Ruhr Red Army

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The Ruhr Red Army (13 March – 12 April 1920) was an army of between 50,000 and 80,000 left-wing workers who conducted what was known as the

After calling a general strike on 14 March, the Red Ruhr Army defeated the Freikorps and regular army units in the area and started the uprising. The government sent in regular and paramilitary forces, killing an estimated 1,000 workers and suppressing the revolt.

Description

The workers were drawn from the

After the failure of negotiations with the strikers, the government sent more troops into the Ruhr area on 2 April 1920. It was virtually civil war. These government troops consisted largely of regulars, but also of Freikorps paramilitary soldiers, who finally defeated the workers' uprising and reconquered the Ruhr area. While the Freikorps lost only 250 men, the Red Ruhr Army lost over a thousand during the bitter fighting. A memorial to the uprising was installed in Hagen.

On 12 April Reichswehr General Oskar von Watter banned any illegal behaviour on the part of his troops. He ended all battles and fights in the Ruhr area.

See also

• Hans Marchwitza
• Wilhelm Zaisser
• Karl Schröder

References