Editing Dawes Plan (section)

== Background ==
At the end of World War I, the [[Allies of World War I|Allied Powers]] included in the [[Treaty of Versailles]] a plan for the [[World War I reparations|reparations]] for which Germany would be liable. It established an interim 20 billion [[Reichsmarks]] to be paid through April 1920 and left the full details to be determined by an [[Inter-Allied Reparations Commission|Inter-Allied Reparation Commission]]. In April 1921, the Allies adopted the [[World War I reparations#London Schedule of Payments|London Schedule of Payments]] that the Commission had developed. It established the total German reparations figure at 132&nbsp;billion gold marks (US $442 billion in 2023 dollars). The schedule was separated into three classes, of which only the first two, amounting to 50&nbsp;billion gold marks, were expected to be paid.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marks |first=Sally |date=September 1978 |title=The Myths of Reparations |journal=Central European History |volume=11 |issue=3 |page=237 |doi=10.1017/s0008938900018707 |jstor=4545835 |s2cid=144072556}}</ref>

On 5 May 1921 the Allies delivered an ultimatum to Germany demanding that it accept the London Schedule within six days and threatening to occupy the heavily industrialized [[Ruhr District|Ruhr district]] if it did not. The [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] voted to accept on 11 May, following which the government began to implement its fulfilment policy ({{Lang|de|Erfüllungspolitik}}), an effort to show the impossibility of meeting the payments by attempting to fulfil them.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Scriba |first=Arnulf |date=14 September 2014 |title=Londoner Ultimatum |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/aussenpolitik/londoner-ultimatum.html |access-date=13 October 2023 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref> Germany made its first payment of one billion gold marks in the summer of 1921 but after that paid little in cash and fell behind in its deliveries of materials such as coal and timber.{{Sfn|Marks|1978|p=238}} After Germany was declared in default in January 1923, French and Belgian troops [[Occupation of the Ruhr|occupied the Ruhr]]. Germany responded with passive resistance to the occupation. The government printed money in order to pay the idled workers, which fuelled the [[Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic|hyperinflation]] that all but wrecked the German economy.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Kunzel |first=Michael |date=14 September 2014 |title=Die Inflation |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/inflation |access-date=8 October 2023 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref>

Ensuing events led the Allies to decide that the London Schedule needed to be re-examined. The Ruhr occupation had heightened tension between France and Germany. The acceptance of the London Schedule by Germany's government increased political instability. Chancellor [[Joseph Wirth]]'s fulfilment policy angered many on the right, who called it traitorous.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=9 April 2014 |title=9. April 1924 - Dawes-Plan vorgelegt |trans-title=9 April 1924 - Dawes Plan presented |url=https://www1.wdr.de/stichtag/stichtag8232.html |access-date=8 October 2023 |website=Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) |language=de}}</ref> Radical right-wing groups instigated a hate campaign against representatives of the Republic that included the assassination in August 1921 of [[Matthias Erzberger]], one of the signers of the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918]], and in June 1922 of Foreign Minister [[Walther Rathenau]].<ref name=":0" /> The United States feared a coup from either the right or the left and that if one did take place, the large amount of money it had loaned to France and England during the war – the repayment of which was in large part dependent on the receipt of German reparations – might never be recovered.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last1=Llewellyn |first1=Jennifer |last2=Thompson |first2=Steve |date=30 September 2019 |title=American assistance to Weimar Germany |url=https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/american-assistance/ |access-date=8 October 2023 |website=Alpha History}}</ref>
===Dawes committee===
[[File:Allied Experts in Berlin - Flora - Sir R. Kindersley - McFadyean - Pirelli - Allix - Parmentier - Dawes - Young - Houtart - Sir J. Stamp - Francqui LCCN2014716971.jpg|thumb|258x258px|The Dawes committee in Berlin. Dawes is seated fourth from left. On his left is [[Owen Young]], from whom the 1929 [[Young Plan]] took its name.]]
In 1923 the new German chancellor [[Gustav Stresemann]] ordered an end to passive resistance, implemented a currency reform that brought an end to the hyperinflation and sought discussions with the Allied Powers which would take into consideration what Germany was financially capable of paying.<ref name=":1" /> The Reparations Commission set up the Dawes committee, consisting of ten expert representatives nominated by their respective countries: two each from Belgium (Baron [[Maurice Houtart]], [[Emile Francqui]]), France ([[Jean Parmentier (diplomat)|Jean Parmentier]], Edgard Allix), Britain (Sir [[Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp|Josiah C. Stamp]], Sir [[Robert Kindersley, 1st Baron Kindersley|Robert M. Kindersley]]), Italy (Alberto Pirelli, Federico Flora) and the United States ([[Charles G. Dawes]] and [[Owen D. Young]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dawes |first=Rufus Cutler |url={{Google books|HsciAAAAMAAJ|page=19|plainurl=yes}} |title=The Dawes Plan in the Making |publisher=Bobbs-Merrill |year=1925 |location=Indianapolis, IN |pages=19}}</ref> Dawes, the head of the committee, was a former army general, banker and politician. His committee was tasked with examining the stabilization of Germany's currency, its budget and its resources. Based on the studies, the committee was to recommend a realistic schedule of payments – one taking into account Germany's ability to pay – that would replace the London Schedule.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Charles G. Dawes – Biographical |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1925/dawes/biographical/ |access-date=15 October 2023 |website=Nobel Prize}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Scriba |first=Arnulf |date=2 September 2014 |title=Der Dawes-Plan |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/aussenpolitik/dawesplan |access-date=8 October 2023 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref>