During the First World War, the manufacture of weapons for French troops was to a large extent financed by the Banque de France gold reserves.

This film, based on Pathé-Gaumont’s archive documents, retraces this period. It shows how the call by French authorities for citizens to contribute their gold to the Banque de France in order to reconstitute the bank’s reserves received a broad response from the population.


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Published on 08 October 2012. Updated on 08 March 2022