truro college: cold war booklet 3
DESCRIPTION
Origins: Berlin Blockade to FDR and NATOTRANSCRIPT
The Berlin Blockade 1948-49 How was Berlin divided after WW2? What was life like for the people living in Berlin? What were the West’s aims for Berlin, and the Western parts of Germany? How did this differ from aims of the USSR? Why did the British, French and Americans refuse to abandon West Berlin? Why did the West introduce a new currency in their zones? How did the Soviets react? What did Stalin aim to achieve? How was West Berlin supplied with food and fuel? What did General Clay want to do? Why was it not allowed? How did the blockade end?
Source A: Stalin was engaged in what George Kennan called a ‘kind of squeeze play’. He wanted to force the Western powers either to give up their moves towards a separate West German state, or to relinquish West Berlin … in a meeting with Yugoslav and Bulgarian communist leaders, Stalin stressed that Germany would remain divided: ‘The West will make West Germany their own, and we shall turn Eastern Germany into our own state’. Soviet policy had another, more general, purpose. Soviet leaders regarded relations with the West as a war of nerves, and were determined to show that they would not be intimidated. From David Holloway, Stalin and the Bomb, in M. Leffler and D. Painter (ed.), Origins of the Cold War, published by Routledge (2005). Source B: From Russia’s perspective the blockade was a legitimate response to the West’s unilateral decision to unify the three western occupation zones … including to institute a new currency in the Western zones. Detesting the Soviet government, most Americans by 1948 did not seek to understand its viewpoint, much less find merit in it. Truman was determined to stay in Berlin … Ordinary Germans, Britons and Americans – including the tens of thousands of industrial workers, coal miners, military personnel, and labourers who loaded and unloaded the planes – deserve much of the credit for the airlift’s success. Stalin also showed restraint by not ordering Soviet forces to shoot down the planes while they were flying over the Russian zone. From R. B Levering & V. Botzenhart-Viehe, The American Perspective in R. Levering (ed.), in Origins of the Cold War, published by Rowan and Littlefield (2001). Source C: …the establishment of a West German state was rightly perceived in Moscow as a complete break with the Yalta-Potsdam agreements … In analysing these events in the Kremlin, the Soviet Foreign Ministry concluded that ‘the western powers are transforming Germany into their stronghold … directed against the Soviet Union’. Desperate to forestall such developments, the Kremlin decided to counterattack by using the most tangible advantage it still held in Germany: control over the geographic space between the western zones and Berlin. … Stalin’s hardball tactics, which he pursued too long, proved to be counterproductive. Instead of blocking the implementation of the Western plan for Germany, the Berlin blockade accelerated it. From V. Pechatnov and C. E Edmonson, The Russian Perspective in R. Levering (ed.), in Origins of the Cold War, published by Rowan and Littlefield (2001).
Berlin Blockade Quiz
1. When was the Yalta Conference?
2. Who was at the Yalta Conference?
3. What was the date of VE day?
4. When was the Potsdam Conference?
5. Who was at the Potsdam Conference?
6. What was based in Berlin to govern Germany?
7. Which area of Germany had the greatest industrial output?
8. When was VJ day?
9. Who gave the Iron Curtain Speech?
10. When was the Iron Curtain Speech?
11. When was Kennan’s ‘Long Telegram’?
12. When was the Truman Speech?
13. When was Bizonia formed?
14. When was the Marshall Plan announced?
15. What is Cominform and what year was it formed?
16. What is Comecon and what year was it formed?
17. When was the Czech crisis?
18. What was decided at the London Conference from February to June
1948?
19. What was the name of the old currency in Germany?
20. What was the name of the new currency released by the Western
powers?
21. What was the name of the new currency released by the Western
powers into West Berlin?
22. What was the name of the currency the Soviets released?
23. When was the Berlin blockade?
24. What did Stalin hope to achieve from the blockade?
25. When did the Berlin Airlift begin?
26. How many air corridors were there into West Berlin?
27. When did the Soviet Union end the blockade?
28. List 3 facts about the Berlin Airlift.
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Cold War Context 1946-47
Key Events – 1946
• Stalinisation of Eastern Europe
• Stalin’s Bolshoi Theatre speech (Feb)
• Kennan’s ‘Long Telegram’ (Feb)
• Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ Speech (March)
• Soviets stopped agricultural goods to Berlin from their zone (May)
• General Clay stops reparations to Soviet Zone (May)
• Byrne’s speech at Stuttgart (Sept)
Key Events – 1947
• Stalinisation of Eastern Europe
• Britain informs USA that their financial/military aid to Greece willcease (Feb)
• Truman Doctrine announced (March)
• Marshall Aid (June)
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y Germany – key to European peace?• Germany first ‘hot spot’ of the Cold War
• Germany divided into four zones – seemap
• Division intended to be temporary untilpeace treaty agreed
• All four powers anticipated creation ofunited German government in nearfuture
• Germany under direct supervision ofCouncil of Foreign Ministers (AlliedControl Council or ACC)
• Recovery of European economy tied toGermany
• Germany eligible for Marshall Plan aid
• January-May 1947, US zone joined withBritish zone to make military provinceof Bizonia.– Provided economic stability to British zone
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yBerlin
• Berlin also
divided
between the
four powers
• However,
positioned
177 km inside
Soviet zone
• So, potential
focus of
tension
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Soviet and US Perspectives on Germany
• Soviet:– Regarded Germany with
great suspicion and
hostility
– Determined to safeguard
USSR from potential
German invasion by
preventing Germany re-
emerging as military and
economic power
– USSR invaded twice by
Germany, so Stalin
alarmed at prospect of a
strong pro-West Germany
• USA:
– US believed punishment of
Germany at end of WW1
created conditions in which
political extremism developed
– So, best guarantee for future
European peace and
prosperity is democratic
Germany with strong
industrial base
– Also, European economic
recovery depended on free
trade between Germany and
other European nations
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yStalin’s desire for reunification
• USSR feared creation of Bizonia in early 1947 as believed a
united Western Germany posed a military threat to Eastern
Europe and USSR
• So, Stalin argued for united but neutral Germany
• But, unacceptable to USA
– feared ‘neutral’ Germany might be absorbed into Soviet sphere …
Stalinisation process
• March-April 1947 Moscow Meeting, the four powers
consider US proposal for urgent monetary reform to
stimulate German industrial development
• Soviets reject proposal as feared it might lead to capitalist
US gaining greater influence …
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The catalyst for blockade
• US frustrated by continued Soviet intransigence so
– US and GB discuss political integration of Bizonia
• 1948 a critical turning point …
• February 1948 ACC suggested currency reform necessary
• But Soviets hoped to continue German recession, therefore favouredcontinuing with Nazi Reichsmark
• 20 March 1948 Soviet delegation walked out of meeting
• March 1948 Bizonia joined with French zone to create militaryprovince of Trizonia
• May 1948 France agreed to co-operate with GB and USA on Germancurrency reform
• US, France, Britain established new currency, Deutschmark, 18 June1948
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yNew Currency
• Desire of the Western Powers to see West Germany realise
its economic potential
• Attempt by USA and Britain to create an all German state
• Expected to fail but US and Britain introduce currency
reform
• ‘London Recommendations’ (June 1948)
– to establish a West German government through a combination of
the three western occupation zones and currency reform
• West German Lander draw up a draft constitution
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Deutschemark replaced the Reichsmark
• The Soviet Union tried
various tactics to halt
the formation of
separate West German
State, e.g. …
– 20 March 1948 the
Soviets left the Allied
Control Council
– and began to put
pressure on the West’s
weakest point – West
Berlin …
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y USSR begins blockade• 18 June 1948 required all Western convoys bound for Berlin
to be searched
• Trizone government refused right of Soviets to search theircargo
• 22 June 1948 new Eastern German mark (Ostmark)
introduced in the Soviet zone and East Berlin
• Objective was to force West to abandon plans for currency
reform and a separate West German state
• 24-25 June 1948 all surface traffic cut off to West Berlin – nocanal, rail and road routes
• Technically legal as no written pact on the access to Berlin
– But US ambassador to Britain, John Winnant, stated accepted
Western view, “that the right to be in Berlin carried with it the right
of access.”
