The Ruhr uprising (German: Ruhraufstand) or March uprising (Märzaufstand) was a left-wing workers' revolt in the Ruhr region of Germany in March 1920. The uprising took place initially in support of the call for a general strike issued by the Social Democrat members of the German government, the unions and other parties in response to the right-wing Kapp Putsch of 13 March 1920.
However, the communists and socialists in the Ruhr had previously laid plans for "winning political power by the dictatorship of the proletariat" in the event of a general strike. After the collapse of the Kapp Putsch, the German government sent in the Reichswehr (the German army) and rightwing Freikorps,
to crush the ongoing insurgency of the around 50,000 members of the
"Red Ruhr Army". This was done with considerable brutality and involved
numerous summary executions.
