Basil Zaharoff, Who Sold Arms To Escalate Animosity Between Several Countries, Was Awarded the Title "Sir" by Britain

Basil Zahroff was called the "merchant of death." People considered him one of the most powerful people of his time. But little is known about the life of Basil Zahroff, the world's largest arms dealer in the early twentieth century. Zahroff was one of the richest men of his time, but his life was so secretive that it is still unknown what country he was from. Some people think he belonged to Greece. He was born on October 6, 1948, in the Ottoman Empire. His birth name was Vasilios Zechariah. His father is said to have been a businessman. It is also said that his family lived in exile in Russia for a few years during the persecution of the Greeks between 1820 and 1850.According to the information available so far, his family was very poor. To meet the needs of the family, Zahroff has to do things that are not suitable for children. Zahroff was controversial from an early age. He used to take tourists to the areas of prostitutes. After that he started working in the fire department. According to his biographer, Richard Devin Port Hines, Zahroff used to set fire to the cars of the rich. He then started exchanging currency. It has not yet been confirmed, but he is said to have arranged for counterfeit currency for tourists and those traveling outside of Constantinople. According to the Britannica Encyclopedia, Zahroff's family was also the subject of controversy several times. Zahroff was 21 at the time and had returned from the UK after completing his education. When he returned, he began working with his uncle.His uncle had a large clothing business in Istanbul. He sent Zahroff to London as a representative of his company, but two years later he accused Zahroff of embezzlement. The controversy escalated and Zahroff was arrested. The matter reached the court and the case was heard. The Greek community was of the opinion that the dispute within the family should not have been taken to a British court.

Zahroff was released on the condition that he remain within the jurisdiction of the court and continue to pay the embezzlement. But after independence, Zahroff changed his name and moved to Athens, the capital of Greece. It was a coincidence that he stepped into the arms business. There he met local financier and diplomat Stephenus Scolodis and the two became close friends.Scolodis had a Swedish friend who worked for the Swedish arms company Thorsten Nordenfield. He wanted to quit his job, so he recommended Zahroff to work in his place, and so Zahroff began working for a weapons company.

In 1877 he became Thorston Nordenfield's agent for the Balkans. As the company expanded, so did their dominance. In 1888, Harim Stevens Maxim (inventor of the automatic machine gun) merged his company, the Maxim Gun Company, with Nordenfield. Zahroff also rose to prominence and became the representative of the new Maxim Nordenfield Guns and Ammunition Company Limited in Eastern Europe and Russia. At that time, political and military tensions were rising between the Balkan countries, Turkey and Russia. In such a situation, all countries wanted to improve their security to avoid an attack by their neighbor. Zahroff had a golden opportunity to sell arms, which he took full advantage of. In 1897, the British Walker Sons & Co. bought Maxim Nordenfield, and at the same time, Zahroff's scope of work expanded and became more dominant.Zahroff was instrumental in the success of the new company, Vickers Sons and Maxim (the company was renamed Vickers Limited in 1911. He worked for the company until 1928. One of his most popular tactics was to escalate hostilities between countries with strained relations and then sell military equipment and military vehicles to both. A well-known example is the Nordfelt submarine. Zahroff managed to sell its first model to the Greeks on the condition of paying this amount in easy installments. He then told Turkey that the Greek submarine could pose a threat to its security and persuaded Turkey to buy two submarines. He then convinced the Russians that the three submarines were a major threat to the Black Sea region. And so they managed to sell two more submarines to Russia. None of these submarines were used, but they were deployed. However, experts believe that there was a flaw in this model of submarine.Zahroff was seen as inciting one country against another. That is why he was accused of being behind many wars during this period.

Inspired by Zahroff, the Belgian cartoonist Georges Remy, who created the cartoon The Adventures of Tanton, created a character named Basil Bazaraf. He was casted in the 1937 book, The Broken Air.

In the book, Bazarf sells weapons of war to San Theodores and Nuevo Rico, two countries that are always at war with each other. Georges Remy is thought to have been influenced by the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia in 1932 and 1935. Uruguayan author Jarvisio Posada, who recently wrote a book on Zahroff's life called The Merchant of Death, says it was one of the wars for which Zahroff was blamed. In addition to the Russian-Japanese War of 1904 and 1905, Zahroff's revolt against British colonialism in Asia and Africa is also at the forefront. This may or may not be true, but there is no doubt that the wars that took place during this period benefited Zahroff a lot and he made a lot of money from it. According to the Britannica Encyclopedia, "he became a billionaire by selling arms."His personal life was also marred by controversy. Zahroff left his first wife in Britain and remarried in the United States without divorcing her. His third wife, Maria de Pillar Magrio Yi, was the Duchess of Beirut of Valfranca and one of the richest women in Spain. She was married to a member of the Spanish royal family. Maria and Zhuroff had an unmarried relationship. Maria became a widow in 1923, after which they were married. But after three years of marriage, Maria also passed away. Zahroff then quit his job and settled in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Here he used to run a casino even though he had never gambled himself. Zahroff died on November 27, 1936 at the age of 87.Zahroff, remembered in history for his evil deeds, was honored for his significant contribution to World War I. As a high-ranking agent of friendly countries, he was instrumental in bringing Greece closer to friendly countries. After the war, France recognized his services by making him a senior official in the country's prestigious Legion of Honor. The British awarded him the title of Knight, for which he is also known as Sir Basil Zahroff.