Germany & Area

more...

Home
Asia
Australia
Br. Comm. Other
Canada
Europe
Albania
Austria
Belgium & Colonies
Bulgaria
Czechoslovakia, Czech...
Denmark & Faroe Islands
Finland
France & Colonies
Germany & Area
Greece
Greenland
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy & Area
Luxembourg
Netherlands & Colonies
Norway
Other
Poland
Portugal & Colonies
Romania
Russia & Area
Spain & Colonies
Sweden
Switzerland & Liechtenstein
Latin America
Middle East
Publications & Supplies
Topical & Specialty
UK (Great Britain)
United States
Worldwide

The Ruhr Area, (German Ruhrgebiet, colloquial Ruhrpott, Kohlenpott or Revier) is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, consisting of a number of large formerly industrial cities bordered by the rivers Ruhr to the south, Rhine to the west, and Lippe to the north. Southwest it borders the Bergisches Land. The area, with some 5.3 million people, is considered part of the larger Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area of more than 12 million people.

Going from west to east, the area includes the city boroughs of Duisburg, Oberhausen, Bottrop, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Bochum, Herne, Hamm, Hagen, and Dortmund as well as parts of the more "rural" districts Wesel, Recklinghausen, Unna and Ennepe-Ruhr. These districts have grown into a large complex forming an industrial landscape of unique size, inhabited by some 5.3 million people, the fifth largest urban area in Europe after those of Moscow, London, Madrid, and Paris.

History

Towns in the area first grew during the Industrial Revolution, mainly basing their economy on coal mining and steel production. As demand for coal slowly decreased after 1960, the area went through phases of structural crisis and industrial diversification, first developing traditional heavy industry, then moving into service industries and high technology. The proverbial air and water pollution of the area are largely a thing of the past. In 2005 “Essen for the Ruhrgebiet” was the official candidate for nomination as European Capital of Culture for 2010.

In January 1923 French forces occupied the Ruhr area as a means of reprisal after Germany did not fulfill reparation payments demanded by the Versailles Treaty. The German government answered with "passive resistance," which meant that coal miners and railway workers refused to obey any instructions by the occupation forces. Production and transportation came to a standstill, but the financial consequences completely ruined public finances in Germany and passive resistance was called off in late 1923.

In World War II, the Allies mounted a campaign specifically to encircle and capture the Ruhr Area. This effort succeeded in surrounding the entire area, trapping several hundred thousand Wehrmacht troops within what was known as the "Ruhr Pocket." Due to its economic significance, the region was very heavily bombed during the War and some of its towns (Dortmund, for example) were among the most devastated cities in Germany.

Following the German unconditional surrender after World War II, the Ruhr area led a perilous existence. The Morgenthau Plan had set the tone in 1944 by requiring the entire area to be stripped of all mining and manufacturing industry, and its industrial worker population to be dispersed as widely as possible. The Ruhr area was then to be governed as an international zone. The French Monnet plan also pushed for an internationalization (see also French proposal from September 1945). The Ruhr Agreement was imposed on the Germans as a condition for permitting them to establish the Federal Republic of Germany. (see also the International Authority for the Ruhr (IAR)).

Read more at Wikipedia.org