<P> Initiated by French Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré, the invasion took place on 11 January 1923 . General Alphonse Caron's 32nd infantry corps under the supervision of General Jean - Marie Degoutte carried out the operation . Some theories state that the French aimed to occupy the centre of German coal, iron, and steel production in the Ruhr area valley simply to get the money . Some others state that France did it to ensure that the reparations were paid in goods, because the Mark was practically worthless because of hyperinflation that already existed at the end of 1922 . France had the iron ore and Germany had the coal . Each state wanted free access to the resource it was short of, as together these resources had far more value than separately . (Eventually this problem was resolved in the post-World War II European Coal and Steel community .) </P> <P> Following France's decision to invade the Ruhr, the Inter-Allied Mission for Control of Factories and Mines (MICUM) was set up as a means of ensuring coal repayments from Germany . </P> <P> The occupation was greeted by a campaign of passive resistance . Approximately 130 German civilians were killed by the French occupation army during the events, including during civil disobedience protests, e.g. against dismissal of German officials . Some theories assert that to pay for passive resistance in the Ruhr, the German government began the hyperinflation that destroyed the German economy in 1923 . Others state that the road to hyperinflation was well established before with the reparation payments that started on November 1921, see 1920s German inflation . In the face of economic collapse, with high unemployment and hyperinflation, the strikes were eventually called off in September 1923 by the new Gustav Stresemann coalition government, which was followed by a state of emergency . Despite this, civil unrest grew into riots and coup attempts targeted at the government of the Weimar Republic, including the Beer Hall Putsch . The Rhenish Republic was proclaimed at Aachen (Aix - la - Chapelle) in October 1923 . </P> <P> Though the French did succeed in making their occupation of the Ruhr pay, the Germans through their passive resistance in the Ruhr and the hyperinflation that wrecked their economy, won the world's sympathy, and under heavy Anglo - American financial pressure (the simultaneous decline in the value of the franc made the French very open to pressure from Wall Street and the City), the French were forced to agree to the Dawes Plan of April 1924, which substantially lowered German reparations payments . Under the Dawes Plan, Germany paid only 1 billion marks in 1924, and then increasing amounts for the next three years, until the total rose to 2.25 billion marks by 1927 . </P>

Why did german workers go on strike in 1923