Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 2 - Britain’s Biggest Blunder, 1914–1931

  • Max Harris
  • Book:
    Monetary War and Peace
    Published online:
    24 February 2021
    Print publication:
    11 March 2021, pp 28-50

  • Summary

    This chapter recounts the breakdown of the international monetary system during the First World War and the subsequent reconstruction of the gold standard in the postwar decade, focusing on Britain's return to gold in 1925. Throughout the 1920s, central bankers cooperated with one another to guide the world back to gold, but fixed exchange rates and gold convertibility did not usher in nirvana. Britain, in particular, suffered from elevated unemployment and struggled to defend sterling's parity. London's decision to suspend gold convertibility in 1931 not only signaled the end of an era, but was to many countries the first salvo in what would become the monetary war.