Mediterranean Hegemony Road

? After World War I, in order to deal with the financial crisis, the French government was forced to adopt a paper currency inflation policy. The French announced their abandonment of the gold standard, which opened the prelude to the currency war.

The French were the first to play this way, and everyone was unprepared. At that time, the franc was the second-largest international currency in circulation in the world. A large number of franc holders paid for them and suffered heavy losses.

However, the original plan of the French government did not succeed. Ideally, the currency would be doubled at most and the franc would be devalued by half.

In the end, the market lost confidence in the franc because of the downfall of the governments of various countries, and it plummeted all the way. Finally, it depreciated ten times before stabilizing the currency value.

However, the amount of the overissued francs is far less than ten times. The losses include the loss of credit, the inflation caused, and the profits of the government printing currency, and more of them fall into the hands of capitalists.

In this currency war, the financial supremacy of the pound was once again established, and the lev also came from behind to replace the franc and became the second largest currency in circulation in the world.

Although the action of the French was not completely successful, they did get rid of the financial crisis, distributed huge war pensions, and avoided government bankruptcy.

Even in subsequent economic activities, with the sharp depreciation of the franc, the price competitiveness of French goods has also been greatly enhanced, and it still has an effect now.

However, the sequelae were quite serious, and the wealth of the French people was also plundered, including small capitalists and the middle class, who suffered heavy losses.

This is also a characteristic of European countries in this era. Ordinary people don't care much about inflation, because they don't have any extra money in their hands, and naturally they don't have much loss.

With the destruction of the petty bourgeoisie and the middle class, social wealth in France has become more concentrated, and small factories engaged in processing and manufacturing have gone bankrupt.

It can be said that even without the guidance of Ferdinand, France would embark on the road of de-industrialization, just look at the development of French industry in history.

Ten years after the World War, the total industrial volume of France returned to the pre-war level. You must know that the area of ​​France was also expanded during the First World War, and the population increased by several million.

In fact, when World War II broke out, France's industrial proportion was actually not as good as that of World War I. It is not surprising that the French government would immediately surrender.

Now it's the turn of the British, affected by the economic crisis,

The London government also announced the abandonment of the gold standard, and the big capitalists all over the world are gearing up to grab a piece of meat from it.

However, the pound is different from the franc. The pound is a world currency. This is the foundation laid by the British with the Royal Navy. It is not easy to destroy the pound.

"Since the London government abandoned the gold standard, how much has the value of the pound dropped?" Ferdinand asked with concern

"Your Majesty, the British pound has depreciated by 8.5% in the past two months. We haven't made a full-scale move yet, and the major consortiums are only tentatively blocking it.

If nothing else interferes, the pound may eventually depreciate between 30% and 35%! " Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy replied

Ferdinand frowned. The foundation of the British Empire is really solid. People in the market have not lost confidence in the pound. Even if Bulgaria makes a move to make things worse, there is no way to hit them to the bottom like the franc!

"What if there is external intervention?" Ferdinand continued to ask

"Your Majesty, it depends on the specific situation. The most serious result may turn the pound into a waste of paper, and the easiest may have no effect at all.

As long as the entire Royal Navy is wiped out, or the main force is greatly damaged, it can be done.

Other situations, including the British government being hit hard, or going to war with a big country, the domestic crisis intensified, and a series of factors may depreciate the pound! "Kennedy said humorously.

Ferdinand nodded. The influence of the British is not built on. After the depreciation of the pound, more than a dozen countries around the world have given up the gold standard.

These countries gave up the gold standard at this time, undoubtedly sharing the firepower for the British, and what the international consortium wanted was to take advantage of the opportunity.

It doesn't matter which country you bite off a piece of meat from, there is no need to fight the British to the end.

Except for the Bulgarian capital, which is beating the British pound out of political needs, the rest of the international consortia are spreading their bets, and they will go there to make money.

"It's impossible to attack from the front, so we can only come in the dark, and prepare to issue counterfeit money!" Ferdinand said with a sigh

This is the last option, after years of hard work by the Bulgarian technical sector, now they can also make sterling.

Of course, this is a fake pound, but it can be confused with the real one. Under normal circumstances, people will not be able to recognize it.

Ferdinand didn't want to adopt such an approach. The sequelae would be too great.

"Your Majesty, we haven't reached this point yet. If we can make fake pounds, then the British can also make fake levs. This is a complete loss for both sides!" Kennedy said in embarrassment.

Now, the competition between Britain and Bulgaria is competition, but it has not yet reached the point where the bayonet is popular. Once this step is taken, there will be no turning back!

"Isn't it enough to keep the British from knowing? Even if it's printing fake pounds, we don't have to come forward to do it ourselves?

These days, there are many people who are short of money. We only need to produce a few sets of printing equipment in British pounds and sell them secretly, and someone will naturally do the rest for us!

As long as the fake pound is not printed by us, let the British find it slowly, and it has nothing to do with us whether they can find it or not.

