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[[File: Mount_Washington.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left|The Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire]]__NOTOC__
[[The Bretton Woods Agreements for the IMF and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development|The Bretton Woods economic system ]] or monetary regime was a short-lived economic system, but it played a vital role in the formation of the post-World War II order and continues to affect geo-politics and economics in many ways. The system lasted from 1945 until 1973 and is thought of by many economists and historians as the primary reason for the peace and prosperity of the mid-twentieth century. Under the Bretton Woods economic system, the world experienced generally low unemployment, no major economic collapses, inflation that was controllable, smaller national imbalances, and much less of a wealth gap. The Bretton Woods system was also responsible for the creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and paved the way for a new era of globalization that was led by the American dollar.
Although this system is viewed by many as the emblem of a halcyon period, it was not without its problems and it eventually failed, rather quickly. A combination of problems inherent in the system and international rivalries, which the system was in part supposed to end, led to Bretton Woods’ undoing. The fact that the system was still nominally tied to gold created problems with liquidity, while the American dollar being the standard currency led many members to distrust the supposed equity of the system. Eventually, member nations began ignoring the rules and devalued their currencies at will, while others, such as France, attempted to convert all of their dollars into gold. Finally, in 1973 American President Richard Nixon took the United States out of the system and into the current economic era.
