Empire. After the end of the First World War this national "imperial railway" was taken back by France. In the remaining German states, by contrast, the existing state railways continued to be subject to their respective sovereigns, despite the fact that Otto von Bismarck had tried in vain to purchase the main railway lines for the Empire. A similar attempt failed in 1875 as a result of opposition from the middle powers when Albert von Maybach presented a draft Reich Railway Act to the Bundesrat. In the wake of the stipulations of the Weimar Constitution of 11 August 1919, the state treaty on the foundation of the ("German Reich Railways") came into force on 1 April 1920. This resulted in the merger of the existing state railways () of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg, Baden, Mecklenburg and Oldenburg under the newly formed German Reich. The state railways that merged were the: Baden state railways Mecklenburg state railways Oldenburg state railways Bavarian state railways Saxon state railways Württemberg state railways Prussian-Hessian state railways Initially called the or , the Reich Minister of Transport, Wilhelm Groener, formerly gave them the name "Deutsche Reichsbahn" in his decree of 27 June 1921. In 1922 the old railway divisions () were renamed as Reich railway divisions (). Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (1924–1937) Among the provisions of the 1924 Dawes Plan was a plan to utilize the state railway completely for the payment of war reparations. Following the plan's publication, on 12 February 1924, the Reich government announced the creation of the Deutsche Reichsbahn as a state enterprise under the Reich Ministry of Transport (). As this was not enough to satisfy the reparations creditors, on 30 August 1924 a law was enacted providing for the establishment of a state-owned ("German Imperial Railway Company", DRG) as a public holding company to operate the national railways. The aim was to earn profits which, under the Dawes Plan, were to be used to contribute to Germany's war reparations. At the same time as the Reichsbahn law was enacted, the company was handed a bill of eleven billion Goldmarks to be paid to the Allied powers, while its original capital was valued at fifteen billion Goldmarks. These terms were later amended in the Young Plan. Nevertheless, the Great Depression and the regular payment of war reparations (about 660 million Reichsmarks annually) put a considerable strain on the Reichsbahn. Not until the Lausanne