Monday, February 05, 2007

3H Talk-pic: French Occupation of the Ruhr

Dear 3H,

Share your answers to the question posted to you today. Remember the context. We were discussing the 3 reasons for the weakness of the League of Nation, one of which was its lack of moral authority. I argued that the lack of moral authority was evidenced from the French Occupation of the Ruhr.

Your task is to explain:
How did the French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 undermine the moral authority of the League of Nations?

Points for grabs:
1: Applies relevant knowledge of subject area
2: Analyses the key ideas relative to knowledge of subject area
3: Synthesizes analysis into a coherent explanation in context

Each attempt that demonstrates any of these attributes earn a corresponding khooky point (1, 2, or 3). Discussion window closes when any one student attains 3 points.
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OK. The jury is back. Here is the verdict:

Samuel: 3pts
Ryan Chen: 1pt
Peixiang: 1pt
Azmeer: 1pt
Dev: 1pt
James: 2pts
Stanley: 1pt
Bastian: 2pts
Mingyang: 2pts
Xiuqi: 2 pts

These points will be added to the percentile marks of CA1.1

My answer:
The French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 undermined the moral authority of the League of Nations because the Ruhr lies in the Rhineland which has been decreed by the LON and accepted by the French as a demilitarised zone.

It would have cut the argument short if we had looked at the location of the Ruhr, and realised it lies in the demilitarised Rhineland. An deployment of troops into the Ruhr (and therefore into the Rhineland) would have contravened the terms of the Treaty of Versailles whose enforcement is under the moral authority of the LON.