The History of Gold - Article Example

In 1710, the French explorers attempted to take control of the Spanish areas of influence that had considerable deposits of gold (Bernstein, 2012, p. 76). The Spaniards rejected this attempt mainly because gold was at that time contributing immensely to their economy and a victory for the French empire would have amounted to the economic decline of the Spaniards.

Germany was not left behind in the fight for gold; it rubbed shoulders with several European states between 1939 and 1941. In this period, Germany invaded cities in the Netherlands, Western Poland, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, and Greece. The major reason why the Hitler-led troops carried out such attacks was that they knew that if they took control over the deposits of gold within such regions, they would be regarded as a superpower, not only within Europe but also throughout the whole world.

Over and above, gold has since its discovery revolved around various centres of power. In the past, for example, it was regarded with high esteem and was only at the disposal of the great leaders who existed within such generations (McDonald & Gastmann, 2001, p. 119). Those in authority were convinced that the more gold they had, the more powerful they were, hence their decision to control several deposits of gold.