In January 1923 France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr, an industrial area of German bordering their own countries. The occupation of Ruhr was in response to the Weimar Republic’s failure to continue its reparation payments in the aftermath of World War I. This region, full of factories and coalmines, contained resources the French and Belgians intended to use to make up for the unpaid reparations.
 
German workers refused to co-operate with the French and Belgian armies, and went on strike. The German government supported them. The French sent in their own workers, and arrested the leaders of the German strikers and the German police. This led to violence on both sides. 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.