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Lucius Clay
• Lucius Clay, the military governor of the American zone of
Germany wrote:
“When the order of the Soviet Military Administration to close all
rail traffic from the western zones went into effect at 6:00AM on
the morning of June 24, 1948, the three western sectors of Berlin,
with a civilian population of about 2,500,000 people, became
dependent on reserve stocks and airlift replacements. It was one
of the most ruthless efforts in modern times to use mass
starvation for political coercion...”
• US could not accept situation as Berlin strategically
important …
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yReaction to Soviet blockade
• Initially, Soviet authorities thought plan was working:
– “Our control and restrictive measures have dealt a strong blow at the prestige ofthe Americans and British in Germany.”
• British and US plan:– Large-scale airlift
• Under leadership of General Curtis LeMay, 2½ ton capacity C-47sbegan supplying Berlin on 26 June 1948
• 1 July 1948 10-ton capacity C-54s began supplying Berlin
• Airlift code-named “Operation Vittles” (US) but often referred to as“LeMay's feed and coal company” and Plainfare” (Britain)
• The airlift had to deliver 2,000 tons of supplies a day. Without it, WestBerliners could not survive: they had coal for only 45 days and foodfor only 36
• Brought in an average of 4,700 tons of supplies a day
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y Airlift facts• Blockade lasted 318 days
• Winter 1948-9 Berliners lived on dried potatoes, powderedeggs and cans of meat, with four hours electricity per day
• 275,000 flights carried in 1.5 million tons of supplies
• A plane landed every three minutes in West Berlin
• August 1948 US stationed B-29 bombers (which hadcapacity to carry atomic bomb) in Britain
• Central air corridor exclusively for flights out of Berlin toWest Germany– 160,000 people were flown out by French, British and US planes
during the airlift, including 15,000 children, many of whom weresick or malnourished
• Airport in French zone created in 93 days, with the help of17,000 Berliners
• Over 40 crashes and 78 deaths
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yReputation
• Easter Sunday, 16April 1949, 1400flights brought in13,000 tons ofsupplies in one day –Berlin only needed2000 tons a day tosurvive
• Some pilots droppedchocolate and sweets
• British and US pilotsoften regarded as‘heroes’ in WestBerlin
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Media
• “The incessant roar of the planes – that typical and terrible20th Century sound, a voice of cold mechanized anger –filled every ear in the city. It reverberated in the bizarre stoneears of the hollow, broken houses; it throbbed in the wearyears of Berlin's people who were bitter, afraid, but far frombroken; it echoed in the intently listening ear of history. Thesound meant one thing: the West was standing its groundand fighting back.”
Time Magazine Monday 12 July 1948
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• “It might have been smarter for the U.S. not to have gone to Berlin inthe first place, or to have withdrawn two years ago when Berlin had notbecome a spectacular issue testing the West's firmness. Today thoseare academic questions, for the U.S. stands committed. The U.S. stakein Berlin is faith. Withdrawal would lead to despair—and to Sovietpersecution—tens of thousands of anti-Communists whom the U.S.encouraged to speak their minds against the Reds. It would mean theretreat of an army which, however small, is the symbol of America'scommitment to Western European safety. It would give the Russians achance to rally all Germans around their old capital; that might wreckAmerica's plans for a Western German state and a healthy Ruhr, onwhich the Marshall Plan depends. Last week's ruthless siege of Berlinwas a siege of all of Germany and Europe as well.”
Time Magazine Monday 12 July 1948
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The Blockade concludes• Negotiations began late-August 1948; an attempt at action through
the UN but vetoed by Soviet Union
• When these failed Truman decided to station B-29 bombers (capable
of carrying atomic bombs) in Britain as a threat to USSR
• Allies began a counter-blockade of restrictions of critical goods
entering the Eastern sectors of Berlin
• Soviet spies persuaded Stalin to end the blockade as it seemeddoomed to failure
• 2 February 1949 Stalin agreed to lift the blockade if the Western
powers would end the counter-blockade – negotiation continued
• France joined its zone to Bizonia in April 1949 to make the political
province of Trizonia paving the way for creation of an independent
west German state
• 12 May 1949 Stalin lifted the blockade
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yOutcomes: success or failure?
• Gaddis: Stalin had responded to the Marshall Plan just how Kennan
had predicted he would
• Blockade almost totally ineffective for USSR
• Propaganda disaster for USSR (prepared to starve 2 million people
to achieve geopolitical ends)
• Belief in West Stalin trying to remove West from Berlin – therefore
West could not retreat
• Response was strong stance by the West
– illustrated resolve of West to stand up to Soviet pressure in peaceful manner
• Instead of preventing establishment of independent West Germany,
accelerated process:
– Formal unification of three Western zones and creation of Federal Republic of
Germany (FRG) 23rd May 1949
– Soviet respond by declaring their zone an independent state German
Democratic Republic (GDR)
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Outcomes: success or failure?
