SIR BASIL ZAHAROFF (1874)

International armaments dealer and financier.

Reputedly one of the richest men in the world he was described as a "merchant of death" and the "mystery man of Europe".

He was the son of poor Greek parents who had Russified the family name during years spent in exile in Russia.
As a young man he worked for his uncle in the cloth trade in Istanbul.
In 1866 he was sent to England for further schooling and in 1870 he became the representative in London for his uncle´s firm.
Two years later his uncle accused him of embezzlement but he was acquitted of the charge.

Zaharoff left England for the eastern Mediterranean area under an assumed name.
For a time he lived in Athens where he met Stefanos Skoulodis a financier and diplomat.
On the recommendation of Skoulodis he was named agent of T.V. Nordenfelt the Swedish gun designer for the Balkans area.
In 1888 H.S. Maxim inventor of the machine gun joined Nordenfelt in business and Zaharoff became the firm´s representative for all of eastern Europe and Russia.
When the Vickers Company of England purchased Maxim-Nordenfelt in 1895 Zaharoff´s area of operations was extended even farther.

Zaharoff became a millionaire from arms sales and in 1913 he took out French citizenship.

During World War i Zaharoff´s activities and profits increased.
Using his wide range of contacts with influential persons throughout the world he became an Allied agent working on the highest levels.
Following the war France recognized his services by making him a grand officer of the Legion of Honour and Britain named him a knight grand cross of the Order of the Bath.

Hatin Turkey he used his friendship with Lloyd George to promote the Greco-Turkish War.

Zaharoff´s first wife was an English girl Emily Burrows whom he married in 1872 and later deserted.
For a number of years he carried on a liaison with the Duquesa de Villafranca whose husband Francisco de Borbón was mentally deranged. When the Duque died in 1923 he married the widow.

Following her death in 1926 he retired to Monte Carlo where he controlled the casino.