After World War 1, the famous treaty of Versailles was agreed.

This Treaty consisted on many

points but for what is it well know is because of its coldness with Germany. It was harsh to a point
it was considered a dictated peace and as unfair. The Treaty dictated that Germany was the one to
blame for the war. So it forced the German army to be disarmed. After being such a powerful
empire with such strong army, they reduced it to 100,000 men, no tanks and only 6 warships.
German troops were banned from the Rhineland area bordering France. So the first point of why
Germany was invaded is that they were practically defenseless.

The Treaty also dictated that the German territory had to be reduced. Colonies and a lot of
territory was taken away from the Germans, such as Alsace-Lorraine which was returned to
France. As a second point for the cause of the invation would be rescentment and intolerance
between France and Germany.

The third and most important point that caused the invation of the Ruhr was the Treaty ordering
Germany to pay a huge compensation for the damages left by the war to the winning powers,
which were France, Italy, Russia and Britain. They had to pay around 33 billion dollars, Germany
was doomed, they weren’t able to pay those amounts. The justification for this payments was that
Germany was guilty of starting the war. A war guilt Clause was included in this Treaty.

There is considerable debate about why the Ruhr occupation occurred, whether it was justified or
pre-meditated. The conventional view are the three points I just mentioned. Paris ordered troops
into the Ruhr angrily, because the Weimar government had deliberately failed to honour the
terms of the Versailles treaty and the Reparations Commission. But some evidence also suggests
the French government had been plotting to occupy the Ruhr since 1919. France had its own
sizeable war debts to meet and were beginning to feel short-changed by the terms of Versailles.
And there was much to be gained by occupying the Ruhr, which housed three quarters of
Germany’s steel and coal production.

Whatever the French motives, the Ruhr occupation was achieved swiftly and methodically.