Editing Weimar Republic (section)

==== Reparations and the occupation of the Ruhr ====
After a series of international conferences to determine the reparations for which Germany was liable, an amount of 132 billion Reichsmarks was presented in May 1921, to be paid either in gold or commodities such as iron, steel and coal.<ref name="Llewellyn-2019">{{Cite web |last1=Llewellyn |first1=Jennifer |last2=Thompson |first2=Steve |date=24 September 2019 |title=War reparations and Weimar Germany |url=https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/reparations/ |access-date=17 May 2023 |website=Alpha History}}</ref> Chancellor [[Joseph Wirth]] had no choice other than to accept, but in an attempt to have the amount lowered, he began the German policy of "fulfilment" ({{Lang|de|Erfüllungspolitik}}). By attempting to meet the payments, it intended to show the Allies that the demands were beyond Germany's economic means.<ref name="Scriba-2014">{{Cite web |last=Scriba |first=Arnulf |date=2 September 2014 |title=Weimarer Republik – Außenpolitik – Reparationen |trans-title=Weimar Republic – Foreign Policy – Reparations |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/aussenpolitik/reparationen.html |access-date=7 May 2023 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref> In May 1922, when the Reichsmark was rapidly losing value, Germany was granted a payment moratorium over strong French objections.<ref name="Llewellyn-2019" />

In January 1923, France declared Germany in default. The French minister president [[Raymond Poincaré]] saw Germany's failure to pay reparations as a lever that he could use to achieve the separation of the Rhineland from the German Reich, a French demand that had been refused by the British at Versailles.{{Sfn|Winkler|1998|p=187}} After the [[Reparation Commission]] determined that German coal deliveries were short, French and Belgian troops marched into the Rhineland on 11 January 1923,<ref name="Scriba-2014" /> Germany's most productive industrial region, and took control of most of its mining and manufacturing companies. The German government under Chancellor [[Wilhelm Cuno]] responded with a policy of non-violent passive resistance to the occupation. It underwrote the costs of idled factories and mines and paid the workers who were on strike. Unable to meet the enormous costs by any other means, it resorted to printing money. Along with the debts the state had incurred during the war, it was one of the major causes of the hyperinflation that followed.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Llewellyn |first1=Jennifer |last2=Thompson |first2=Steve |date=25 September 2019 |title=The Ruhr Occupation |url=https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/ruhr-occupation/ |access-date=25 May 2023 |website=Alpha History}}</ref>

Realizing that continuing the course was untenable, the new Reich Chancellor [[Gustav Stresemann]] called off the passive resistance in September 1923.<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 May 2023 |title=Gustav Stresemann |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gustav-Stresemann |access-date=14 May 2023 |website=Britannica}}</ref> The French and Belgian occupation ended in August 1925, following an agreement (the [[Dawes Plan]]) to restructure Germany's payments. The total reparations payout from 1920 to 1931 (when payments were suspended indefinitely) was 20 billion [[German gold mark|marks]]. 12.5 billion was cash that came mostly from loans provided by New York bankers. The rest was goods such as coal and chemicals, or from assets like railway equipment.