Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Settlement agreed in 1929–30 to resolve the issue of the reparations required from Germany by the versailles treaty of 1919. While the dawes plan of 1924 had reduced the amount of payments, the weimar republic was still failing to meet its obligations, though many historians believe Berlin could have paid off those debts had it so chosen. Experts were appointed by the Allied Reparation Committee, for an investigation chaired by the American industrialist and businessman Owen D. Young. Reporting in June 1929, they recommended that the sum of reparations should be reduced to $26.35 m, now payable over a period of nearly sixty years. The Plan also specified the annual totals and called for international financial machinery to regulate payments. In Germany, where the scheme helped to fan right-wing extremism, the adjusted demands still seemed harsh. Conversely, Britain and France were uneasy about the concessions. Even so, the Plan was duly adopted at the second Hague Conference of January 1930. By then the impact of the Wall Street Crash was beginning to be felt worldwide. As the great depression [2] worsened in 1931, US President Hoover achieved a one-year moratorium on reparations. A year later, at the Lausanne Conference, the creditor states acknowledged that, since Germany could no longer afford to pay, the Plan must be abandoned. The point was reinforced in 1933 when ... log in or subscribe to read full text