When the larger-than-life frame of German Chancellor Helmut Kohl bustled into the Elysée Palace on the afternoon of Tuesday September 22 1992, a sense of impending calamity hung in the air. As Kohl arrived in Paris for talks with his friend, French President François Mitterrand, France faced a potentially disastrous devaluation – an outcome that was averted only after hours of extraordinary Franco-German brinkmanship and crisis management.

This was the countdown to the 11-month-long Battle of the Franc, largely fought behind closed doors between French and German monetary delegations - ending in agreement in August 1993 to widen dramatically the fluctuation bands of the semi-fixed rate European Monetary System and maintain the epic goal of monetary union in Europe.