The gold standard’s collapse in the 1930s is often remembered as a single moment — but it was closer to a decade-long unraveling, country by country, mostly forced by circumstance rather than chosen on principle.
Britain left first in 1931, under pressure from a run on sterling. The US followed in 1933–34, revaluing gold rather than abandoning it outright. France, clinging longest to the “gold bloc,” held on until 1936. Each departure eased that country’s ability to use monetary policy against the Depression — and each one made the delay of the remaining holdouts more painful.