Editing Ruhr (section)

==History==
{{main|History of the Ruhr}}
[[File:Alte Markt Dortmund.JPG|thumb|left|Old market square in Dortmund with [[St. Reinold's Church, Dortmund|St. Reinold's Church]]]]

During the Middle Ages, much of the region that was later called the ''Ruhrgebiet'' was situated in the [[County of Mark]], the Duchies of [[Duchy of Cleves|Cleves]] and [[Berg (state)|Berg]] and the territories of the [[Prince-Bishopric of Münster|bishop of Münster]] and the [[Electorate of Cologne|archbishop of Cologne]]. The region included some villages and castles, and was mainly agrarian: its [[loess]] soil made it one of the richer parts of western Germany. The [[free imperial city]] of Dortmund was the trading and cultural centre, lying on the [[Hellweg]], an important east–west trading route, that also brought prosperity to the town of [[Duisburg]]. Both towns were members of the [[Hanseatic League]].

===Industrial revolution===
The development of the region into an urbanized industrial area started in the late 18th century with the [[Industrial Revolution|early industrialisation]] in the nearby [[Wupper]] Valley in the [[Bergisches Land]]. By around 1820, hundreds of water-powered mills were producing textiles, lumber, shingles and iron in automated processes here.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}} In additional workshops in the hills, highly skilled workers manufactured knives, tools, weapons and harnesses, using water, coal and charcoal.

As the machines became bigger and moved from water power to steam power, locally mined coal and charcoal became expensive and there was not enough of it. The Bergische industry ordered more and more coal from the new [[coal mining]] area along the [[Ruhr (river)|Ruhr]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bild.de/BILD/regional/ruhrgebiet/aktuell/2009/03/02/geschichte-des-ruhrgebiets/fruehzeit-und-mittelalter-geburtsstunde-zweiter-artikelteil.html|title="Das Ruhrgebiet! Von der Steinzeit bis zur Kulturhauptsatdt 2010" part 2|author=Prof. Dr. Klaus Tenfelde|access-date=2001-11-20|archive-date=13 November 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091113073605/http://www.bild.de/BILD/regional/ruhrgebiet/aktuell/2009/03/02/geschichte-des-ruhrgebiets/fruehzeit-und-mittelalter-geburtsstunde-zweiter-artikelteil.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Impressive and expensive railways were constructed through the hilly Wupper region, to bring coal, and later steel, in from the Ruhr, and for outward transport of finished products.<ref>[[Friedrich Harkort]], "Die Eisenbahn von Minden nach Köln", Brune, Hagen 1833</ref>

[[File:Zeche Zollverein abends.jpg|thumb|[[Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex]] in [[Essen]], a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001]]
[[File:Dortmund Zollern IMGP0620.jpg|thumb|[[Zeche Zollern]] in [[Dortmund]]]]
[[File:Bottrop (DE), Tetraeder -- 2022 -- 0402X.jpg|thumb|[[Tetrahedron in Bottrop|Tetrahedron]] in Bottrop]]
By 1850, there were almost 300 coal mines in operation in the Ruhr area, in and around the central cities of Duisburg, Essen, Bochum and Dortmund. The coal was exported or processed in coking ovens into [[coke (fuel)|coke]], used in [[blast furnace]]s, producing iron and steel. In this period the name ''Ruhrgebiet'' became common. Before the coal deposits along the Ruhr were exhausted, the mining industry moved northward to the Emscher and finally to the Lippe, drilling ever deeper mines as it went. Locks built at [[Mülheim]] on the Ruhr led to the expansion of Mülheim as a port. With the construction of the Cologne-Minden railway in the late 19th century, several iron works were built within the borders of the present-day city of [[Oberhausen]].

Moreover, the [[urbanization]] also boosted the expansion of [[railroad]] connections. At the beginning of the 1880s, agricultural regions did not benefit from the newly built transport facilities as much as non-agricultural regions did. This in its turn increased inequality, and made [[anthropometric]] measurements, e.g. height, more dependent on [[wage]]s. In the long run, however, effects of the railroad proximity diminished.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baten |first1=Jörg |title=Did the Railway Increase Inequality? A Micro-Regional Analysis of Heights in the Hinterland of the Booming Ruhr Area During the Late Nineteenth Century |journal=The Journal of European Economic History |date=Summer 2009 |volume=38 |issue=2}}</ref>

