited in power. Seems like it'd be a pretty dull special imo.
You've seen it by now, right?
@@jambomaltido But King George V did change "Saxe Coburg and Gotha" to the "House of Windsor."he fact he felt compelled to do that, despite the deference to the Royal family that existed at that time, might actually make for an interesting story.
Zaharoff was portrayed by Leo McKern in the 1983 ITV series Reilly, Ace of Spies. If you ever get the chance, see this series or read the book it's based on. It pretty well much covers the whole period Indy just described.
An amazing character played to perfection by Leo Mckern in the equally fantastic story of Sidney Reilly: Ace of Spies. I can't recommend this series enough!
why is this not a movie or a netflix series or something my god what a life
I really love these episodes about figures of WW1, since I've read about the war a fair bit myself, seeing these figures I only knew vaguely get fleshed out for their own story is fascinating.
Im honored
+Basil Zaharoff Thanks, boss!
Thank you, Sir.
Very interesting video! Why haven't we heard about him in school. I'm honoured to support you guys on Patreon, you are amazing!
+Piero Sá thanks for your support
he needs to be a movie
I cant wait for the movie, its gonna be great.
thank you.i was waiting for this one.
An excellent, enlightening and entertaining history crash course
Glad to see the Tintin mention. Amazing to think of essentially a children's comic book strip self-aware enough to show such a character, along with it's depiction of Japan's invasion of China en.tintin.com/images/tintin/albums/05oreille/Zaharoff.jpg
Imagine if your video got taken down, you could just add it to the list you mentioned at the beginning
In Tintin's "The Broken Ear", the merchant that sells arms to both sides, and instigates war to sell them, was based on this guy.
As a Greek I find this episode very interesting.
Great episode! Well done.
Great episode guys ,easily one of my favorite ones!
Thanks for mentioning Isaac Peral, brilliant man, not very celebrated here in Spain.
Uggh! I believe this is my favourite RUclips video this year!
I love listening to this channel. Thank you again :)
This is probably the best episode I've seen so far, what a story & what POS Zaharov seems to be.
Really great series. I speak for many when I say thank you for sharing your knowledge. I believe we are in a knowledge revolution because of people like you.
Wow, this guy really was a textbook psychopath! But often such personality traits can be really useful in wartime..
They are useful at any time. There was a study made on CEOs of big companies, most of them have psychopathic traits.
Anders Eriksson very true but so EVILL
Yeah every smart person is a psycho
This guy's charisma is through the roof...
Some 10 years ago I got a random book, it was by Donald McCormick about Zaharoff and it kickstarted my interest in WW1
This was your best episode by far.
Who said crime doesn't pay? It pays handsomely if you deceive and cheat with confidence and with no moral at all. A small time thief seals a pig. A real great thief steals a state/nation (Chinese saying).
This would be an epic movie or mini series.
Who did what in World War One about Frederick Browning?
or Montgomery?
This man was so devious I wouldn't be surprised if he had a hand in starting wars
And that's the most scariest part. We don't even know if HE did started the war. Hitler? Japan? Who knows!
He died with the history on his own mind. Through old age but still, people like him wouldn't even bother revealing it till to their grave. That's how hiding in the shadows are MORE powerful than being a show off.
i have no word to describe this man.
As a loyal patriot of mars, Zaharoff sold death rays to martians too.
And 100 years plus later, we haven't yet learned from our past mistakes. Never let a single individual control so much up to include newspapers.
Love your channel! Finally a badass named Basil!
This is totally a movie plot
Better. A mini series.
Mr. Smile Maybe like Breaking Bad
This chapter has been the fastest to become my new favorite.
Growing up and reading Tintin, I never knew that the arms dealer character was based on a real person. Finding that out a couple years ago was quite a surprise.
That was one of the most interesting biopic stories I’ve ever heard!
This story deserves a Hollywood movie based on it... Thumbs up !!!
Truly one of your very best, vielen dank
3:30 There must be a Walpole in this guy's lineage somewhere.
