Introduction

In the late 1920s, it seemed briefly possible that the clock had indeed been turned back. After a decade of currency chaos in Europe — a product of war and revolution — an international monetary order based on gold, with many similarities to that before 1914, had been restored. The world economy, with the exception of Britain, was thriving. Germany was experiencing a Wirtschaftswünder (economic miracle) financed in large part by foreign borrowing, particularly in the USA. Funds again moved internationally, unimpeded by restrictions or by considerations of exchange risk.