History·16 February 2026·4 min read
Bretton Woods — the day the rules of money were rewritten
In 1944, in a mountain hotel, 44 countries decided how the postwar world's financial system would work.
In July 1944, representatives of 44 countries met at Bretton Woods, in the US, to build a new world monetary system after the chaos between the wars. The dollar was tied to gold, and other currencies to the dollar.
The birth of the modern order
The IMF and World Bank were also created then. Bretton Woods set the financial order that lasted until 1971 and made the dollar the world's currency. A single agreement shaped the economy for half a century.
