The Lausanne Conference was a 1932 meeting of representatives from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

that resulted in an agreement to suspend

World War I reparations Following the ratification of article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles at the conclusion of World War I, the Central Powers were made to give war reparations to the Allied Powers. Each of the defeated powers was required to make payments in eit ...

payments imposed on Germany by the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1 ...

. Held from June 16 to July 9, 1932, it was named for its location in Lausanne, Switzerland. The Hoover Moratorium had placed a hold on war reparations payments in 1931, and a year later the delegates to the Lausanne Conference realized that the deepening world financial crisis in the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

made it nearly impossible for Germany to resume its payments. However, Britain and France and other Allies had borrowed heavily to fight the war, and in particular, France and Belgium were struggling after having had their infrastructure severely damaged by the fighting and by the deliberate destruction and plundering from retreating German forces as the war drew to a close. Therefore, the delegates came to an informal understanding that the permanent elimination of Germany's debt and war reparations would be subject to reaching an agreement with the United States concerning their outstanding war debts. In December 1932, the U.S. Congress rejected the Allied war debt reduction plan, which technically meant that the war reparations and debt reverted to the debt reduction previously granted Germany by the 1929

Young Plan The Young Plan was a program for settling Germany's World War I reparations. It was written in August 1929 and formally adopted in 1930. It was presented by the committee headed (1929–30) by American industrialist Owen D. Young, founder and for ...

. However, the system had collapsed, and Germany made no further payments. By 1933, Germany had made World War I reparations of only one-eighth of the sum required under the Treaty of Versailles.

References

u-s-history.com
{{Paris Peace Conference navbox Aftermath of World War I in France Politics of the Weimar Republic Great Depression History of the foreign relations of the United States Aftermath of World War I in the United Kingdom World War I conferences 1932 in France Treaty of Versailles

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

20th-century diplomatic conferences 1932 in international relations 1932 in Switzerland Reparations 1932 conferences 1932 in economics

See also

References