History of the Ruhr and steel industries have declined drastically History of the Ruhr The actual boundaries of the Ruhr vary slightly depending on the source, but a good working definition is to define the Lippe and Ruhr as its northern and southern boundaries respectively, the Rhine as its western boundary, and the town of Hamm as the eastern limit. In the Middle Ages, local power was vested primarily in the counts ("Grafen") of Berg, Mark and Cleves. The left bank of the Rhine was held by the Archbishop of Cologne. The Hellweg was an important trade route crossing the region from Duisburg to
Ruhr Question prerequisite for the security of Europe and the world." An important consideration was that France and neighboring Western European countries had their economies supplied with coal and steel from the Ruhr and Saar regions for the purpose of postwar reconstruction. In the steel sector specifically, France intended, with the Monnet Plan to expand French steel production and impose a restriction on the capacity of German steel production. The Monnet Plan was considered a compromise from France to the other Allies, as France would have preferred to separate the industrial area from the Rhine and Ruhr region altogether. The Soviet Union,