Ruhr Occupation and Inflation

Abstract

Cuno’s government was in no position to fight the French, but it refused to surrender to Poincaré’s strong-arm tactics. Cuno inaugurated a policy of passive resistance in the Ruhr. Businessmen, officials and workers were not to co-operate with the occupying powers. The Reich government met the financial losses involved in this resistance. Acts of sabotage were also organised by clandestine paramilitary groups under the authority of the Reichswehr.¹ One result of these measures was that the Franco-Belgian invasion became a much larger operation than had been at first envisaged. Repressive measures were taken against recalcitrant German mine-owners, miners and civil servants. They included jail after courts martial and banishment from the occupied zone. Miners were shot down in clashes with French troops. A customs barrier was erected between the Ruhr area and the rest of the Reich.