Occupation of the Rhineland
The Occupation of the Rhineland placed the region of Germany west of the Rhine river and four bridgeheads to its east under the control of the victorious Allies of World War I from 1 December 1918 until 30 June 1930. The occupation was imposed and regulated by articles in the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the Treaty of Versailles and the parallel agreement on the Rhineland occupation signed at the same time as the Versailles Treaty. The Rhineland was demilitarised, as was an area stretching fifty kilometres east of the Rhine, and put under the control of the Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission, which was led by a French commissioner and had one member each from Belgium, Great Britain and the United States. The purpose of the occupation was to give France and Belgium security against any future German attack and serve as a guarantee for Germany's reparations obligations. After Germany fell behind on its payments in 1922, the occupation was expanded to include the industrial Ruhr valley from 1923 to 1925.
French soldiers at Ehrenbreitstein Fortress watching over the Deutsches Eck, 1929
Paul Tirard, the French chairman of the Inter-Allied Rhineland High Commission
Henry T. Allen, commander-in-chief of the American occupation army in the Rhineland
French troops entering Essen during the occupation of the Ruhr
The Occupation of the Ruhr was a period of military occupation of the Ruhr region of Germany by France and Belgium from 11 January 1923 to 25 August 1925.
French soldiers and a German civilian in the Ruhr in 1923
French Chasseurs Alpins in Buer
French troops in Dortmund
Protests by gymnasts from the Ruhr at the 1923 Munich Gymnastics Festival (The sign on the left reads "German the Ruhr remains" [unusual word order in the original, for emphasis]; the sign on the right reads "We never ever want to be servants!" )