Shadow of the Ruhr

Episode of Series “This Modern Age”. For fifty years the Ruhr Valley has been the key to Germany’s economy in war and peace; but because it is essentially a heavy-industry area, the Ruhr is also the arsenal and aggressive potential of Germany. At the end of World War 2, the Ruhr Valley was in ruins - factories, foundries, mines, warehouses, and homes reduced to rubble and ashes, the people short of food, without shelter, and with little prospect of employment. The policy of the Allies immediately after WW2 was to prevent the Ruhr from ever producing arms again; but as friction between the great nations has increased in the post-war world, the western powers have once again begun to develop the Ruhr’s armaments industries.