• German recovery taken out of Stalin’s hands by refusing to
co-operate with the other major powers over Germany
• USA agreed to guarantee Western European security
– April 1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) set up
• Peaceful resolution demonstrated neither side wanted
conflict
– Genuine fear of war
– Neither wanted to risk nuclear war
• Williamson: Berlin Blockade a flashpoint of Cold War
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yKey interpretation: Stalin’s personality
• Stalin’s personality as main reason for development of Cold
War
– His feelings of insecurity
– His desire to dominate
– His willingness to do anything to safeguard USSR’s future
• Compelling evidence from Soviet documents released after
end of Cold War (1991)
– Memos from senior Soviet ministers, e.g. Maxim Litvinov, “There
has been a return in Russia to the concept of security in terms of
territory – the more you’ve got the safer you are”
• Stalin’s suspicions played a role in his Berlin policy
– He believed resurgent Germany posed significant threat to
USSR’s security
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Key interpretation: US aggression
• Cold War developed due to US determination to confront
USSR
– Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, US leadership of NATO seen
as USA asserting its power against Soviet influence
– US deployment of B-29 bombers in Europe in August 1948
interpreted as evidence of US aggression
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Berlin Airlift Facts
Blockade lasted 318 days
In the winter 1948-9 Berliners lived on dried potatoes, powdered eggs and cans of meat, with four hours of electricity a day
275 000 flights carried in 1.5 million tons of supplies
A plane landed every 3 minutes in West Berlin
The US stationed B-29 bombers (which had the capacity to carry an atomic bomb) in Britain
Central air corridor exclusively for flights out of Berlin to West Germany
160,000 people were flown out by French, British and US planes during the airlift, including 15,000 children, many of whom were sick or malnourished
Airport in French zone created in 93 days, with the help of 17000 Berliners
Reputation
Easter Sunday, 16 April 1949, 1400 flights brought in 13000 tons of supplies in one day – Berlin only needed 6000 tons a day to survive
Some pilots dropped chocolate and sweets
US pilots often regarded as ‘heroes’ in West Berlin Media “The incessant roar of the planes – that typical and terrible 20th Century sound, a voice of cold mechanized anger – filled every ear in the city. It reverberated in the bizarre stone ears of the hollow, broken houses; it throbbed in the weary ears of Berlin's people who were bitter, afraid, but far from broken; it echoed in the intently listening ear of history. The sound meant one thing: the West was standing its ground and fighting back.” Time Magazine Monday 12 July 1948
A young girl with one of the estimated 150,000
Schokoladenflieger gifts dropped over Berlin
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“It might have been smarter for the U.S. not to have gone to Berlin in the first place, or to have withdrawn two years ago when Berlin had not become a spectacular issue testing the West's firmness. Today those are academic questions, for the U.S. stands committed. The U.S. stake in Berlin is faith. Withdrawal would leave to despair—and to Soviet persecution—tens of thousands of anti-Communists whom the U.S. encouraged to speak their minds against the Reds. It would mean the retreat of an army which, however small, is the symbol of America's commitment to Western European safety. It would give the Russians a chance to rally all Germans around their old capital; that might wreck America's plans for a Western German state and a healthy Ruhr, on which the Marshall Plan depends. Last week's ruthless siege of Berlin was a siege of all of Germany and Europe as well.” Time Magazine Monday 12 July 1948
The harsh conditions initially of the Berlin winter challenged the pilots and Berlin ground crews.
Over 40 crashes and 78 deaths
The Berliners experienced hardships of hunger, cold and fear but appreciated the allies were sacrificing much for their former enemies
American code name: Operation Vittles led by General Curtis Le May
British code name: Operation Plainfare led by Sir Brian Robertson
Berlin 1948-49 Quiz
1. at which conference was Germany’s division agreed on?
2. what was based in Berlin to govern Germany?
3. which area in Germany had greatest industrial output?
4. list 5 key features of the cold war
5. when was Bizonia formed?
6. when was Marshall aid announced?
7. who was the British Foreign Secretary who was very supportive of an
independent Germany?
8. what was decided at the London Conference from Feb to June 1948?
9. when did the USSR walk out of the Control Commission over the
introduction of a single currency?
10. who was the military governor of the US sector?
11. what did the Allies announce on the 7th June 1948?
12. what new currency was introduced?
13. when was it introduced in West Germany but not Berlin?
14. when was it introduced in West Berlin?
15. what did Stalin hope to achieve from the blockade?
16. when did the blockade start?
17. why was an airlift permitted?
18. how many corridors were there into West Berlin?
19. what did the USA station in Britain?
20. what currency did the USSR introduce?
21. list 3 facts about the airlift
22. when was the blockade called off?
23. what did the western zones of Germany become in August 1949?
24. who headed it?
25. what did the eastern zone become in October 1949?
26. who headed it?
27. when was NATO formed?
28. when was the Warsaw Pact formed and why?
29. where was the West German parliament (it’s good! ha ha!)
30. what was the SED?
31. in which year was there a mass exodus from east to west?
32. what does RIAS stand for?
DIVIDED GERMANY
Following World War II, Germany is divided into four zones of occupation -- Soviet, British,
French and American. Germany, and Berlin in particular, are the only places where
communist and capitalist forces come into direct contact.
Three and a half million Berliners live deep inside Soviet lines. The Nazis' once-proud capital,
reduced to a pile of rubble by Allied anger, is down to its bare essentials.
CURRENCY REFORM
In June 1948, an announcement by the Western Allies brings a crisis to Berlin. They establish
a currency reform meant to wipe out the German black market and further tie the vulnerable
German economy to the West. The Soviets are not told and are infuriated by the action.
Moscow says Berlin is located in the Soviet zone and therefore "economically forms part of it."
Sir Brian Robertson, the British military governor in Berlin, along with his U.S. counterpart,
Gen. Lucius Clay, respond by introducing a special version of a new German currency, the
deutschmark, stamped with a "B" for Berlin.
AIRLIFT
On Thursday, June 24, 1948, West Berlin wakes to find itself under a Soviet blockade -- and
in the midst of the first major confrontation of the Cold War. The Western Allies impose a
counter-blockade on the Soviet zone. The Soviets hope to starve the West out of Berlin.
The West had been through a similar short-term Soviet blockade of Berlin two months earlier
-- and had responded with an airlift using air corridors set up in a 1945 agreement with the
Soviets. Now, new plans are drawn up -- for long-term replenishment of West Berlin from the
air.
