World War I reparations
Sally Marks, an American historian, also thought that Germany could pay the reparations. She said the Germans paid the reparations in full and on time as long as the French occupied Düsseldorf in 1921, but stopped after the French were no longer stationed there in 1922. Later that year, the problem became more serious as French and Belgian representatives urged an occupation of the  Ruhr Area to force Germany to pay, while the British wanted to lower the reparations. Occupation of the Ruhr began in January 1923. The Allies felt that the German government's refusal to pay was done to test whether the Allies willed to enforce reparations.