Then, under the stress of a world war, the gold standard was practically driven off the map within the brief period of 2 or 3 years. The last important country to abandon it was the United States, which in 1917 placed an embargo on the exportation of gold. Not only did practically all gold standards break down during the 10 years of war and reconstruction, but all the scores of countries that resorted to paper-money standards suffered very serious inflation.
In some belligerent countries—like Germany, Russia, and Poland—prices rose to astronomical heights. In others the inflation, though severe, was not astronomical; for example, in France, Belgium, and Italy price advances reached magnitudes of the order of 300 to 600 per cent. In some other countries inflation, although real, was of still lower magnitude. In England, for example, between 1914 and 1920 the wholesale price level rose 195 per cent; in Norway from January, 1915, to December, 1920, 128 per cent, and in the United States from September, 1917, to the end of June, 1919—the brief period of 21 months of the gold embargo—wholesale prices rose 10 per cent.