NEW ALLIES
The Berlin airlift brings a new mindset to the Western Allies, who start thinking of West
Germany as an ally, rather than an occupied territory. In West Berlin, the airlift brings people
sustenance and hope. In one memorable instance, the airlift -- in the form of American pilot
Gail Halvorsen -- rains candy on West Berlin's desperate children.
As it becomes evident that the Soviets are not going to back down from their blockade, the
Western Allies consider how to expand their airlift operations. Larger cargo planes are
brought in, as well as bombers with cargo capacity.
WEST-EAST
Berliners are still free to move around their city, despite the Soviet blockade. While West
Berlin is suffering through shortages of electricity and other essentials, the eastern sector
offers a relatively normal lifestyle. Politically, however, the city is on edge.
Soviet troops harass West Berliners who go to the eastern zone. And in September, a
communist attempt to take over the city council sparks mass protests -- which end in violence
BLOCKADE ENDS
The Soviet Union ends its blockade of Berlin on May 12, 1949. A month earlier, at the airlift's
peak, Western cargo planes were landing at one of Berlin's three airports at a rate of one
every 62 seconds. By the time the airlift ended, more than 275,000 flights had carried 2.3
million tons of supplies to Berlin -- an effort that went down in history as an aviation and
logistical feat.
At least 79 people, including 31 Americans, 39 British and nine Germans, had lost their lives,
mostly in plane crashes. But the confrontation proved to be only the opening act in the
decades-long Cold War.
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Key Issues
• The emergence of a western bloc
• The consolidation of the eastern bloc
• The Yugoslav-Soviet split
• The decision to create a west German state
• The Berlin Blockade
• The formation of NATO
• The division of Germany
Formation of NATO and Division of GermanyA
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London Conference of Foreign Ministers
• Held November – December 1947
• Attempted to solve problem of Germany
• However, America and the Soviet held different viewpoints– America had come to accept the division of Germany and
supported the idea of Western European integration
– Soviets still wished to avoid partition and feared losing access to
the Ruhr
• Failure of Soviet attempts to disrupt the Marshall Plan
through strikes– Fuelled mistrust
• Soviets attempted to rally public opinion– ‘German People’s Congress for Unity and a Just Peace’, 6–7
December 1947; mainly a communist meeting
• London conference broke up amid recriminations– Failure of four-power cooperation
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yThe Brussels Pact
• French still mistrustful of a West German state• British suggested the formation of a Western Union
– A mutual defence pact– However, after Czechoslovak coup, 22 February 1948, main target of the pact
became the Soviets
• French also reassured by US decision to keep troops in Germany• 17 March 1948 – Brussels Pact signed by Belgium, Britain, France,
Luxembourg and Netherlands• Did not mention USSR by name but did promise mutual defence from
aggression from any quarter• Seen as part of Britain's plan for greater European cooperation against
threat of communism• Bevin pushed for an Atlantic pact to underpin Brussels• By end of March 1948 negotiations were under way
Brussels Pact NATO
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y Marshall Plan and European Integration
• USA very keen on European integration• Hoped Western Union would lead to ‘United States of
Europe’• Three reasons driving this hope:
– Deter USSR– Boost world trade– Provide valuable market for US exports
• Spring 1948 – first instalment of Marshall Aid, $5 Billion• USA sought formation of committee to supervise
distribution– Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC)– However, not all countries willing, e.g. Britain was determined to
retain sovereignty and not surrender power to a supranationalorganisation
• US attempt to mould Europe defeated; Europe would takeits own path …
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yNegotiating the North Atlantic Treaty
• Effect of Prague coup (February 1948) and Berlin Blockade(June1948-May 1949)
• America slowly worked out framework for North Atlantic-Western European alliance
• Plan intertwined with creation of West German state
• Linked to French fears of a resurgent Germany
• Clashes between the western European states and the USCongress– Imprecise wording of Article 5 (see next slide)
• Influence of Article 3: ‘continuous and effective self-help andmutual aid’
• Used by French to involve Americans more closely inEuropean defence
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Article 5
The Parties of NATO agreed that an armed attack against one or
more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an
attack against them all. Consequently they agree that, if such an
armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of
individual or collective self-defence will assist the Party or Parties
being attacked, individually and in concert with the other Parties,
such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force,
to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area
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yCreation of NATO
• North Atlantic Treaty signed on 4 April 1949
• Signatories were:– Canada, USA, Brussels Pact powers, Norway, Denmark, Iceland,
Italy and Portugal
• 24 August 1949 – NATO Council meets for first time
• Defence and military committees set up
• US Congress agrees to Military Assistance Program
• Allayed European fears
• Stopped America drifting back into isolationism
• 1954 – USSR requests entry to NATO– Refused
• 1955 – West Germany joins NATO
• 1955 – USSR creates Warsaw Pact
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Decision to Create a West German State
• Previous failure of London Conference of Foreign Ministers (Nov-Dec1947) led to strengthening belief in West about formation of anindependent West German state
• London Six Power Conference, February to June 1948 – the ‘secret’one
• France still fearful of resurgent Germany• Appeased by tight controls over Germany (Occupation Statute) and
American commitment to NATO• Ruhr regulated by International Ruhr Authority• Germany have to accept Occupation Statute• 7 June 1948 – West Germany was authorised to draft a constitution• 20 June 1948 – introduction of new currency, Deutschmark
• Soviet response Berlin Blockade
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yCreation of the Federal Republic of Germany
• West German constitution approved 1949
• General Election August 1949
• Konrad Adenauer first West German Chancellor
• However, not completely independent:– Occupation Statute (Besatzungsstatut) 10 April 1949 created
Allied High Commission
• Britain, France and the US still had rights to:– control over disarmament, demilitarization, related fields of
scientific research, war reparations, the Ruhr, decartelization,displaced persons and refugees, protection, prestige and securityof the occupying forces, foreign affairs, and foreign trade andexchange
• So Germany had conditional sovereignty
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Consolidation of the Eastern Bloc
• Cominform (Communist Information Bureau founded September 1947)
powerful instrument of control of Soviet bloc
• In theory all communist countries independent but communists
regimes in eastern Europe dependent on Moscow for survival
• So all communist parties (east and west) had to adopt identical
cultural, social, military and economic policies directed by Moscow
• Led to:
– Czechoslovak Coup, 13 February 1948
– Emergence of Communist dominated Independent Front in Hungary
