The central banking and fractional reserve model was imitated by other nations, and by 1900, most industrialized nations had a central bank.  Central banking is one of the planks of The Communist Manifesto, and is a vital tool for centralizing power in all countries, regardless of whether they were communist, fascist or Fabian socialist. 

Furthermore, the various national central banks were often owned by the same small group of super-rich bankers, who became known as the International Bankers, or global elite.  Among them were the Rothschild Family, who acquired control of the Bank of England in 1815, and who also operated central banks in France, Naples (the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which became part of unified Italy), Austria-Hungary and Prussia (which became part of unified Germany). 

The relationship established between the central bankers and the government gradually shifted from being one of partnership, to being one of dominance by the central bankers.  The bankers bought up politicians, judges, and industrial corporations.  The government was constantly indebted to the bankers, and the bankers could control entire nations through manipulation of the money supply.  Both sides of the Napoleonic Wars were funded by the same rich banking families, like the Rothschild’s.  War became a big business for the global elite – during war, governments borrow massively from the central bank, and so become further indebted to the bankers.  The elite also benefited from bigger profits in weapons and manufacturing industries which they owned.

The world, at least Europe and the colonies of the European empires, now belonged to the bankers.  In some nations, there was more resistance, and more failed attempts, than others.  The Classical Liberals were strongly opposed to central banking.  Increasingly, faulty academic needed to be created to justify the system.  Economic thinking has been deliberately clouded by theorists such as Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes, in order to convince academics and the public in general that central banking is beneficial, even necessary and inevitable.

But two further factors stopped the fractional reserve system from expanding even further:

1. The tie between central bank notes and gold.  The current system required that at least 1% of the money supply be held in gold at the central bank.
2. Foreign countries often redeemed their Notes for gold, draining the Bank of gold supplies and threatening the system.

Two further goals were thus desired:

1. The gradual abolition of the gold standard.
2. Control of every nation on Earth via national central banks.  This would enable the banks to expand on an international level, eliminating the problem of gold flowing out of central banks.

We shall consider how these two goals were achieved by switching our attention to developments in the United States.