1896 US provided food aid for foreign countries struggling.

1929 Colonial Development Act in UK. British government determined to send grants overseas for development projects.

1940 British Colonial and Welfare Act – Funding is now allowed to be extended to social projects.

1944 Bretton Woods, USA

• 700 delegates from 44 countries dedicated themselves to erecting a global monetary management system.

• World War II was ending. Europe was devastated and would need vast injections of money to re-build.

• Was aiming to avoid another Great Depression like that of the 1930s

• Construct a framework for economic co-operation and trade between countries

• Formation of the World Bank. Providing money for reconstruction after the war.

• Formation of the Internationational Monetary Fund (IMF). Charged with supervising international monetary co-operation in order to protect against a future financial crisis.

• Internationational Monetary Fund (IMF), and International Trade Organisation.

It was agreed that if countries defaulted on payments to the World Bank, then all countries would be responsible for ensuring that money was paid back to lending nations. Large sums of money were lent to Europe to facilitate reconstruction and the successfully resulted in recovery after the war.