Start 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne

Chapter 871 "Smithsonian Monetary Agreement"

William IV wanted to backstab Spain, but that was all for the future.

Now that the Netherlands is facing competition with the United Kingdom, it will naturally not push Spain into the arms of the United Kingdom.

No one knows that what William IV valued most was a good industrial economy, but what he wanted most was the growth of the Dutch guilder in its global expansion position.

He wanted to have the power of the dollar that would become the financial hegemony of the United States in the future.

As long as they are familiar with the power of the US dollar in the previous life, no country will not be afraid of it, but will also look at it with great envy.

The allies of the United States have always been very helpless to submit to others' slaughter, but the opponents are reluctant to be shaved off by others.

France's presidents in the mid-[-]th century, Charles de Gaulle, were always unwilling to follow the United States as their younger brothers. Although they saw the shortcomings of the Bretton Woods system, they failed to come up with better solutions.

On the contrary to the Netherlands, Chulalongkorn of the Kingdom of Siam is currently very helpless.

In fact, the President of Argentina pointedly pointed out as early as 1875 that the Dutch guilder, as the privileged currency of the Dutch alliance circle, turned the trade of the Dutch alliance circle into the warehouse of the United States.

On the contrary, it was the Netherlands, which benefited from the de-Dutch guilder movement after the deterioration of relations between Argentina and the Netherlands, and successfully helped it get rid of the shackles of the prime time. The Bretton Woods system established by the Dutch allies in 1867 completely collapsed, but there was no plan - The world dollar plan, including Triffin's, was accepted by all parties, but there was still turmoil for several years. It was not until 1877 that the national monetary system of the new Dutch alliance system, the Melbourne monetary system, was established.

But according to this special inscription, on the surface the Dutch guilder has been downgraded from the country's sole denomination and settlement currency in the Bretton Woods system to a currency similar to the pound sterling, the German mark, and the French franc.

But in fact, it was the Dutch guilder that liberated it - under the Bretton Woods Agreement system, the Dutch guilder was closely tied to gold reserves. You know, this shot has always been the only status of the pound in the British Empire.

In addition to the fact that the current export of weapons from the Netherlands requires countries to use Dutch guilders for transactions, countries also need Dutch guilders to purchase Dutch industrial products. At the same time, Dutch businessmen also use Dutch guilders to purchase raw materials around the world for cross-border transactions. The Netherlands The guilder has even become the official currency of the Kingdom of Siam in Southeast Asia, and countries in South America have also announced that the Dutch guilder can be used within their borders, making the Dutch guilder almost an officially recognized currency due to the international status and strong economic strength of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.Therefore, the Dutch guilder has even surpassed the national currency in terms of financial trust.

On February 1878, 2, the Kingdom of Greece announced monetary settlement arrangements with the Netherlands.

On April 1878, 4, the Kingdom of Denmark announced that all goods could be purchased within the territory using Dutch guilders.

In July 1878, the United Kingdom of Sweden and Norway announced that the Dutch guilder would be included in the national currency reserve. At the same time, someone in the Swedish Parliament proposed a proposal to allow the Dutch guilder to be bartered in Sweden.

By December 1878, the Finance Minister (Ministry) and Central Bank of the Union of South America, composed of the six countries of Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, and the Central American Federation (Honduras, Nicaragua, Boze, Guatemala, and Costa Rica) During the long meeting discussion, the Dutch guilder has already become a hard indicator currency recognized by various countries, and the Dutch guilder has officially become a regional currency.

For the first time, it became the largest common currency in South America.

The Russian Empire also announced that it would increase gold storage, lower the pound, and place 50% of its gold in Amsterdam and Sydney in the Netherlands.Spain also stated that it would support the swap between the Dutch guilder and the Spanish currency.

From the financial independence of various countries to the support of various countries to replace the British pound with the Dutch guilder, there was a sudden surge in "de-sterling" in many countries around the world.

However, de-sterling has made countries think differently about the Dutch guilder.

In fact, this is not a new drama. The Netherlands has been abandoned once in history, that is, in the 18th century, the Dutch tulip capital was dominated by countries led by the United Kingdom.

Now, the de-sterling movement launched by the Netherlands has made the UK troubled in the global financial market.

In the past, the gold standard was the main standard. Now, with the rise of the Dutch guilder, the scope of credit and applicable countries for the British pound has waxed and waned, starting with the Smithsonian Agreement of 1871.

Many people may not know what the Smithsonian Agreement is?
In fact, this agreement is named after Smithson, the then president of the Dutch Central Bank.

The Smithsonian Agreement is also known as the Smithsonian Institution Agreement or the "Melbourne Agreement".It was an agreement concluded on December 1871, 12 by the Netherlands' major allies on exchange rate adjustments.

In 1871, many countries around the world had doubts about the pound. As the second generation of the European financial world controlled by the Rothschild family passed away, the first financial family in Europe began to enter a period of decline, so the financial markets of various countries began to decline. Entered a period of chaos.

Therefore, the pound crisis occurred in this year. The British government announced that the pound would stop converting into gold, that is, it would no longer bear the obligation to exchange gold for pounds held by the monetary authorities of other countries, similar to the Dutch Bretton Woods Conference for many years, in order to maintain the fixation of the pound with gold. Obligation of ratio.

On January 1875, 1, the United Kingdom announced the "New Economic Policy", which mainly announced that the United Kingdom would no longer recognize the linkage of some national currencies to the pound, and even vaguely overturned the linkage of the pound to gold. However, gold cannot be linked to other currencies or requires the consent of the United Kingdom. The practice of conducting transactions.

Obviously, the sword is aimed at the Netherlands.

This caused dissatisfaction in the Netherlands and further intensified the currency war between Britain and capitalism.

On January 1876 and 1, 27, the Group of Twelve (Netherlands, Sweden, the United States, Denmark, Chile, Greece, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and the Kingdom of Siam) held secret negotiations in Melbourne, Australia, and reached an agreement Adjust the currency parity agreement and establish new exchange rate relationships for the currencies of the member countries of the group.

On February 1876, 2, the governors of the G5 central banks jointly announced in Melbourne their support for the Dutch guilder to replace the British pound as a foreign exchange reserve currency among various currencies. The Dutch guilder officially became the first foreign currency after the national currency. News As soon as it came out, the pound devalued instantly.Since the meeting was held in Melbourne, with President Smithsonian presiding, shares Smithsonian=agreed.

Six months after the agreement was finalized, the United States announced that the U.S. dollar was floating, and some other major capitalist countries also implemented currency floating. The fixed currency parity stipulated in this agreement actually became invalid.

Therefore, in recent years, the status of the Dutch guilder in the world has surpassed that of the British pound, becoming the world's first currency, although it is still far from the status of the US dollar in later generations.

(End of this chapter)