Now in 1944, Britain has exhausted all its energy in the world war and can no longer maintain the pound's international currency status. A new king is about to ascend the throne.
The only currencies most likely to replace the pound as international currencies are the rand and the dollar. Relatively speaking, the rand has a greater chance.
The rand is currently the only currency directly convertible into gold.
The decoupling of the British pound and the U.S. dollar from gold can be traced back to the Great Depression. At that time, in order to restructure the financial system, the United Kingdom and the United States immediately announced the decoupling of the British pound and the U.S. dollar from gold. Since then, the British pound and the U.S. dollar have directly lost the ability to exchange for gold.
This impact was very huge. Without gold as a guarantee, the credibility of the pound and the US dollar plummeted. In order to change this situation, the UK later implemented the gold nugget standard, which was eventually ended due to lack of strength.
The Americans took action earlier in this regard. In April this year, the United States invited financial officials from southern Africa and the United Kingdom to hold a meeting in New Hampshire, USA, in an attempt to establish a new international monetary system and end the pound's international currency status.
This is really too hasty. Southern Africa has not yet taken action. It is unlikely that the United States will unilaterally end the pound.
At the New Hampshire meeting, U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Harry White proposed a plan to establish international financial institutions, stabilize exchange rates, expand international trade, and promote world economic development.
The plan was good, but unfortunately it was not in line with the strength of the United States, so the "White Plan" did not get the consent of southern Africa and the United Kingdom.
The famous economist Keynes represented the United Kingdom at the meeting. His plan for the International Clearing Union also failed to pass, so the matter was temporarily shelved.
Last month, Ada invited British and American officials to reconvene a meeting in southern Africa, this time in Johannesburg.
Relevant representatives from the United Kingdom and the United States have now arrived in Johannesburg. The person representing the United States attending the meeting is U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, and the person representing the United Kingdom is still attending the meeting, Keynes.
Henry Morgenthau was a Hebrew. He hated Germany's planned extermination of the Hebrews. Two months ago, Henry Morgenthau proposed a "Morgenthau Plan" to deal with Germany after the war.
Once the plan was exposed, public opinion exploded.
The core content of Morgenthau's plan was to divide Germany into northern and southern parts, and in order to limit Germany's war potential, Germany's population should be controlled within 20 million.
Compared with these two points, the deindustrialization of Germany is simply not worth mentioning.
In recent years, there have been several post-war punishment plans for Germany within the Allies, and Morgenthau's version is the most vicious.
If Morgenthau's plan is followed, then in a few decades there may be no German nation left in the world.
In essence, Morgenthau's attitude towards Germany was the same as Germany's attitude towards the Hebrews.
Morgenthau's plan was opposed by Roosevelt and Winston.
However, Morgenthau did not give up. After arriving in Johannesburg, Morgenthau took every opportunity to promote his plan, but the effect was not good.
"The biggest problem in southern Africa is that it is far away from Europe. It has no personal experience with the German threat, so it is difficult for southern Africans to understand Europe's fear of Germany -" Morgenthau was very disappointed. Just now, he had not had time to sell to Rock.
His Morgenthau plan was sent out of the Palace of Justice.
Within the Allied Forces, there is no doubt about the status of southern Africa. If Roque's support is obtained, then Morgenthau's plan may be implemented.
"You should review whether your plan is too extreme. According to you, Britain should feel deeply about the threat from Germany, but why are even the British opposed to your plan?" Hoover, the U.S. Ambassador to Southern Africa, didn't like it either.
Morgenthau's plan, this was Hoover's second term as U.S. ambassador to southern Africa.
After Hoover left the presidency, he served as the U.S. Ambassador to Southern Africa.
When Roosevelt ran for president for the second time, Hoover voluntarily resigned and returned to the United States to run on behalf of the Republican Party.
At that time, Roosevelt had just led the United States out of the Great Depression and was at its peak. Hoover suffered a complete defeat and returned to his hometown to live in seclusion in despair.
After the outbreak of the world war, Roosevelt hoped that Hoover would serve as the U.S. ambassador to southern Africa again. After careful consideration, Hoover agreed to Roosevelt's invitation and prepared to run for office again in the future.
