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In the first year of the Spanish Civil War, the New York Times reported on August 7, 1936, that Spanish gold reserves (held in Madrid) were the equivalent of $718 million (US), which was the equivalent to $15.14 billion in 2022 USD.
Reports range from 72.6% to upwards of 90% of Spanish gold reserves were given to the USSR months after the outbreak of the civil war. The communist-backed government of the Second Spanish Republic under Francisco Largo Caballero either sold the gold to the Soviets or placed the reserves in Moscow for the Soviets to act as custodians.
Well, that was a bad move. Largo Caballero and his Republican cause were eventually defeated by the Nationalist side and Spain was left broke, for most if not all of the remaining gold reserves were sold to France for currency.
In the context of the Spanish War, the gold the Soviets ended up with (ostensibly to caretake or use for deposit on future munitions) is known as “Moscow Gold.” The gold taken in by the French is called the “Paris Gold.”
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