– Ousting of Wladyslaw Gomulka in Poland; desired to form socialist state
representing Poland not USSR so forced to resign and imprisoned in August
1948
• Only Yugoslavia had independent power base to function without aid
from Moscow
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yThe Yugoslav-Soviet Split
• Tito not happy being controlled by Moscow• Stalin highly critical of Tito and his attempts at an
independent role in the Balkans– Tito sought to form south-eastern federation centred on
Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece– Stalin feared would make Tito most powerful man in region– Also feared may provoke USA
• Delegations sent to Moscow where Stalin proceeded topropose a smaller union with stricter controls on foreignpolicy
• Tito refused to subordinate Yugoslavia’s foreign policy toUSSR
• Stalin recalled all Soviet advisers from Yugoslavia andexpelled Yugoslavia from Cominform June 1948
• Thus, Soviet bloc split into two camps
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y Consolidation of the Eastern Bloc• Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) set up January
1949 to counter Marshall Aid
• Role of bilateral treaties of friendship between USSR and satellitestates, contained following:– Mutual defence agreements
– Ban on joining a hostile alliance
– Recognition of equality, sovereignty and non-interference in each others internalaffairs
• Role of summoning leader to Moscow
• Role of Soviet ambassadors– Direct participation in internal affairs of satellite states
• Threat of Red Army
• Each satellite states’ army fully integrated with that of the USSR– Same equipment, training manuals and armaments; even same uniform
• Role of Stalin cult
• Local communists had to be more like Stalin in order to survive soeastern states based upon the Stalinist model
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yEmergence of the German Democratic Republic
• 1948–49 Soviets reluctant to set up an East German State– Still hoped to forestall western plans
– Feared creation of East Germany would make the division ofGermany final
• Walter Ulbricht and the SED attempt a unified state, e.g.– March 1948 German People’s Council
– Formed basis of East German state’s constitution
– ‘make believe constitution’
– Approved May 1949
• Still hoped to wreck West German elections– However, KPD won only 5.7% of the vote
• 12 October 1949 – German Democratic Republic set up
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y Stalin’s Failure to Stop German Division and
Rearmament
• Stalin tried to exploit fears in Western Europe of a new world war by launching the Communist led World Peace Movement
• Also tried to stop West Germany’s military and economic integration into Western Europe
• Sought to achieve a united but neutral Germany:– March 1952 –proposal for free elections to be supervised by the four powers
– New united Germany not allowed to make alliances
– Not burdened by reparations, de-Nazification and socialisation of the economy
– Allowed its own limited armed forces
• Was Stalin serious?
• Many West Germans believed Adenauer should have responded positively to Stalin
• A missed opportunity?
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y Stalin’s Failure to Stop German Division and
Rearmament
• However, Adenauer wanted to see the FRG firmlyintegrated with the West– As did British and American governments
• Thus, Stalin’s plans were never explored
• So, July 1952 Ulbricht given go ahead for furthersocialisation in East Germany
• Stalin now gave up on idea of sacrificing the GDR in orderstop division of Germany and rearmament of the FRG
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Berlin• Division of Germany ensured
Berlin remained divided
• November 1948 – West Berlin set up its own city government
• Anti-communist majority
• Allowed to send representative to Bundestag
• However, did not have voting rights
• Still under four-power control
• Eastern sector became capital of GDR
• Berlin remains a flash point of the Cold War – Williamson
Title: Divided Germany: the Cold War battleground: Postwar Germany: one country or two?
Author(s): Emma Peplow
Source: 20th Century History Review. 2.3 (Apr. 2007): p24.
Document Type: Article
In May 1945 the Grand Alliance triumphed over the Nazis. However, at the end of the Second World
War tensions increased and the Grand Alliance began to crumble, with East and West turning against
each other. Disagreements between the Allies emerged earls, in 1945 over Moscow's failure to carry
out the Yalta decisions on the future of Poland. Germany, the defeated enemy, was at the centre of
these tensions and remained so throughout the conflict. Its vital strategic position in the heart of
Europe and massive potential for industrial might meant Germany was important to each ally.
However, it soon became clear that the Allies could not agree on Germany's future. As these
disagreements began, fear of the old enemy remained. Both sides dreaded a strong Germany allied
against them, either Communist or capitalist.
Therefore, defeated Germany faced another humiliation after the war--division. The split of a
country so recently united helped to keep the peace; however, dire consequences remained. Both
East and West faced the constant threat of nuclear war during the postwar period, probably on
German soil. Even without this threat, division caused much heartache. Families were forced apart
as the Iron Curtain Jell across the country. The division became even harsher after 1961, when the
Berlin Wall ended most contact between the two countries. Politicians in both East and West faced a
dilemma: how to work for, or appear to work for, reunification without conceding too much to their
ideological enemies.
Occupation
Germany's future was discussed at the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences. In January 1945 Churchill,
Roosevelt and Stalin met at Yalta, in the Crimea, to try to hammer out the shape of postwar Europe.
The Potsdam conference was held in July 1945 to discuss reparations, German borders in the East
and Soviet intervention in the Pacific war. The Allies agreed to occupy Germany and it was divided
into four occupation zones: American, Russian, British and French. Berlin, the symbolic Nazi capital,
was also divided into four sectors, despite its position deep in the Russian zone. The Allies intended
to consider a peace treaty at fixture Councils of Foreign Ministers, while German occupation policy
was to be decided by a quadripartite Allied authority in Germany--the Allied Control Council (ACC).
Before German policy could be decided, all four occupying powers had to agree.
However, it soon became obvious that the four Allies had different plans for the country,
fundamental differences that made it difficult to agree over even the smallest policy. One of the
biggest disagreements was over reparations. The Russians had suffered enormous destruction
during the German invasion of their country and therefore they were keen to exact the highest
reparations they could. This money would help rebuild the war torn USSR but, more importantly,
would also help their second objective – to keep Germany so weak it could never again attack the
USSR.
The French were similarly afraid of a strong Germany and initially supported Russian policies.
However, the Americans and British wanted to rebuild Germany. After the First World War, huge
reparations payments had destabilised the country and helped the Nazis' rise to power (see
MODERN HISTORY REVIEW, Vol. 13, No. 4). Moreover, neither country wanted to have to pay for the
German population to survive. Therefore, these two countries pressed for low reparations and a
programme to rebuild the country, thereby helping the economic recovery of Europe and keeping
their occupation costs down.
