The Ruhr Uprising, also known as Ruhraufstand or the March Uprising (Märzaufstand) in German, marked a fervent left-wing workers' rebellion that swept through the Ruhr region of Germany in March 1920.
It was ignited in solidarity with a general strike, a clarion call issued by Social Democrat members of the German government, trade unions, and various political factions in direct response to the right-wing Kapp Putsch that rocked the nation on the ominous date of 13th March 1920.
Deep in the heart of the Ruhr, communist and socialist forces had been quietly devising a plan for "seizing political power through the dictatorship of the proletariat" in the event of a general strike.
Their ambitions were akin to a dormant volcano rumbling to life. However, with the collapse of the Kapp Putsch, the German government swiftly dispatched the formidable Reichswehr, the nation's military might, and the right-wing Freikorps, like an ironclad fist, to quell the ongoing insurgency.
This response was marked by brutal acts as harsh as a winter storm, including the grim practice of summary prisoner executions.
Tragically, approximately 1,600 lives were lost in the crucible of this tumultuous conflict, as the dreams of the roughly 50,000 members of the "Red Ruhr Army" were dashed upon the rocks of history.
Members of the “Ruhr Red Army”, during the Ruhr Uprising, Dortmund Hansaplatz, Germany 1920.
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