Central banks have invariably been used by their governments to create money for war funding. Britain, in fact, was able to maintain its edge over its rivals like France in the 17^th – 18^th Century because it had a money-creating central banking institution the Bank of England, which others lacked. The official website of the Bank of England tells us that “It was primarily founded to fund the war effort against France.” The secret of Britain’s edge over France was quickly discovered by the latter.  Thus,Fond Montyon, a senior civil servant in the French Finance Ministry, recommended in 1770 that France should adopt a similar mechanism by espousing the same institution.

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