[metesky]

WWII was precipitated by the French marching into Germany in order to physically demand payments that were impossible for the Germans to make.

That's one I have never heard. Source please.

[Demidog]

It happened years before the war began. But most certainly the plunder of Germany was a major factor in Hitler's rise to power.

Germany's foreign minister had this to say at the time about Wilson's "14 points" proposal:

But more than this, we are also to resign the right of self-determination in domestic affairs. Dictatorial powers are conferred on the International Reparation Commission over our whole national life in economic and cultural matters, its power by far exceeding those ever enjoyed within the German Empire by the Emperor, the German Federal Council and the Reichstag put together. This Commission has the unrestrained power of disposal over the economic system of the state, of the municipalities and of private individuals. All matters of education and public health likewise depend on it. . . . The Commission . . can, in order to augment the payments of Serfdom, inhibit the whole system of social care for the working classes in Germany.

Also in other respects Germany's right of sovereignty is abrogated. Her principal rivers are placed under international administration, she is obliged to build on her own territory the canals and railways desired by the enemy, she must, without knowing the contents, assent to agreements which her adversaries intend concluding with the new states in the East [i.e., Poland and the Baltic states] and which affect Germany's own boundaries. The German people is excluded from the League of Nations to which all common work of the world is confided.

Thus a whole nation is called upon to sign its own proscription, yea, even its own death warrant.

To say that the treaty was punitive would be a gross understatement.

The invasion of the Ruhr by the French (steel factories and industrial areas.) French Invasion of the Ruhr - - French invaded a major industrial part of Germany, the Ruhr. The German Government reacted by printing German money in mass. German money became virtually useless. Hyper-inflation saw prices rocket.

Gustav Stresemann - - Germany's foriegn minister in the 1920's. - Helped to call off the French invasion of the Ruhr. - Reduced Germany's war reparations - Responsible for the Lacarno Pact and for Germany joing the League of Nations. - Died suddenly 1929 aged 51.

http://www.heretaunga.school.nz/dept/history/ORIGINS.HTM#Ruhr