Describe two key features of the French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923. (2024)

One key feature of the French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 was its fundamental cause: Germany's failure to pay annual reparations to France and its allies, as imposed by the Treaty of Versailles on 28th June, 1919. The treaty was a 'diktat' and therefore an imposition, requiring Germany to pay 136,000 million marks to the allied nations in compensation for WW1 damages. This led to the occupation because Germany was unable to fulfil this debt, leading France to occupy the German industrial area of the Ruhr in retaliation.A second key feature of the occupation was that its results: it led to widespread outrage and economic devastation across Germany. Because factories and around 80% of the German coal, iron, and steel industries were based in the Ruhr, many Germans were left unemployed and economic production was cut by the occupation. Consequently, German debt and shortages only increased, leading Fritz Thyssen and other businessmen who had investments in the Ruhr to organise a passive resistance campaign. An already enraged German public was only further angered by the rising and unemployment and blow to German pride that resulted from the occupation.