These countries seized the gold of their citizens.. Why did they resort to that?

In successive economic crises, gold has proven its efficiency as a safe investment, compared to money, real estate, or even land, which are subject from time to time to changing laws.

Many resort to saving in gold, whether in the form of jewelry, bars or gold coins.

But the steadfastness of gold in the face of market fluctuations makes it coveted by thieves, and sometimes for governments, as happened in the United States, Britain, Italy and many other governments, during the past 100 years, when some countries resorted to confiscating their citizens’ gold, and governments justified this by claiming to support the state and maintain its economic stability.

United State

In the 1930s, countries chose fixed exchange rates linked to gold, in addition to the free movement of capital, and the financial system came under increasing pressure because many investors were trading their money for gold, and one of the ways the United States had sufficient control over monetary policy was to print more money The imposition of various controls on capital, including the confiscation of gold.

According to The Conversation, the US administration collided during the thirties with the Federal Reserve Act signed by former US President Woodrow Wilson in 1913, as this law specified the process of printing banknotes through a text that stressed the need for banknotes to be backed by about 40 percent of its value in gold, so the US government had to save 40 cents of gold to print a new dollar.

In 1933, during the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt's government confiscated all gold bars and coins through Executive Order 6102 to resolve the nation's financial crisis, forcing citizens to sell at well below market prices.

Immediately after the expropriation, the government set a new official price for gold that was much higher than the previous one under the Gold Reserve Act of 1934.

The United States, Britain and Italy have confiscated their citizens' gold throughout history (Getty Images)

Britain

Two decades after the end of World War II, and 35 years after Britain withdrew from the gold standard, “a monetary system in which the value of currency or paper money in a country is directly linked to gold, and in which countries accept the exchange of a fixed amount of gold for their paper currency by setting a fixed price that determines The buying and selling operations of governments that follow this standard”, its politicians have been busy interfering with gold investments.

The pound was declining in the currency markets, so investors were buying gold, sending money abroad to buy it, which hurt the UK's trade balance and weakened the value of the pound, says Goldiraguide.

In 1966, the Labor government imposed a ban on gold coin imports, prohibited ordinary citizens from owning more than 4 gold coins, and confiscated the rest of the gold coins from citizens, in an attempt to stop the currency's collapse.

Italia

In 1935, Italy had begun invading Ethiopia, and economic conditions were going through a state of great instability, and after two months of war, specifically in December 1935, the then President of Italy, Benito Mussolini, demanded that women hand over gold wedding rings and replace them with handmade ones. Of steel engraved in Italian with the phrase "Gold for the Fatherland" (Oro Alla Patria), according to the Australian "Museumsvictoria" website.

Mussolini also demanded that they hand over their jewelry for the war effort, and newspapers mobilized massive campaigns for women to put their gold at the disposal of the Italian government.

In 1966, Britain banned ordinary citizens from owning more than 4 gold coins (Pixabay)

Can the confiscation of gold be avoided?

When times were tough in some countries, governments asked citizens to hand over their gold, an asset that they had historically been unable to control.

Although there is no longer a monetary system based on the gold standard, if a severe financial crisis occurs, all possible solutions will be considered to address this situation, and gold may be one of the sources that has an intrinsic value in itself, and when gold is confiscated, there are not many solutions applicable and you cannot legally avoid it.

And when the government declares it illegal to hold a large amount of bullion, there will be no choice but to comply, or smuggle gold to specific countries, with the potential for fines, forcible confiscation of the metals, and even legal penalties, according to Goldsilver. ).