The Ruhr is a river in western Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia). It is a right tributary of the Rhine. The Ruhr rises near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous region of Sauerland at an altitude of approximately 670 metres. It flows into the Lower Rhine at an altitude of just 17 metres in the urban district of Duisburg. Its total length is 219 km and its average flow is 79 m3/s. Its flow is therefore comparable to that of the Ems in northern Germany or the Thames in the UK, for example. The Ruhr first flows through the towns of Meschede, Arnsberg, Wickede, Fröndenberg, Holzwickede, Iserlohn and Schwerte. River then marks the southern border of the Ruhr and passes the cities of Hagen, Dortmund, Herdecke, Wetter, Witten, Bochum, Hattingen, Essen, Mülheim and Duisburg.
The Ruhr area was the main industrial area of Germany in the early to mid-20th century. Most of the factories were located here. The occupation of the Ruhr by French troops in 1923-24. Caused by the failure of the Weimar Republic to continue paying reparations from the First World War. Caused passive resistance, which brought production in the factories to a standstill. As a result, the German hyperinflationary crisis deepened.
During the Second World War, two of the dams in the Ruhr, the Möhne Dam and the Sorpe Dam. Became the target of Operation Chastise, in which special „bouncing bombs“. Were developed to disable the dams and flood the valley in the hope of seriously affecting German industry there. The story was told in a 1951 book and in 1955 the popular film The Dam Busters was based on it.
