French occupation of Frankfurt occurred from 6 April to 17 May 1920 as part of the

Allied occupation of the Rhineland An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are call ...

. The principal city occupied was

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, but the French also occupied Dieburg,

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

Hanau Hanau () is a city in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its railway Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ma ...

and Homburg. The occupation was in response to the mobilisation of armed forces by the government of Hermann Müller to suppress the

Ruhr Uprising The Ruhr uprising () or March uprising () was an uprising that occurred in the Ruhr region of Germany from 13 March to 6 April 1920. It was a Left-wing politics, left-wing workers' revolt triggered by the call for a Kapp Putsch#General Strike ...

, an attempt by left-wing workers to take over political power in the

Ruhr Area The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

. It grew out of the widespread strike movement that defeated the Kapp Putsch.

French economic concerns

On 20 January 1920 Alexandre Millerand succeeded

Georges Clemenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who was Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A physician turned journalist, he played a central role in the poli ...

as Prime Minister of France. On 31 January he attended the first meeting of the

Conseil supérieur de la guerre The Conseil supérieur de la guerre (, ''Superior War Council'', abbr. CSG) was the highest military body in France under the Third French Republic, Third Republic. It was under the presidency of the Minister of War (France), Minister of War, althou ...

since the

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...

and enquired whether the French Army was capable of occupying the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

. Edmond Buat, the

Chief of Staff of the French Army Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the bo ...

, replied this would only be possible with the mobilisation of reserves.

The Kapp Putsch

The Kapp Putsch was an attempted coup on 13 March 1920 by parts of the ''

Reichswehr ''Reichswehr'' (; ) was the official name of the German armed forces during the Weimar Republic and the first two years of Nazi Germany. After Germany was defeated in World War I, the Imperial German Army () was dissolved in order to be reshaped ...

'' (military), the

Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European paramilitary volunteer units that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenaries or private military companies, rega ...

and other conservative, nationalist and monarchist factions. They aimed to undo the

German Revolution of 1918–1919 German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, overthrow the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

and establish a right-wing autocratic government in its place.

The French justification for the occupation

The French claimed that Articles 42 to 44 of the peace treaty of Versailles concerning the demilitarisation of the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

had been broken. These had designated a neutral zone 50 kilometres deep on the left bank of the Rhine. In this area any construction of fortifications or any military maneuvers were strictly forbidden, it being further specified that any breach would "be regarded as committing a hostile act against the Powers signatory of the present Treaty and as calculated to disturb the peace of the world." When the German Army sent 7,000 troops into the areas north of the River Lippe, the French government concluded that this was a breach of the treaty, and promptly responded by sending their own troops into the Neutral Zone.

Hauptwache incident

On 7 April, some Moroccan soldiers of the 3rd Moroccan Tirailleurs Regiment were stationed at the Hauptwache in the centre of Frankfurt. Originally they were surrounded by a curious crowd. However the situation deteriorated and the troops opened fire with a machine gun. This led to nine people being killed and twenty six wounded. The following day, when newspaper publishing was recommenced, the Mayor Georg Voigt, the Police Chief Ehler and the President of the Alternative Government, Cossman, issued a call for calm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frankfurt, Occupation Of The 20th century in Frankfurt 1920 in international relations Aftermath of World War I in Germany French military occupations Occupation of the Rhineland Military history of Frankfurt