The Ruhr Crisis of 1923
War reparations for Germany was far too high, and so when Germany began defaulting (failing to pay their annual instalments), France took drastic measures to force Germany to pay. French and Belgium troops invaded and occupied the Ruhr, an important industrial region in Germany, in an attempt to seize in goods what the Germans were refusing to pay in cash. The Germans responded with passive resistance and strikes.
While France succeeded in seizing goods worth about £40 million, the invasion and Germany’s passive resistance led to soaring inflation and collapse of the German currency. German-French relations worsened, with German resentment towards the French increasing. This event simply increased the hostility between France and Germany, perhaps benefiting no one except for the radicals like Hitler who attempted to overthrow the Weimar government during this period.
With German public discontent rising and the German economy collapsing, Hitler and right-winged radicals seized this opportunity to instigate an uprising, the Munich Putsche in order to rid Germany of the "November Criminals" who had originally signed the Versailles Treaty.
War reparations for Germany was far too high, and so when Germany began defaulting (failing to pay their annual instalments), France took drastic measures to force Germany to pay. French and Belgium troops invaded and occupied the Ruhr, an important industrial region in Germany, in an attempt to seize in goods what the Germans were refusing to pay in cash. The Germans responded with passive resistance and strikes.
While France succeeded in seizing goods worth about £40 million, the invasion and Germany’s passive resistance led to soaring inflation and collapse of the German currency. German-French relations worsened, with German resentment towards the French increasing. This event simply increased the hostility between France and Germany, perhaps benefiting no one except for the radicals like Hitler who attempted to overthrow the Weimar government during this period.
With German public discontent rising and the German economy collapsing, Hitler and right-winged radicals seized this opportunity to instigate an uprising, the Munich Putsche in order to rid Germany of the "November Criminals" who had originally signed the Versailles Treaty.