Consequently, the population climbed rapidly. Towns with only 2,000 to 5,000 people in the early 19th century grew in the following 100 years to over 100,000. Skilled mineworkers were recruited from other regions to the Ruhr's mines and steel mills and unskilled people started to move in. From 1860 onwards there was large-scale migration of Polish speakers from [[Silesia]], [[Pomerania]], [[East Prussia]] and [[Province of Posen|Posen]] to the Ruhr, who were known as ''[[Ruhrpolen]]'' since. The Poles were treated as second class citizens. In 1899 this led to a revolt in [[Herne, Germany|Herne]] of young Polish workers, who later established a Workers' Union. Skilled workers in the mines were often housed in "miners' colonies", built by the mining firms. By 1870, over 3 million people lived in the Ruhrgebiet and the new coal-mining district had become the largest industrial region of Europe.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bild.de/BILD/regional/ruhrgebiet/aktuell/2009/03/04/geschichte-des-ruhrgebiets/die-kohle-der-kaiser-und-die-kanonen-1.html |title="Das Ruhrgebiet! Von der Steinzeit bis zur Kulturhauptsatdt 2010" part 3 |author=Prof. Dr. Klaus Tenfelde |access-date=2001-11-20 |archive-date=23 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123042828/http://www.bild.de/BILD/regional/ruhrgebiet/aktuell/2009/03/04/geschichte-des-ruhrgebiets/die-kohle-der-kaiser-und-die-kanonen-1.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

During World War I the Ruhrgebiet functioned as Germany's central weapon factory. At a big Essen company, F. Krupp A.G., the number of employees rose from 40,000 to 120,000 or more, in four years. They were partly women, partly forced labourers.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}}

===Weimar Republic===
In the March 1920 [[Kapp Putsch]], nationalist and monarchist elements with the armed support of [[Freikorps]] units attempted to overthrow the government of the [[Weimar Republic]]. It was able to defeat the putsch by advocating a general strike that all but shut down Berlin.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Llewellyn |first1=Jennifer |last2=Thompson |first2=Steve |date=17 September 2019 |title=The Kapp Putsch |url=https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/kapp-putsch/ |access-date=14 April 2023 |website=Alpha History}}</ref> The work action effectively ended the putsch, but in the Ruhr it was the instigation for an armed revolt whose aim was to replace the Weimar Republic with a soviet-style [[Soviet republic|council republic]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scriba |first=Arnulf |date=1 September 2014 |title=Die Märzkämpfe 1919 |trans-title=The March Battles 1919 |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/revolution-191819/maerzkaempfe-1919.html |access-date=23 August 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref> In the [[Ruhr uprising|Ruhr Uprising]], the [[Ruhr Red Army]] was able to take control of the Ruhr industrial area. The [[Reichswehr]], with assistance from Freikorps units, put down the rebellion in early April 1920 and re-established the Weimar Republic's control of the district. An estimated 1,000 insurgents and 200 Reichswehr soldiers were killed in the battles.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wulfert |first=Anja |date=22 January 2002 |title=Der Märzaufstand 1920 |trans-title=The March Uprising 1920 |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/maerzaufstand-1920.html |access-date=14 April 2023 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de |archive-date=14 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414115718/https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/maerzaufstand-1920.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In March 1921, French and Belgian troops occupied [[Duisburg]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 April 2009 |title=Ruhr Occupation |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ruhr-occupation |access-date=14 April 2023 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |archive-date=14 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414115718/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ruhr-occupation |url-status=live }}</ref> which under the [[Treaty of Versailles]] formed part of the demilitarized [[Rhineland]]. In January 1923 the whole [[Occupation of the Ruhr|Ruhr district was occupied]] after Germany failed to fulfill part of its [[World War I reparations|World War I reparation payments]] as agreed in the Versailles Treaty. The German government responded with a policy of passive resistance, letting workers and civil servants refuse orders and instructions by the occupation forces. Production and transport came to a standstill and the financial consequences contributed to [[Inflation in the Weimar Republic|German hyperinflation]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Llewellyn |first1=Jennifer |last2=Thompson |first2=Steve |date=25 September 2019 |title=The Ruhr Occupation |url=https://alphahistory.com/weimarrepublic/ruhr-occupation/#The_governments_response |access-date=14 April 2023 |website=Alpha History}}</ref> After passive resistance was called off in late 1923, Germany implemented a currency reform and negotiated the [[Dawes Plan]], which led to the withdrawal of the French and Belgian troops from the Ruhr in 1925. However, the occupation of the Ruhr caused several direct and indirect consequences to the German economy and government, including accelerating the growth of right wing parties due to the Weimar government's inability to successfully resolve the problem.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schmidt |first=Royal J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lWZ-BgAAQBAJ&q=right-wing |title=Versailles and the Ruhr: Seedbed of World War II |publisher=Springer |year=2012 |isbn=9789401510813 |location=Heidelberg |access-date=14 April 2023 |archive-date=14 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414115721/https://books.google.com/books?id=lWZ-BgAAQBAJ&q=right-wing |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Nazi period===
On 7 March 1936,<ref name="R.W. Davies, Oleg Khlevnyuk, Stephen G. Wheatcroft 2014 275">{{cite book|author=R. W. Davies|title=The Industrialisation of Soviet Russia Volume 6: The Years of Progress: The Soviet Economy, 1934-1936|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iM9CBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA275|year=2014|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|page=275|isbn=9781137362575|access-date=11 September 2017|archive-date=10 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110215522/https://books.google.com/books?id=iM9CBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA275|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Adolf Hitler]] took a massive gamble by [[Remilitarization of the Rhineland|sending 30,000 troops into the Rhineland]]. As Hitler and other Nazis admitted, the French army alone could have destroyed the [[Wehrmacht]].<ref name="William L. Shirer, Ron Rosenbaum 1960 293">{{cite book|author=William L. Shirer, Ron Rosenbaum|title=The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6QngAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA293|year=1960|publisher=Simon & Schuster|page=293|isbn=9781451651683|access-date=11 September 2017|archive-date=10 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110215522/https://books.google.com/books?id=6QngAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA293|url-status=live}}</ref> The French passed the problem to the British, who found that the Germans had the right to "enter their own backyard", and no action was taken.<ref name="A.J.P. Taylor 2001 386">{{cite book|author=A. J. P. Taylor|title=English History 1914-1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l4CbmiuJe50C&pg=PA386|year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=386|isbn=9780192801401|access-date=11 September 2017|archive-date=10 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110215526/https://books.google.com/books?id=l4CbmiuJe50C&pg=PA386|url-status=live}}</ref> In the [[League of Nations]], the Soviet delegate [[Maxim Litvinov]] was the only one who proposed [[economic sanctions]] against Germany.<ref name="R.W. Davies, Oleg Khlevnyuk, Stephen G. Wheatcroft 2014 275" /><ref name="A.J.P. Taylor 2001 386"/> All restraint on German rearmament was now removed. France's eastern allies (the [[Soviet Union]], [[Poland]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Romania]] and [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]) concluded that since the French refused to defend their own border, they certainly would not stand up for their allies in the East. Hitler could now continue eroding the alliance system that France had built since 1919.<ref name="Samuel W. Mitcham 2008 66-67">{{cite book|first=Samuel W.|last=Mitcham|author-link=Samuel W. Mitcham|title=The Rise of the Wehrmacht: Vol. 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DW66ejQS2xoC&pg=PA66|year=2008|publisher=Praeger|pages=66–67|isbn=9780275996413|access-date=11 September 2017|archive-date=10 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110215524/https://books.google.com/books?id=DW66ejQS2xoC&pg=PA66|url-status=live}}</ref> On 16 October 1936, [[Belgium]] repudiated the 1921 alliance with France and declared its absolute neutrality.<ref name="Samuel W. Mitcham 2008 66">{{cite book|first=Samuel W.|last=Mitcham|author-link=Samuel W. Mitcham|title=The Rise of the Wehrmacht, Volume 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DW66ejQS2xoC&pg=PA66|year=2008|publisher=Praeger|page=66|isbn=9780275996413|access-date=11 September 2017|archive-date=10 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110215524/https://books.google.com/books?id=DW66ejQS2xoC&pg=PA66|url-status=live}}</ref> In October 1937, Belgium signed a non-aggression pact with Germany.<ref name="The Evening Independent">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19371013&id=ePVPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MFUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5438,2426020&hl=en German-Belgian Pact Concluded] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160501001915/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19371013&id=ePVPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MFUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5438,2426020&hl=en |date=1 May 2016 }}, 13 October 1937</ref>