Wow, what a character study! Larger than life in an era of great and greatly flawed men. Honestly, "la methode Zaharoff" is genius!
“What does it profit a man if he gained the entire world, but in the process lost his own soul” J.C.
fantastic story about a despicable man. thank you. truly educational.
Interesting..after she died, I found a scrapbook from my mother's youth and in it she'd put Zaharoff's obituary notice. Would've liked to have asked her "wtf, mom?"
Hey man what normal lady can resist that charm and debonair demeanour
If anything, you can truly say he was amongst the best bussiness man oneself could hear about.
What a crazy biography! Really amazing.
.." Too disgusting for Words.." a real charmer ..
now that you have done a special on Basil Zaharoff, would be great to see one on the famous Krupp Dynasty! :D
+Michael Morgan Yeah we should do that too
KRUPP STEEL MADE IN GERMANY IS STRONK
Leo McKern portrayed him in Riley Ace of Spies
so this is basically the puppet master of the great war
schwarz hund nope. There are many such as Rothschild.
keroji s lol no. Is the earth also flat? The moon a projection?
This reminds me, how are people so upset about a Jewish conspiracy when you have Onasis and Zaharoff and prominent Greek lobbies in Washington? If anything people should be talking about a Greek conspiracy.
Steve Kaczynski and then you have to ask who of them actually believe in it?
Keith - please take conspiracy to another channel.
Disgusting guy. Could very well apply to a political office nowadays, and earn as much money.
#ZaharoffDidNothingWrong
Psychopaths like Basil Zaharoff have existed in every Era and are a constant Plague to Humanity. Eventually Humanity WILL have to figure a way to accurately ID these people and remove them BEFORE they cause harm...
obama gave 185 billion dollars to terrorists and clinton sold 20% of US uranium to Russia
Nah, he'd be a lobbyist
Politicians today are rank amateurs compared to Zaharoff. And no current arms dealers is nearly as shameless.
Best youtube channel ever...!!!!
Selling guns to all side, when I growe up we called it Neutrality :)
Exploatores happen to be Swiss?
No but you got four letters right, three even in the right place :)
Exploatores Swedish?
Ah sweden my own land and the most unneutral neutral country in the world
I call it Switzerland
He was a serial conartist and dead merchant...but..."he was also very much in philantropy". Most con-artists have a veneer to maintain.
+Consider the petition to remove CNN from airports Al Capone used philanthropy as well
Fair point. Thanks for updating me on that.
Any chance of one of these episodes focussing on Adrian Carton de Wiart? His story is absolutely incredible, plus fun, and I think he deserves to be better known. Viewers would love the tales of his Great War experiences (and injuries).
This guy needs a movie or a TV series
People would call it unrealistic...
I just discovered your channel, Indy and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Thank you!
+Mr. Freen welcome to the show!
Great episode
I just discovered your channel and I've been binge watching it all day I really hope you keep these up because these are good
That was a fascinating story and man!
I love this wish I could donate to your youtube channel for all the free education you have given me.
Love the Tintin reference. That was my first thought when I saw the thumbnail picture.
The Littlefinger of the Great War
And succeeded without a creepy crippled boy with mind bending powers. Boy I love GoT but damn, they killed Littlerfinger like a fan fiction.
At least in real life, there's no magics.
This is the best episode so far
Jhony S yes
man I love this channel
Fantastic episode on a truly bizarre character...
Netflix could make a great series about Zaharoff’s life! And many will like it :)
Very interesting video. Learned something new
What a guy, his story would make a really great movie
Great show
as always great content!
I just discovered your channel . Well done. Great work. Thank you.
+daragh aherne-clarke welcome to the show
This guy needs a book, a movie, and miniseries.
Started as an arsonist for the Istanbul fire department. Ended as an arsonist for the World.
what a guy
I can't believe that I have finally caught up with the show!
Wait...Basil was a Bond villain. Before there was even a James Bond! BRILLANT!
Love your presentations Indie