Yeah I know remnants still exists, France still indirectly controls a lot of african nations' currency etc but why did they have to relinquish direct control?
Yeah I know remnants still exists, France still indirectly controls a lot of african nations' currency etc but why did they have to relinquish direct control?
This is compressing the timeline quite a bit. Bretton Woods happened towards the end of the war (negotiated in '44, effective in '45), but decolinization didn't really happen in earnest for another decade or two. France and Britain definitely tried to hold onto their empires after the war (with the major exception being British India). France fought colonial wars in Vietnam and Algeria, for instance (the latter ending in '62), and a lot of British colonies only achieved independence in the 60s.
It was more of a slow collapse than a deliberate shift to a less direct form of exploitation.
Well yeah of course, I mentioned Guatemala and that wasn't until the mid 50s. I'm trying to give OP a picture of why someone would accept decolonization.
Harry Dexter White, the man who negociated the Bretton Woods treaty, was a communist spy. Why he didn't attempt to wreck the agreement is beyond me. He could have done in the capitalist system right then and there.