{{Infobox
| bodystyle  = width:auto;
| header1    = WWII Ruhr Bombing Operations
| labelstyle = font-weight:normal;
| label2     = 1943 March–July: |data2=[[Battle of the Ruhr]]
| label3     = 1943 May: |data3=[[Operation Chastise]]
| label4     = 1944 October: |data4=[[Operation Hurricane (1944)|Operation Hurricane]]
| label5     = 1944 September: |data5=[[Oil Campaign of World War II|Bombing of German oil<br />facilities during World War II]]
}}
During World War II, the [[Battle of the Ruhr|bombing of the Ruhr]] in 1940–1944 caused a loss of 30% of plant and equipment (compared to 15–20% for German industry as a whole).<ref name=Botting>Botting (1985), p. 125</ref> A second battle of the Ruhr (6/7 October 1944 – end of 1944) began with an attack on [[Dortmund]]. The devastating bombing raids of Dortmund on 12 March 1945 with 1,108 aircraft – 748 Lancasters, 292 Halifaxes, 68 Mosquitos – was a record to a single target in the whole of World War II. More than 4,800 tons of bombs were dropped through the city centre and the south of the city.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.backtonormandy.org/component/mtree/air-force-operations/airplanes-in-actions/lancaster/16345-raf-bomber-command-748-lancasters-carried-out-a-large-attack-on-dorthmund-on-1112th-of-march-1945.html|title=RAF Bomber Command 748 Lancasters carried out a large attack on Dortmund on 12th of March 1945|first=Fred|last=Vogels|website=Back to Normandy|date=12 March 1945 |access-date=16 December 2017|archive-date=17 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171217014827/https://www.backtonormandy.org/component/mtree/air-force-operations/airplanes-in-actions/lancaster/16345-raf-bomber-command-748-lancasters-carried-out-a-large-attack-on-dorthmund-on-1112th-of-march-1945.html|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Levine|1992|p=173}}

