 The workers councils that led the uprising declared the Ruhr an independent, socialist republic, but the Freikorps and Reichswehr put down the rebellion and re-established control.In March 1921, French and Belgian troops occupied Duisburg, which under the Treaty of Versailles formed part of the demilitarized Rhineland.In January 1923 the whole Ruhrgebiet was occupied as a reprisal after Germany failed to fulfill World War I reparation payments as agreed in the Versailles Treaty.