Bretton Woods: bloodied, battered but still a huge international achievement 80 years on

In July 1944, with war still raging in Europe and the Pacific, 730 delegates from 44 countries gathered at the Mount Washington, a grand hotel built at the turn of the century in New Hampshire. They were on the edge of a little town called Carroll, surrounded by a national forest not far from the Canadian border. But the name that would become famous was that of the area in which they were staying: Bretton Woods.

The conference had been facilitated by the US to agree new rules for the post-war international monetary system. Described…

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