Wilhelm Carl Josef Cuno was a German businessman and politician who was the chancellor of Germany from 1922 to 1923, for a total of 264 days. His tenure included the episode known as the Occupation of the Ruhr by French and Belgian troops and the period in which inflation in Germany accelerated notably, heading towards hyperinflation. Cuno was also general director of the Hapag shipping company.
Wilhelm Cuno
Cuno, left, with German President Friedrich Ebert (1923)
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!" )