The Invasion of the Ruhr, 1923

In 1922, Germany could not afford to pay their reparations as ordered by the treaty of Versailles, but the French and Belgians didn't believe the Germans so they decided to take what they owed them by force.

So the French and Belgians invaded and took over all the factories, mines and shops in the Ruhr (Rhineland) and put up machine gun posts.

What is a passive resistance?

Passive Resistance is where you protest with no violence, just by refusing to follow orders.

What Happened?

Germans didn't like being ruled by allies, they took part in a passive resistance, so they refused to work or help the allies. The post, telephone and telegraph workers refused to help with communications, sell them stamps etc. Trains were also stopped to stop allie armies from getting in.

The French expelled 150,000 from the region for refusing to comply and 132 people were killed.

Due to the passive resistance, nobody was working in Germany. 

This caused a huge economic crisis for Germany, so they lost even more money than they had already.