We disassemble all the printing equipment and export them as spare parts, which can also include some spare parts produced by the British themselves, and then assemble them at the local place. ’ Ferdinand said with a smile.

This bad idea was inspired by Ferdinand by the Japanese. During the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese government printed a large amount of legal currency, which destroyed the economy of the national government.

Now he makes a bunch of fake pounds, not to mention that it can destroy the British economy, but let the pound depreciate even more.

The 8% drop has not yet broken the market's confidence in the British pound, but if it becomes a 40%, 50%, or even a 70% or 80% drop, wouldn't the confidence be broken? what?

You must know that in the case of the depreciation of the pound, the more they hold the pound, the greater their losses. Even if they have more confidence in the pound and see the continuous loss of wealth in their hands, they will make the right choice.

In order to stop the loss, reducing the pound has become everyone's only choice. As long as there are people in the market who continue to insist on the pound, then the London government will have no choice but to devalue the pound.

It is impossible to stimulate the economy with inflation, and every devaluation of the currency is to delay the crisis, not to say that the crisis can be resolved.

With the sharp depreciation of the currency, more and more people in the market will lose confidence in the pound, which will eventually be reflected in the circulation of the pound.

Internationally, the holdings of sterling have decreased, which means that the status of sterling as an international currency has been shaken, and it also means that other currencies will gradually grow bigger.

"Your Majesty, these are not enough. We can also follow up the devaluation of the currency, but we don't have to give up the gold standard, just lower the ratio of Lev to gold!" Kennedy suggested after thinking for a while

"No, the value of Lev cannot be shaken at this time. Don't forget that in the past two months, the holdings of Lev in the international market have increased by 18.6%.

Now we have begun to erode the position of the British pound. At this time, let the Lev devalue, and all the previous efforts will be in vain.

Let the lev replace the pound as the international currency, how big the benefits are, I don't need to say this, everyone knows.

Compared with this, the others are not worth mentioning at all. Bulgaria's largest export market is in southeastern Europe. As long as this part of the basic market is not lost, let them compete for the rest! "Ferdinand shook his head and said.

The establishment of currency credit cannot be completed overnight. Even if it is linked to gold, people still have doubts about holding small commodities.

The rise of Lev has been very fast. Almost all of the original competitors have died, and only the British pound is left.

For example: Ruble played himself to death after the outbreak of the Russian Civil War.

Another example: Deutsche Mark ruined his credit because of war reparations.

Another example: the U.S. dollar has become history with the collapse of the United States.

There is also the franc, which was sacrificed by the French government to solve the financial crisis, thus losing the possibility of becoming a world currency.

There is a good saying, "If you want to establish a world currency system, you must first establish a world hegemony system!"

The current position of world hegemony is still some distance away from Bulgaria. At this time, it will naturally not be easy for the lev to replace the pound as the world currency.

Ferdinand didn't think about going to the sky in one step. He just wanted to shake the position of the pound, which in turn would affect the British economy. At the same time, he sent a signal to the outside world that the British were dying and preparing for the future.

"Then, we can only find a way to continue to depreciate the franc. As long as the currency depreciation war is provoked, the British will either continue to follow up, or let the existing plan go to waste." Kennedy thought for a while and said

If you want to gain competitiveness through currency depreciation, it's that simple. As long as everyone depreciates together, who else can the British compete for?

Bulgaria does not have to participate, because it rose too late, and the market has long been divided up by old empires. As a rising star, they can only rely on Southeast Europe and the local market for development.

In the markets of other regions, Bulgaria still has some advantages in food processing and machinery and equipment manufacturing, and other industries can only sell oil.

No matter how the market changes, food and petroleum, the two rigid-demand industries, will at most see a decline in demand, and it is impossible to be banned.

Even if all countries have adopted tariff barriers, no country has imposed restrictions on food imports and oil imports?

With the support of these two industries, Ferdinand can naturally sit firmly on the Diaoyutai.

There is no market for the remaining machinery and equipment manufacturing at this time. Everyone is reducing production capacity. Who will buy machinery and equipment?

No matter how strong the competitiveness is, if it is not needed in the market, it is still useless!

"Let's push it secretly, now that the French economy is not doing well, they won't mind devaluing their currency again.

At the same time, also induce Germany and Italy to join the depreciation army, and finally see which one of them can win! ’ said Ferdinand with a sneer.

He really hopes that the British can persist until the end, so he doesn't have to do anything, and the British will kill the pound by themselves.

The current British Empire is different from the United States in later generations. The Americans are the only one.

As for the British, there were quite a few countries that dared to challenge their hegemony during this period, especially the rapid rise of Bulgaria, and the overall national strength of the two sides was already very close.

The fact that the two sides did not fight is because the conflict of interests between our two parties is not big enough to make the two countries desperate.

But competition is indispensable. If the British pound continues to depreciate, who would dare to hold a large amount?

Can a currency that no one lasts become an international currency?

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