The Ruhr Crisis of 1923 and the International Transition in Europe after the WWI

Abstract

Article aims to analyze the impact of the Ruhr crisis 1923 on the history of the international relations in Europe after the WWI. This crisis, which began by the occupation of the Ruhr region by the French and Belgian troops and ended by the approval of the new reparation plan (Dawes plan) in 1924, played the crucial role in the transformation of the international order (so-called Versailles order), envisaged by the Paris peace conference of 1919–1920. Author scrutinizes such aspects, as the links between the Ruhr crisis and the specifics of the WWI ending, he discerns the crisis' consequences in the Western and Eastern Europe, the role of the Anglo-American mediation in the regulation of the Franco-German conflict, according to the British and US interests. The essay concludes that the Ruhr crisis made critical impact on the consolidation of the Versailles order. The events unfolded in 1923, created the conditions for the "international turn" of 1924–1925, including the formation of the Anglo-Franco-German "European concert" instead of the Entente disintegrated during the crisis. Author demonstrates the direct link between the events of 1923 and the further stabilization of Europe negotiated during the London (1924) and Locarno conferences (1925), though this link sometimes remains "under shadow" in the major studies of the international relations in Europe after WWI. Besides this, the novelty of the article is explained by the rarely used documents from the British and French archives analyzed by the author.