Version 1.0 | Last updated 18 September 2015Occupation Agreement • May 30th, 2017
Contract Type FiledMay 30th, 2017The Armistice agreement foresaw the occupation of the left bank of the Rhine, the dates of which were set by the Treaty of Versailles. The inter-allied occupation was a long-term endeavour: the French settled in the south and the Belgians in the north of the Rhine basin. Relations were established between the occupying forces and occupied communities, both of whom were involved in a slow process of cultural demobilization. Their interaction continued to be marred by violence, which peaked in 1923 during the invasion of the Ruhr or “Ruhrkampf”. Normalization in the relations between these former belligerents, and their peaceful cohabitation along the Rhine finally began ten years after the August 1914 declaration of war.