The Bretton Woods system was a way for countries to tie their money to gold or the US dollar after World War II. They could borrow money from the International Monetary Fund if needed. Most countries linked their money to the dollar and saved up dollars to buy gold from the US. This helped the US pay its debts but stopped it from changing its money value. The system fell apart when other countries had more dollars than the US had gold. In 1973, major countries let their money values change freely.