Early life and the n.m. firm

After establishing a business in textile trading and finance, Nathan Mayer Rothschild gained his true initial wealth and success through banking. He dealt with financial instruments such as foreign bills and government securities. Seeing the opportunity in stockpiling gold bars and gold bullion, starting in 1809, Nathan began to deal in gold, which developed as the cornerstone of N.M. Rothschild & Sons.

This strategy of establishing a stockpile of a reliable, unchanging currency is what propelled him from a relative newcomer to British banking to the front stage. So much so that many experts find “there is no doubt that the family invented international finance as we know it by introducing concepts such as diversification, rapid communication, confidentiality, and high volume to the world markets.”

Remember the Napoleonic Wars? How the 1st Duke of Wellington and Commanding General was in desperate need of money to pay his troops?

Starting 1811, he undertook the project of transferring money to pay Wellington's troops. Due to his reputation, Nathan "was commissioned by the British Government to supply the Duke with the necessary funds, and together with his brothers he set up a network of agents to buy up coin and transfer it to Wellington in the form of local currency."

Nathan Mayer Rothschild utilized his initial success to build a robust network of agents to achieve the financing of Wellington's troops. 

One question now remained:

How could he use an already established, advanced network of agents for his benefit? Answer: Turn it into the most robust communication system in Europe.