Thus, Allied plans for Germany were irreconcilable: no decisions were made on a common policy at
the ACC and the zones began to develop in different ways. The US and British zones joined together
in January 1947 to form Bizonia. The occupiers began to rebuild this shattered industrial area and
encouraged domestic political parties to from. In the Russian zone, however, industry was stripped
of any equipment useful to the USSR. The little industry that remained began to be socialised and
land seized from former Nazis was given to ordinary people to run collectively. The Soviet sponsored
Socialist Unity Party (SED) began to seize power, although outwardly, the system appeared
democratic.
Berlin blockaded and division
While no Allied power or German politician wanted to give up a chance to influence the whole of
Germany, no--one was prepared to make concessions within their own zones that would allow
either Communist or capitalist influence to threaten their power. The country was on its way
towards division. Germany continued to sink into disarray. Reconstruction work was stalled, many
people went hungry and the black market flourished.
By June 1948, the Western powers decided to act unilaterally in an attempt to rebuild their zones. A
new currency, the Deutschmark, was introduced to combat the black market and industrial
stagnation. Because this was not introduced into the East, the country was effectively divided into
two economic blocs. However, the status of Berlin remained ambiguous. The Western powers had
occupational rights in the city and therefore introduced their currency in West Berlin. The Russians,
who had never accepted the Western presence in Berlin, saw this as a threat to their power in the
East and in June 1948, blockaded Western land routes into the city in an attempt to force the
Western powers out.
The West responded by airlifting supplies into the city, a mammoth effort that sustained the West
Berliners, who were determined not to allow Communists to take over their half of the city.
The action split Berlin in September 1948; two German administrations claimed political power in
their respective areas. This was mirrored in Germany as a whole. In 1948, the Western powers
decided to return government to the Germans in the three Western zones. By 1949, West Germans
had decided on a democratic constitution known as the Basic Law. Three weeks later, the East
Germans responded with their own constitution, one that appeared democratic but gave power to
the SED. By the time the Russians lifted the blockade in May 1949, the country was well on its way to
political division.
Two Germanys, two developments
Both regimes in East and West kept their affiliations with their occupying powers. The western
Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was democratic and pro-Western, whereas the eastern German
Democratic Republic (GDR) was Communist and pro-Soviet. The tensions that had been embedded
in the occupation remained in the two Germanys which emerged.
In the West, the central Christian Democratic Party (CDU), under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and
his finance minister, Ludwig Erhard, introduced capitalist free-market policies that helped West
Germany's 'economic miracle'. The country's industry was rebuilt quickly and living standards
increased rapidly, underpinned by a generous welfare state. At the same time, democratic
institutions, introduced under the Basic Law, became associated for the first time in German history
with success, and democracy achieved stability and popularity.
In the East, however, Communist power was consolidated under Walter Ulbricht. Land and industry
were collectivised on the Soviet model and political repression became part of everyday life. Despite
a brief uprising in Berlin in 1953, the Communists retained power with the help of their Russian
backers. However, the economy, hampered by too much centralisation and Russian reparations
payments, was not as successful as in West Germany. As living standards dropped, millions of East
Germans fled to the West.
East and West Germany also became aligned militarily to the separate blocs in the Cold War and
increasingly became armed against each other. West Germany became part of NATO in 1954 and
East Germany part of the Warsaw Pact at its inception in May 1955. The wartime Allies' original fears
were fulfilled; German industrial and military might was armed, partly, against them.
The 1961 Berlin Crisis and Ostpolitik
In 1961, crisis broke out again in Berlin. To stem the flow of refugees, which had reached 3 million,
Ulbricht convinced the Russians to allow him to plug the gap – the East-West border in Berlin.
On 13 August, during the night, the border was sealed and a wall constructed to prevent further
migration from East to West. West Germany and its allies were horrified by this action but powerless
to stop it. Russian and American tanks faced each other at Checkpoint Charlie to maintain Western
rights of patrol in the East. The wall effectively stemmed the flow of refugees from East Germany--a
flow the West had actively encouraged--and prevented further contact between East and West
Germans.
The wall served its purpose for the GDR. Those who had fled were often young skilled workers. Now
their continued presence in the country helped to improve the economy and living standards. In the
West, however, the wall led to a new policy towards the East. Adenauer and the CDU had pursued a
hardline policy towards the GDR, refusing to recognise the Communist government's existence and
breaking off diplomatic ties with any country that recognised the GDR. Once the wall blocked the
East German escape route into the West, the Federal Republic's Social Democrat leader, Willy
Brandt, decided to follow a more conciliatory policy – Ostpolitik (eastern policy) – reaching out to
countries in Eastern Europe and seeking diplomatic and economic ties with them.
Although Ulbricht tried to prevent the Eastern European countries recognising his rival in the West,
the desire in both East and West for detente encouraged this weakening of tensions. By the early
1970s, agreements had been made regarding Berlin and the two Germanys recognised each other
for the first time.
Conclusion
Germany remained a battleground long after the end of the Second World War--a political and
ideological battleground of the Cold War. The importance of Germany to both East and West
ensured a high degree of caution in relations between the two countries. No political leaders in the
East or West were prepared to undermine their own system in order to reunite. The Western
powers, and later West Germany, refused to take any action that might allow Communist gains in
the FRG, even though this was extremely unlikely after the West German 'economic miracle'.
In the East, Ulbricht's regime was based on so much repression that he simply could not afford to
allow Western influence to creep in. Even after the adoption of Ostpolitik, the two countries
remained at odds with one another.
Despite the fact that many Germans wanted desperately to reunite their country, division had to be
accepted by all as a reality, of the Cold War. The two sides had been drawn so far into the conflict
they could not be reconciled.
Key concept
Consequences; significance
Before you read this
It is easy to think of the division of Germany as somehow inevitable. How might things have been
different had Germany been retained as a single state? That is the possibility that was in the
statesmen's minds at the time.
Key points
* After the Second World War, Germany was divided into four zones of occupation: American,
British, French and Russian. Berlin, deep in the Russian zone, was similarly divided into four sectors.
* Germany's division arose out of tensions between the USSR and the Western Allies over the
postwar government of Germany, especially in the quadripartite Allied Control Council.
* The four zones were developed in different ways, with the British and US zones joining in 1947 to
form Bizonia, which was then reconstructed and its economy developed, while the Russian zone was
stripped of anything worthwhile for reparations.
* Both East and West Germany kept their affiliations with their occupying powers during the Cold
War. The FRG was democratic and pro-Western and the GDR was Communist and pro-Soviet.
