TIL How France Used Counterfeiting to Control a Former Colony

Today I learned about a fascinating example of economic warfare by France. Back in 1958, Guinea, a recently independent former French colony, sought to print its own currency.

In response, France unleashed a torrent of high-quality counterfeit bills, causing the local currency to collapse.

This effectively forced Guinea to join the French-controlled CFA franc-zone (which is it's own rabbit hole you should dive into). It's incredible how we great powers have wielded such tactics to maintain influence over their past-slaves (or current?).