M.I.C.U.M

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M.I.C.U.M-(Inter-Allied Mission for Control of Factories and Mines (Micum) [Fischer, p. 42] was a body set up in the period of the Ruhr Crisis, which took place in reaction to World War One.

France was determined to gain full advantage from its 'victory' in World War One. As such, entering negotiations regarding a settlement post World War One, France, given its previous negative history with Germany was determined to ensure Germany was punished fully for her part in the war.

As such, a diplomatic battle ensued, in which France argued that it desired full reparations as in accord with the Treaty of Versailles settlement, and Germany argued that the reparation schedule was harsh; indeed so harsh that she could not meet the repararations schedule defined.

France, determined to extract what she felt was rightfully hers, began to develop and forward the idea of occupying the Ruhr region of Germany, as an almost imperial way of asserting dominance [Fischer p. 3]. As such, when France argued that Germany defaulted on reparations payments [Fischer, p 28] France used the opportunity to invade the Ruhr district, and suggested that such an invasion was justified on the basis of extracting what she was owed in terms of reparations.

Following France's decision to invade the Ruhr in January 1923 [Fischer p 28] the Inter-Allied Mission for Control of Factories and Mines [M.I.C.U.M] was set up, as a means of ensuring coal and coke repayments from Germany [Fischer, p 51]. However, international discord met France's attempts to enforce sanctions on Germany, and eventually the M.I.C.U.M was disbanded, with France's diplomatic situation worsening and the invasion of the Ruhr abandoned, resulting in the Dawes plan and an end to the Ruhr crisis, with France being the ultimate losers. [Fischer, p 284]