* West Germany adopted capitalist free market policies, underpinning the 'economic miracle' and
improving living standards. East Germany was Communist and its economy centralised; its citizens
were repressed and living standards poor. Thus many East Germans sought to escape to the West,
mostly through Berlin.
* To stem the flow of skilled worker refugees to the West, a wall was built in 1961 to divide East
from West Berlin. However, the existence of the wall encouraged Willy Brandt to develop the more
conciliatory Ostpolitik towards East Germany.
* A mutual desire for detente encouraged a weakening of East-West tensions and by the early
1970s, agreements were made over Berlin, resulting in the two Germanys recognising each other.
Grand Alliance: wartime alliance of Britain and the British Commonwealth, USSR with its Comintern
allies (some governmental, some not) and the USA, with its Pan-American Union.
Iron Curtain: in a speech at Fulton, Missouri, USA, on 5 March 1946, Winston Churchill spoke of an
'iron curtain' dividing the continent.
Allied Control Council: military occupation governing body of the Allied occupation zones at the end
of the Second World War. Members were Britain, the USA and the USSR. France was added later
with a vote but no duties. The ACC was based in Berlin.
socialised: run according to Soviet-style Marxist political ideology and economic principles.
economic miracle: regeneration of West Germany's economy and industry through economic and
working practice reforms, the embrace of capitalism, the Marshall Plan and people's readiness to
work hard for low wages until productivity had risen.
Checkpoint Charlie: crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War.
detente: policy of 'relaxation of tension' pursued particularly by Western governments towards the
Communist bloc in the 1970s.
weblink
There is a lot more material available online about life in the Communist East than in safe but boring
West Germany. The ever-reliable Calvin College has amassed a remarkable collection of East German
propaganda at: www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/gdrmain.htm#Misc, including speeches, cartoons
and a coffee table book about Walter Ulbricht. The German Historical Museum in what used to be
East Berlin has some good pictures from the Communist period at:
www.dhm.de/sammlungen/plakate/bestand.html and there are fascinating pictures from the
museum of the Stasi, the East German secret police at www.stasi-museum.de.
See www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1886.html for a useful account of how West Germany fitted into
US foreign policy, and www.germannotes.com/hist for useful biographies of major figures like
Adenauer and Brandt. If you do not mind other people's holiday snaps,
www.ddr5.homestead.com/files/index.html carries one man's account with pictures of backpacking
through the old East Germany.
Further reading
Balfour, M. (1992) Germany, the Tides of Power, Routledge. This book is good on West Germany.
Smyser, R. (1999) From Yalta to Berlin: The Cold War Struggle over Germany, Macmillan. A clear
picture of Germany from the global conflict point of view.
Turner, H. A. (1992) Germany from Partition to Reunification, Yale University Press. A clear view of
German history; highly recommended.
Emma Peplow is writing a PhD on postwar Germany at the London School of Economics Cold War
Studies Centre.
Questions
* Why did the Allies treat Berlin as a special case?
* Do the different fates of East and West Germany suggest that economic factors were more
important than political ideology in determining which government the German people supported?
* If the Cold War was determined by the USA and the USSR, was Ostpolitik particularly important?
Chronology
February 1945 Yalta Conference of Britain, USA and USSR.
July 1945 Potsdam Conference.
April 1946 East German SPD and KPD merge to form SED.
January 1947 Bizonia formed within West Berlin.
June 1948 Currency reform in Western zones; Berlin blockade begins.
May 1949 Basic Law comes into force; Federal Republic set up; Berlin blockade ends.
September 1949 Konrad Adenauer elected federal chancellor. Occupation Statute introduced.
October 1949 East German Republic founded.
March 1952 USSR proposes reunification of Germany.
June 1953 East German uprising.
March 1954 Soviet declaration of East German sovereignty.
October 1954 West Germany invited to join NATO; Western Allies end occupation (West German
treaty).
May 1955 Warsaw Pact between Eastern bloc countries with East Germany as a member.
April 1960 Collectivisation of East German agriculture completed.
August 1961 Berlin Wall built.
October 1969 Willy Brandt elected federal chancellor.
Walter Ulbricht (1893-1973)
1919 Joined the German Communist Party.
1928-33 Served as a member of the Reichstag in Weimar Germany.
1933 Emigrated to the USSR.
1945 Returned to Berlin and organised a new Communist movement there.
1946-71 Served as head of the Socialist Unity Party in the GDR.
1960-73 Served as chairman of the Council of State in the GDR. Was president in all but name.
Willy Brandt (1913-92)
Born Karl E. Frahm.
1930-33 Active anti-Nazi socialist worker.
1933 Fled to Norway and assumed Norwegian citizenship, changing his name to Brandt.
1940 When the Nazis invaded Norway, he escaped to Sweden where he acted as a go-between
for the Norwegian and German resistance movements.
1945 Returned to Berlin.
1948 Resumed German citizenship.
1949 Elected to Bundestag as a democratic socialist.
1957-66 Served as mayor of Berlin; famous for his defiance of Soviet and East German threats to
Berlin's independence.
1964 Became chairman of the German Socialist Party (SPD).
1966-69 Served as foreign minister of Federal Germany.
1969 Elected chancellor of Federal Germany.
Peplow, Emma
Source Citation
Peplow, Emma. "Divided Germany: the Cold War battleground: Postwar Germany: one country or
two?" 20th Century History Review 2.3 (2007): 24+. General OneFile. Web. 12 Oct. 2011.
Document URL:
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CA163049096&v=2.1&u=pew_jisc&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=
w
Gale Document Number: GALE|A163049096
Questions for: Divided Germany: The Cold War battleground by Emma Peplow
1) Which country in Europe remained central to the conflict pre and post 1945? 2) Why was Germany important to each ally?
3) What dilemma did the politicians of East and West Germany face?
4) What was the name given to the quadripartite Allied authority in Germany?
5) Why was it difficult for the Allied Control Council to agree on the policy for
Germany?
6) How did the USSR believe Germany should be treated?
7) How did the French believe Germany should be treated?
8) What was Britain and Americans view on how Germany should be treated?
9) Why was this their plan?
10) When was Bizonia formed and which nations formed Bizonia?
11) What happened in the USSR sector of Germany?
12) Which currency was released into West Germany in Jun 1948?
13) What was the Deutschmark aiming to target?
14) When did the blockade begin?
15) West Germany also known as?
16) East Germany also known as?
17) Which party in the West introduced capitalist free-market policies?
