Download Was the idea of League of Nations and collective security a failure?

The Ruhr Crisis (1923)
 Involved were: France, Belgium and Germany
 Was a response to the failure of the German Weimar
Republic to pay reparations from the aftermath of
WWI
 The French occupied the Ruhr, which was one of
Germany’s most prominent industrial areas.
 The occupation lasted two years (1923 – 1925)
 Served as Prime Minister three times
 Was President of France from 1913-1920
 He was a conservative leader, primarily committed to
political and social stability
 He was noted for having an aggressive anti-German
attitude
 At the Paris Peace Conference, he favored reoccupation of the Rhineland, which he was able to
carry out in 1923 as Prime Minister
 Carried out the occupation on 11th of January, 1923
 Passive resistance (hyperinflation)
 Germany’s industrial workers in the Ruhr went on
strike.
 Popular theory was that Germany’s government knew
this would begin a hyperinflation that would destroy
German economy
 Others state that the hyperinflation was already about
to occur because of the Treaty of Versailles
 Germany managed to obtain the world’s sympathy
 Was crafted in order to bring the Weimar Republic out
of hyperinflation
 Charles Dawes, an American, was the main architect
behind the plan
 The Dawes Plan altered the amount that the Weimar
Republic had to pay in reparations
 The Dawes committee included:
USA, Britain, Italy, Belgium and France
 The League of Nations did not manage to handle the
tension between the two sides, therefore causing the
Ruhr occupation
 League of Nations had no military forces to interfere
with the occupation, could only invoke economic
sanctions on countries
 The French, under heavy financial pressure from the
Anglo-American, were forced to agree to the Dawes
Plan (1924)
 Approximately 130 German civilians were killed during
the French occupation
 Germany’s economy was facing hyperinflation, but
was rescued by the Dawes Plan.