Chapter Two – The History of Forex While even non-traders are familiar with the term “Forex” it's likely you don't know that the Forex market is an indirect result of the Vietnam war. For the lowdown we go back through the mists of time to 1971. The Place: Bretton Woods, Nova Scotia, Canada. The United States proposes to the other Major Nations of the World that they tie the value of their currencies to the (then) mighty U.S. dollar. Which was mighty because it was backed by Gold. In other words, the U.S. treasury did not(then) print more money than it's equivalent in Fort Knox. The other Nations agreed. But soon, as often happens with positive agreements, the Bretton Woods Agreement went South. The reason: the Vietnam war. Saddled with an enormous war spending debt, a man named Nixon took the U.S. off the gold standard, and the Government printing office(treasury division) went into overdrive. Printing money like there was no tommorrow. What there was - was, predictably - Massive inflation. Which caused the other signatory nations to the Bretton Woods Agreement, to
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