This link is to a hundred year summary by a hard-money believer pointing out a lot of the mistakes made in the world currency situation over that period. He even sees a link between the very low interest rate the Federal Reserve forced not long after it was formed in 1913 and the masive US currency deflation that eventually led to the Great Depression in '29.

Here's one paragraph as an example:

However, one of the reasons the "Roaring Twenties" roared was that the United Kingdom and the United States spiking the punch bowl with low interest rates and cheap money, much like the past 10 years. Monetary inflationary boom turned into monetary deflationary bust and confidence in the paper currencies of the United Kingdom and United States were shaken. Foreign creditors (other governments and powerful financial interests who could not be denied payment in gold if they insisted) started to refuse paper pounds and dollars and began demanded gold exclusively for payment. Genoa became another monetary scrap of paper. As we will see shortly, this crisis in the confidence in paper currencies produced some radical actions by the US Federal Government in turbulent years of 1933-34.

http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_04/lundeen102904.html