An arrangement for collecting reparations from Germany after World War I. Following the collapse of the Deutschmark and the inability of the Weimar Republic to pay reparations, an Allied payments commission chaired by the US financier Charles G. Dawes put forward a plan whereby Germany would pay according to its abilities, on a sliding scale. To avoid a clash with France (which demanded heavy reparations and had occupied the Ruhr to ensure collections) the experts evaded the question of determining the grand total of reparations, and scheduled annual payments instead. Germany’s failure to meet these led to the Plan’s collapse and its replacement by the Young Plan.