"The British have not given up the continental balancing policy, and of course they will return to weaken Germany too much -" Morgenthau knew the British very well, so he did not have a good impression of the British: "-But the biggest threat to Britain now does not come from Germany, nor does it
Not from France, but from Russia!”
This is true. Russia's threat level is twice as great as that of Germany and France combined.
Or many times.
"To be honest, your plan is not without merit. At least splitting Germany into two parts is very likely to be realized-" Hoover was not a newbie in politics, and he had the support of a think tank behind him.
The partition of Germany was not for political reasons, but for military reasons.
Now that Russia has invaded Germany, although the Allied forces are still standing still, as long as they resume the offensive, they will definitely be overwhelming. When the German army faces the Allies, its fighting will is much weaker than when facing the Russian army.
Blood debts must be paid with blood. The Germans know their own affairs. How they treated Russian prisoners of war will be treated by Russia.
Therefore, surrendering is also death, fighting to the end is also death, it is better to fight to the end, at least it will not bring shame to the family.
At the St. Petersburg meeting, the bearded leader made it clear that he would not give up any territory captured by the Russian army.
Now in the areas occupied by Russian troops, a provisional government with the Communist International at its core has been established.
Under such circumstances, Germany's division was irreversible.
"Can you help me contact Mr. Gavin? I just need a chance." Morgenthau has not given up yet. He will not call Gavin the distinguished Mr. Gavin Locke like the decadent British nobles do.
"There is no need to work in vain. In southern Africa, as long as Locke is still the master of the Palace of Justice, there will be only one voice in southern Africa." Hoover was very clear about Locke's status in southern Africa. Gavin may be the future of southern Africa, but it is definitely not the present.
"How will you know if you don't give it a try?" Morgenthau was not discouraged. No matter what the result was, there was nothing wrong with giving it a try.
There is definitely a chance.
War is raging in Europe, and peace is rising in southern Africa. Rock now lives in the palace, and Gavin has many social activities. Soon Morgenthau got the opportunity to lobby Gavin at Rock Cape's engagement party.
Locke Capet is Arthur's eldest son and the first heir to the second generation Viscount Cyprus. His fiancée is Sidney Milner's third daughter. Both of them have just turned twenty this year.
A match made in heaven.
In terms of age, Sidney Milner is much older than Arthur.
But who allowed Sidney Milner to have a wife twenty years younger than him? This is the basic right of a rich man.
Needless to say, the engagement between Arthur's son and Sidney Milner's daughter was a grand occasion. An engagement in southern Africa might even be grander than a wedding. After all, the wedding might be held in the family church, and only relatives would attend. The engagement was not
limit.
Gavin and Arthur had a very good relationship. Arthur was unable to return to Cyprus due to the war, so Gavin stepped in for Arthur as the male elder, so Morgenthau didn't have much time left.
Morgenthau seized the opportunity and worked hard to sell his plan to Gavin.
"-The Supreme Allied Forces Europe formulated a plan and determined the amount of food supplied to German residents to maintain a target of 2,000 calories per person per day, on the grounds that if the standard was any lower, the Germans would not be able to work-
- How is this possible? Two world wars have fully proved the threat that Germany brings to our world. For us, Germany is the biggest source of risk. After the end of the last world war, our tolerance for Germany has made us
Germany has not fully experienced the consequences of the war. Are we going to make the same mistakes again this time?" Morgenthau opened with the Allied Supreme Headquarters in Europe.
Supreme Allied Headquarters in Europe, commanded by Patton.
2,000 calories is quite a lot. If converted into eggs, it is equivalent to 26 eggs, about 13 bottles of beer, and 380 grams of candy.
Under military control, it can still provide food equivalent to 380 grams of candy calories every day. This standard is indeed a bit high.
What Morgenthau did not say was that the Supreme Allied Forces Europe also allowed Germany to retain some heavy industry.
In the years before the outbreak of the world war, why did Germany recover so quickly?
To a large extent, this is because Germany has retained part of its heavy industry capabilities, so it was able to regain its strength in just a few years.
