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→Deep Impacts of Gold
Major disruptions occurred in World War I, when the British specie became in short supply and there was increased distruption to international trade during the conflict. The gold coin standard was, thus, changed to gold bullion after the war in Britain. Fluctuations and disruptions occurred due to the Great Depression and World War II; however, gold continues to play a key role in major Western and other economies today.
==Deep Impacts Impact of Gold== Gold has had a large impact beyond its immediate decorative qualities. For economies, in the ancient and modern worlds, gold was used to standardize trade across large distances spanning, initially, much of the Old World and later the New World. Given gold's position in international trade, empires also expanded in part to control gold trade. This was the case in the Roman and Byzantine Empires, where expansion included control of gold resources from Africa and parts of Asia. Already in the Bronze Age, Egypt played an important, if not dominant, role in economic and diplomatic exchange because it controlled vast gold resources. In the Amarna Age, in the 14h century BCE, Egypt became the center of diplomatic exchanges across the Mediterranean and Near East because of its control of gold resources. It also used gold to leverage its trade position. Similarly, Britain used its control of gold resources in dictating international trade in the 18th and 19th centuries, where it played a dominant role in international exchanges. This gave Britain a dominant diplomatic role, as it was able to influence economies in the Old and New Worlds. In effect, gold has been used to control not just trade and prices, but the key role of gold has been its ability to influence international politics. Countries that controlled its supply were able to most influence international trade, political agreements, and forge political alliances.
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