In addition to the [[strategic bombing during World War II|strategic bombing of the Ruhr]], in April 1945, the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] trapped several hundred thousand [[Wehrmacht]] troops in the [[Ruhr Pocket]].
[[File:Innenhafen Duisburg.jpg|thumb|right|View of the redeveloped [[Duisburg Inner Harbour]] in 2010]]

===Postwar period===
After the war, the region fell within the [[British occupation zone in Germany|British occupation zone]], and [[Industrial plans for Germany|Level of Industry plans for Germany]] abolished all German munitions factories and civilian industries that could support them and severely restricted civilian industries of military potential. The [[International Authority for the Ruhr|Ruhr Authority]], an international body to regulate the Ruhr's coal and steel industries, was created as a condition for the establishment of the [[West Germany|Federal Republic of Germany]].<ref>Yoder (1955), pp. 345–358</ref>

During the [[Cold War]], the Western allies anticipated that any [[Red Army]] thrust into [[Western Europe]] would begin in the [[Fulda Gap]] and have the Ruhr as a primary target. Increased German control of the area was limited by the pooling of German coal and steel into the multinational [[European Coal and Steel Community]] in 1951. The nearby [[Saar (protectorate)|Saar region]], containing much of Germany's remaining coal deposits, was handed over to economic administration by France as a protectorate in 1947 and did not politically return to Germany until January 1957, with economic reintegration occurring two years later. Parallel to the question of political control of the Ruhr, the Allies tried to decrease German industrial potential by limitations on production and dismantling of factories and steel plants, predominantly in the Ruhr. By 1950, after the virtual completion of the by-then much watered-down "level of industry" plans, equipment had been removed from 706 [[Factory|manufacturing plants]] in the west, and steel production capacity had been reduced by 6.7 million tons.<ref>Gareau (1961), pp. 517–534</ref> Dismantling finally ended in 1951. In all, less than 5% of the industrial base was dismantled.<ref>[[John Ardagh]], ''Germany and the Germans'' (1987) p 84</ref>

The Ruhr was at the centre of the German economic miracle [[Wirtschaftswunder]] of the 1950s and 1960s, as very rapid economic growth (9% a year) created a heavy demand for coal and steel.

After 1973, Germany was hard hit by a worldwide economic crisis, soaring oil prices, and increasing unemployment, which jumped from 300,000 in 1973 to 1.1 million in 1975. The Ruhr region was hardest hit, as the easy-to-reach coal mines became exhausted, and German coal was no longer competitive. Likewise the Ruhr steel industry went into sharp decline, as its prices were undercut by lower-cost suppliers such as Japan. The welfare system provided a safety net for the large number of unemployed workers, and many factories reduced their labor force and began to concentrate on high-profit specialty items.<ref>Ardagh, ''Germany and the Germans'' (1987) pp 74–82</ref><ref>Christian Berndt, "Ruhr Firms between Dynamic Change and Structural Persistence. Globalization, the 'German Model' and Regional Place-Dependence", ''Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers'' New Series, Vol. 23, No. 3 (1998), pp. 331–352 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/623205 in JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026101556/http://www.jstor.org/stable/623205 |date=26 October 2016 }}</ref>

As demand for coal decreased after 1958, the area went through phases of structural crisis (see [[steel crisis]]) and industrial diversification, first developing traditional heavy industry, then moving into service industries and high technology. The air and water pollution of the area are largely a thing of the past although some issues take a long time to solve.<ref>De Ridder K. et al., 2008. Simulating the impact of urban sprawl on air quality and population exposure in the German Ruhr area. Part I: Reproducing the base state. Atmospheric Environment 42,7059–7069</ref><ref>De Ridder K et al., 2008. Simulating the impact of urban sprawl on air quality and population exposure in the German Ruhr area. Part II: Development and evaluation of an urban growth scenario. Atmospheric Environment 42,7070–7077</ref> In 2005 [[Essen]]<ref>[http://en.kulturhauptstadt-europas.de/start.php] "Essen for the Ruhrgebiet" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915121601/http://en.kulturhauptstadt-europas.de/start.php|date=September 15, 2008}}</ref> was the official candidate for nomination as [[European Capital of Culture]] for 2010.