How America Built a World Run on Dollars

How did the US dollar become the center of the postwar financial system? The story began before Bretton Woods—with American industrial growth, wartime lending and a world economy reshaped by two world wars. This documentary follows the rise of the United States from a growing creditor to the financial center of the postwar order: the First World War, the Great Depression, wartime production, Bretton Woods, the Marshall Plan, the postwar dollar shortage, Nixon’s 1971 decision to close the gold window and the network that kept the dollar central afterward. Who supplied the money? Who rebuilt? Who benefited from a dollar-centered order—and who absorbed its risks? 00:00 The 1944 decision 01:25 London and the old money order 01:46 America becomes a creditor 04:15 Depression and fractured finance 05:11 War production and its human price 06:36 Bretton Woods 08:16 The postwar dollar shortage 08:43 The Marshall Plan 12:13 The system’s contradiction 13:23 Nixon closes the gold window 14:12 Why the dollar remained central 15:17 Who paid for financial power? 15:39 The bill comes due 17:39 A system built on confidence This video uses AI-assisted visual and production tools. Research, writing, fact-checking and editorial structure are reviewed for this episode. Sources and further reading: Federal Reserve History — Creation of the Bretton Woods System: https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essa... U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian — Marshall Plan: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-... U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian — Nixon and the End of the Bretton Woods System: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-... Federal Reserve History — The Second World War and Its Aftermath: https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essa... Federal Reserve History — The Federal Reserve’s Role During World War I: https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essa... Subscribe for history about money, trade, empires and the systems that shaped the modern world. #Dollar #BrettonWoods #EconomicHistory