This final section will revisit several events we've already examined, but I want to do it to make a specific point. I'm going to share a few anecdotes that I find particularly revealing about the link between money and violence.

The historical relationship between technological advances and the balance of power between the population and the state is a key theme.

Worthless paper money, which can be printed without limit, has historically been accompanied by coercive rules and threats. During the French Revolution, the assignats, carried explicit threats of death for counterfeiters. Legal texts from the period also prescribed severe penalties for those who refused to accept the currency.

An interesting detail from the Revolutionary era is that the legal codes concerning currency also specified the "per diem" payments for transporting and operating the guillotine.

This pattern of state violence is recurrent. In China, the state supervised minting and imposed legal consequences for discarding debased coins.

In England, a king ordered the hands of moneyers to be cut off for failing to meet his standards.

In both China and England during the Reformation, the state seized copper or other wealth from Buddhist monasteries and the Church to fund its activities.

During the French Revolution, all Church assets were seized, and coins were minted from melted-down church bells.

One of the most explicit examples of economic violence is found under Emperor Diocletian. What happens when people simply won't play along? When peasants, unwilling to accept his devalued currency, tried to leave their land to find better opportunities, Diocletian's response was not to fix the money. It was to use force. He bound them to the land, creating a hereditary caste system. A similar restriction was applied to the soldiers.

The dissolution of the Knights Templar provides another example. Facing funding problems, the French king sued the Order, seized its wealth, and had many of its members arrested. This event has given rise to legends of a hidden Templar treasure, a subject explored in popular media.

So, as you can see, these historical facts are not just isolated anecdotes. They demonstrate a recurring, and frankly, disturbing link between monetary control and state violence.