I found the essay fascinating and has certainly helped with my very limited knowledge on gold and money.
However it has thrown up some questions.
You say that various wars wouldn't have happened if gold standards had been kept, however wouldn't there have then been wars to try and conquer land that was in rich in gold?
Also as gold would be a finite source of money, wouldn't this then start drawing the world back to the times when empires existed?
As they could not make money to buy assets they just went out and conquered the assets?
I don't know if i'm going way off track here, or my understanding really is terrible.
I have other questions which i will ask later.