This was largely because the victors in that war, the United States and its allies, rather than further weaken their already defeated enemies, as might have been expected, they sought something better, something of a higher, more noble spirit. In concrete terms, they decided to seek greater free trade and greater financial integration through international cooperation, following a rules-based approach.
In 1944, with the end of that terrible war in sight, the United States and forty-three other countries including Mexico sent delegates to the resort town of Bretton Woods, New Hampshire to iron out the founding agreements for what are known as the Bretton Woods Institutions.