This of course proves from another perspective just how bad Britain and France are.
To be honest, if Britain and France were not in Europe, but in East Asia, they might have perished long ago.
"Isn't the root of all contradictions the contradiction between the Germans' yearning for a better life and Germany's terrible current situation?" Gavin disagreed with Morgenthau on this point.
As for why the situation in Germany is so bad——
As a Hebrew, Morgenthau had a certain right to speak.
Of course, Morgenthau would never say that the German economy is in bad shape because there are too many loan sharks.
Not entirely, but at least part of it.
"Everyone longs for a better life, but the source of a better life should be created with our hands, not plundered -" Morgenthau is fully prepared, which is what the federal government of Southern Africa has always advocated.
On the great day of their engagement, Gavin didn't want to discuss such a heavy topic with Morgenthau.
So Gavin smiled and prepared to leave. With so many guests today, Gavin didn't have much time to waste with Morgenthau.
"Mr. Gavin, you should know about Germany's genocide plan against the Hebrews, right?" Morgenthau asked this question that Gavin could not avoid.
As the Allied and Russian troops advanced on the battlefield, more and more unacceptable evil deeds were exposed to the world, such as Auschwitz, the Katyn Forest, and the Bataan Death March.
As a member of the righteous party, the federal government of Southern Africa firmly opposes all acts of genocide. Regardless of the occasion, all federal officials have absolutely the same attitude on this issue, which cannot be avoided or avoided.
"Of course, this kind of behavior is undoubtedly anti-human and should be punished accordingly." Gavin looked at Morgenthau with a little emotion at this time.
Germany burned Hebrews, Russia executed Poles, and Japan tortured Americans, all of which have nothing to do with southern Africa.
Morgenthau said this to force Gavin to take a stand, which made Gavin very uncomfortable.
How different is your so-called "Morgenthau Plan" from the behavior of the Germans?
The purpose of the Morgenthau Plan was to bring Germany back to the agricultural era a hundred years ago, eliminate all heavy industry in Germany, only allow Germany to produce daily consumer goods, and completely destroy Germany's Ruhr Industrial Zone.
This plan was so cruel that Winston even commented that it was inhumane.
"So we should punish Germany in the most thorough way and completely eliminate the threat posed by Germany." Morgenthau is good at using language traps.
"Your Excellency Minister, the way to eliminate hatred is not revenge, but help and understanding -" Gavin defeated magic with magic. This is what the Bible says.
As for why the Bible does not teach believers to do this, this is a theological question.
Morgenthau never expected Gavin to answer like this, and it short-circuited him instantly.
It cannot be said that Gavin is wrong, how could the Bible be wrong?
But this statement must not be understood this way. How to repay kindness with kindness?
"Mr. Locke, your Excellency the Minister, good evening -" Morgenthau's old rival Keynes finally appeared. His purpose was not to help Gavin get rid of Morgenthau's entanglement, but to worry that Gavin would be influenced by Morgenthau and lean toward the Americans.
proposed plan.
The main difference between the plan proposed by the Americans and the British plan lies in the investment method of the International Monetary Fund.
The method proposed by the United States is to subscribe, and how much money can be used to achieve great things.
The method proposed by the UK is to contribute capital in proportion to the total import and export volume of each country in the previous three years, and the UK and the Commonwealth are one.
The difference between the two is huge.
As the main participant in the world war, the UK's total import and export trade has been huge in the past few years. Together with the Commonwealth member states, its total import and export trade accounts for about 30% of the world's total trade.
This plan is very detrimental to the United States.
The United States has only been involved in the war for a few years, and its export volume is far lower than that of southern Africa. If it follows the British method, the United States will have less than 20% of the voice in the upcoming National Monetary Fund.
This is definitely unacceptable to the United States.
In the American plan, the United States' voice in the International Monetary Fund must reach at least about 35%.
Not to mention the UK, southern Africa would definitely not agree with this ratio.
The International Monetary Fund has a total of five billion dollars on its plate.
The UK takes 30% and the US wants 35%, leaving very little for southern Africa.