Occupation of the Ruhr important harbour in Duisburg-Ruhrort, ending French occupation of the Ruhr region on 25 August 1925. According to Sally Marks, the occupation of the Ruhr "was profitable and caused neither the German hyperinflation, which began in 1922 and ballooned because of German responses to the Ruhr occupation, nor the franc's 1924 collapse, which arose from French financial practices and the evaporation of reparations". Marks suggests the profits, after Ruhr-Rhineland occupation costs, were nearly 900 million gold marks. Despite his disagreements with Britain, Poincaré desired to preserve the Anglo-French entente and thus moderated his aims to a degree. His major goal was
Urbanization in the German Empire did and while only one-fifth of the population in both the Rhineland and Westphalia (in the western part of Germany) did. Overall, the most robust urbanization in Germany during this time period occurred in the Rhineland, Westphalia, Saxony, and Brandenburg. Similarly, industrial development in Germany during this time focused on the Ruhr, Saxony, and Silesia. Out of the total population in these provinces, 47% of Brandenburg's population, 40% of Westphalia's population, and 50% of the Rhineland's population lived in communities of 20,000 people or more in 1910. Between 1875 and 1910, German cities experienced a huge increase in their population.