It became apparent to all parties in December that Poincar� wished to use delays in shipments of coal and timber as a pretext for occupying the Ruhr. Although this was an inexcusable act of injustice, both Great Britain and Belgium remained silent, the former because their Middle Eastern interests depended on French cooperation at the Lausanne negotiations, and the latter because of the economic benefits and its alliance with France. On December 26, Poincar� presented to the Reparations Commission for evaluation an alleged case of German delinquency, concerning an incomplete delivery of a specified 200,000 telephone poles by the end of 1922. The Commission voted three to one that the negligence constituted a punishable violation of the Versailles Treaty.

On January 11, 1923, Poincar� ordered French troops, with Belgian support, into the Ruhr, his objectives being to weaken the German economy and if possible, detach the Ruhr from the Reich, thus creating a buffer zone that would ensure French security. Ebert, General Hans von Seeckt, and Social Democratic Minister Otto Braun convened to evaluate retaliatory options. In patriotic passion, they were determined to organize passive resistance to present a united German front against military force. They encouraged workers and civil servants to go on strike and disobey French authorities. Some staged acts of sabotage against the French. The French responded by accusing a major corporate magnate Gustav Krupp of inciting riots, fining him 100 million marks and imposing a 10-year prison sentence. Elsewhere, they arrested prominent citizens and held them hostage, executed saboteurs, appointed their own officials to administer civil affairs, and transferred French workers to operate the factories.

Thus, the German government was encumbered with providing for tens of thousands of unemployed citizens and the 150,000 expelled from the Ruhr. In addition, since the Ruhr previously supplied 85% of the nation's coal, it was forced to engage in costly imports. By the summer of 1923, resistance efforts were costing the government 40 million gold marks daily. The amount of currency in circulation rose to 44 trillion marks. There ensued a wild scramble for material property, daily transactions de-evolved into a barter economy, and businesses printed their own currency to distribute as wages. The Reichstag passed heavier taxation in a desperate attempt to salvage the mark, but the commercial relationships were already in such a state of confusion that the effect constituted merely a drop in a roiling ocean of debt. At the beginning of August 1923, the Communists called a general strike in order to aggravate the condition and thus pave the way for a revolution. The exchange rate soared to three million marks to the dollar.

To confront the crisis, a strong Chancellor inspiring confidence was essential to German integrity. The temporary rightwing nationalist dictatorship in Bavaria, the threats of revolution from the socialist-communist coalition in Saxony, and the botched Beerhall Putsch were all threats to that unity. Unfortunately, Cuno was no such leader: his constant assurance that he could not possibly continue in office and his periodic nervous attacks were hardly inspirational. When the Social Democratic bloc withdrew their support from his government on August 11, Cuno promptly abdicated.

Footnotes

       

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