These included the sale of arms to opposing sides in conflicts, sometimes delivering fake or faulty machinery and skilfully using the press to attack business rivals.

Zacharias was the only son and eldest of four children of Basilius Zacharoff (d. 1878) of Constantinople, a Greek notary, commodity dealer and importer of attar of roses and his (reportedly blind) wife, Helena Antonides (d.

[5] Zaharoff sold munitions to many nations, including Great Britain, Germany, the Russian and Ottoman Empires, Greece, Spain, Japan and the United States.

[4] Hiram Maxim's automatic machine gun was a significant improvement over the then-current hand-cranked rotary barrel models.

In the first, Maxim's and Nordenfelt's machine guns were to be demonstrated at La Spezia, Italy, before a distinguished audience which included the Duke of Genoa.

Maxim's representatives did not show up; a person unknown had waylaid them with a tour of La Spezia's nocturnal establishments leaving them unfit for purpose the next morning.

A third demonstration also took place in Vienna, and here the gun worked perfectly but again an unknown person went through the gathering of senior officers, convincing them that the workmanship required to produce such a marvellous weapon could be achieved only by hand, one at a time, and that without the means for mass production, Maxim could never produce machine guns in sufficient quantities to satisfy the needs of a modern army.

Maxim, who knew he had a good product, successfully sought a merger with Nordenfelt, engaging Zaharoff as their principal salesman on a huge commission.

One of the most notorious sales by Zaharoff was that of the Nordenfelt I, a faulty steam-driven submarine model based on a design by the English inventor and clergyman George Garrett, which US Navy intelligence characterized as capable of "dangerous and eccentric movements."

Thorsten Nordenfelt had already demonstrated his vessel at an international gathering of the military elite, and while the major powers would have none of it, smaller nations, attracted by the prestige, were a different matter.

The mechanics, driven by steam propulsion, were completely inadequate for underwater navigation, and failed demonstrably when undergoing sea trials by the respective navies.

At this time Spanish inventor Isaac Peral designed and built the first submarine capable of navigating underwater with a decent level of control and with the ability to launch torpedoes both submerged and on the surface.

Peral refused twice, but after several attempts, he had a meeting with Thorsten Nordenfelt, the company owner, who offered him a deal to purchase the patent of the stability servomotor.

She was a personal friend and niece of Segismundo Moret, a leading Spanish progressive thinker and the Liberal Party Leader's right-hand man.

Unhappily married to King Alfonso XII's cousin, the Spanish Grandee, Francisco de Borbón, Duke of Marchena, she had unrestricted access to the Royal Palaces.

The acquisition of one of the best Spanish armament companies, Euskalduna, located in north Spain and renamed "Placencia de las Armas Co. Ltd" was in large part thanks to his love affair (later attributing his professional success to his sexual prowess), and through establishing a powerful network among Spanish politicians, journalists and military commanders, who served his business interests well.

This influential group of people took his side against the development of Isaac Peral's submarine, and the Spanish Government, despite the astounding success in sea trials, finally pulled the rug from the project.

The Central Chief of Staff and the head of the Armada Juridic Service were fired, and hundreds of officers were imprisoned and lost their jobs.

Although very little could be proved, Zaharoff was viewed as a master of bribery and corruption, but the few incidents that did become public, such as the large bribes received by Japanese Admiral Fuji in the 1914 Siemens scandal, indicated that a lot more was going on behind the scenes.

After its disastrous defeat by Japan in 1905, the Russian Navy also needed new equipment, but Russia was handcuffed by a wave of protectionism that required domestic industry for the rebuilding.

These French newspaper articles were recorded by the Reichstag, and instigated a vote to increase military spending, all of which worked to the advantage of Zaharoff.

To gain public recognition and acclaim, he founded a retirement home for ex-French Navy sailors, while a chair in Aerodynamics at the University of Paris led to further honours.

"[7] On July 31, 1914, coincidentally the same day that the noted antimilitarist Jean Jaurès was assassinated, Raymond Poincaré signed a decree appointing Zaharoff a Commander of the Legion of Honour.

In 1917 and 1918, on the behest of David Lloyd George, Zaharoff initiated a series of secret peace negotiations with the Ottoman Empire, beginning on 18 July 1917.

[9] Zaharoff convinced Venizelos to attack but, after some impressive initial success, the Greek Army was eventually driven back.

Eventually, this girl was baptised Tereza (1889–1967) and was raised by a surrogate family that Zaharoff found for her in Adrianople, in Eastern Thrace, later becoming a socialite in royal Athens society, and an impactful lover of both Ernest Hemingway, who called a her a "Greek princess", and Gabriele d'Annunzio, as well getting acquainted with Benito Mussolini, and serving as a model for Pablo Picasso in the early 20th century.

[citation needed] Zaharoff's country house, the Château de Balincourt, at Arronville near Paris, was formerly the property of King Leopold II of Belgium and was filled with works of art and one of the most beautiful in France.