Editing Ruhr (section)

===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]]