18) Who consolidated the communist power in East Germany?
19) Which organisation did East Germany become part of?
20) When did West Germany become part of NATO?
SUPERPOWER RELATIONS, 1945-1990
The Origins of the Cold War and the Division of Germany
1
What is a Superpower?
Superpower is the name given to the USA and the USSR after the Second World
War. It was based upon their geographical size, population, military might and the
part that the two had played in winning the Second World War.
They were easily the most powerful countries in the world and possessed the
technology to fight an atomic war. They dominated world affairs from the 1940s to
the 1980s.
They led rival groups of countries in the world, which represented different social
and economic systems.
Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russia has no longer been considered a
superpower, but since the 1970s, China has been added.
Why did rivalry develop between the superpowers after the Second World
War?
Stalin did not trust the West and was determined to build a buffer zone against
further German attacks.
During the war the Soviet people suffered terribly, 26,000,000 died altogether.
This made Stalin determined that this should never happen again.
He remembered that the Western Allies had intervened in the Civil War in 1918-9
and he suspected that they had encouraged Hitler in the 1930s.
Britain and France had turned down an offer of an alliance with the Soviet Union
in 1938.
The Allies had delayed invading France until 1944.
This made Stalin very suspicious of the West. He believed that they had wanted
the Soviet Union to destroy itself fighting Germany on its own.
SUPERPOWER RELATIONS, 1945-1990
The Origins of the Cold War and the Division of Germany
2
In February 1945 Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met at Yalta in the southern
Soviet Union to plan the end of the Second World War.
What happened at Yalta?
They agreed to divide Germany into four zones; each one would be occupied by
one of the four allies.
Stalin agreed to accept France as one of the powers. Berlin would also be divided
into four sectors.
Poland would be given land in the west, which would be taken from Germany and
would lose land to the USSR.
The USSR would declare war on Japan three months after the end of the war with
Germany.
Stalin promised to allow free elections in the countries of Eastern Europe which
had been occupied by the Soviet army.
Roosevelt believed that Stalin would keep his promises. He also believed that the
Soviet army would be needed in the final attack on Japan, so he was prepared to
leave the Soviet Union in control of Eastern Europe.
Churchill did not think that this was a good idea. By the time of the Potsdam
conference in July, it was clear that Churchill had been right.
The new president, Harry Truman, who took over when Roosevelt died on 12 April,
took a much tougher line with Stalin. He announced that he was going to “get tough
with the Russians.”
SUPERPOWER RELATIONS, 1945-1990
The Origins of the Cold War and the Division of Germany
3
What happened at Potsdam?
The Potsdam conference was the last of the conferences between the leaders of the
allies during the Second World War. It was held in Potsdam, outside Berlin, in July
1945, after the defeat of Germany.
Germany was divided into four zones. Each zone would be occupied by one of the
four Allies, Great Britain, France, the USA and the USSR.
Berlin was divided into four sectors.
The Nazi Party would be dissolved. War criminals would be tried and punished.
There would be free elections in Germany, freedom of speech and a free press.
Germany would pay reparations for the damage caused by the war. Most of this
would go to the USSR.
All the Allies agreed to take part in the United Nations.
But there were also disagreements at Potsdam.
The new US president, Harry Truman tried to force the USSR to allow free
elections in the countries of Eastern Europe which had been occupied after the
end of the war. He said that he wanted to ‘get tough with Russia’.
Stalin was angry that the USA had not told him about the atomic bomb which he
knew that the USA had developed.
This was the beginning of the ‘Cold War’. In the next year Stalin set up the Iron
Curtain
SUPERPOWER RELATIONS, 1945-1990
The Origins of the Cold War and the Division of Germany
4
What was the Iron Curtain?
The Iron Curtain was the name given to the border between east and west in
Europe that was set up by Joseph Stalin, the ruler of the USSR in the years after
the Second World War. The name came from a speech made by Winston
Churchill in 1946.
The Iron Curtain became a thousand mile fence cutting off the Communist
countries of Eastern Europe form the non-communist west. The most famous
example of the Iron Curtain was the Berlin Wall; however, this was built in 1961.
Why did Stalin build the Iron Curtain?
He wanted to set up a buffer zone of countries in Eastern Europe to protect the
USSR against another invasion by Germany. Between 1945 and 1948 all the
countries which had been occupied by the Red Army at the end of the war were
brought under Soviet control. In Czechoslovakia the leaders were simply
murdered.
He did not trust the west, Britain and the USA, because they had invaded Russia
in 1919 and had delayed the invasion of France until 1944.
He was trying to prevent western influence reaching the east and refugees leaving
the east for Western Europe.
The Iron Curtain collapsed in 1989 and 1990, when the countries off the east threw
off Soviet control, but for forty-five years it dominated Europe and divided Germany.
SUPERPOWER RELATIONS, 1945-1990
The Origins of the Cold War and the Division of Germany
5
How was Germany governed after the war?
When the Allies met at Potsdam to decide how to govern Germany at the end of
the Second World War, they agreed to divide the country into four zones, one
each for the USA, the USSR, Britain and France.
Each of the four allies was to be responsible for its own sector. Decisions affecting
Germany as a whole would be taken jointly and it was intended that Germany
would be reunited in the future.
Berlin the capital of Germany was inside the Soviet zone, so this was also divided
into four sectors. It was governed by the Joint Kommandatura, which contained
the military leaders of the four allies.
West Berlin
West Berlin was formed by the US, French and British sectors in Berlin from 1945
to 1991.
West Berlin was very awkward for the Soviet Union and East Germany. It allowed
people behind the Iron Curtain an opportunity to see what life was like in the West.
West Berlin benefited from Marshall Aid, which began after the Truman Doctrine
was published in March 1947, but East Berlin and East Germany did not.
SUPERPOWER RELATIONS, 1945-1990
The Origins of the Cold War and the Division of Germany
6
The Truman Doctrine, Marshall Aid and the Soviet Response
What was the Truman Doctrine?
In February 1947 the British government informed the USA that it could no longer
afford to support the Greek government against Communist rebels. The US
government stepped in with an offer of $400,000,000. Harry Truman also took the
opportunity to extend the offer of aid.
The Truman Doctrine was announced by Harry Truman, the president of the USA, in
March 1947. He offered to help any country that was being threatened either from
within or from without its own borders. He did not name any country, nor did he
specify what sort of aid would be given.
Why was the Truman Doctrine published?
Truman wanted to help the countries of Europe recover from the effects of the
Second World War. He had seen the devastation, which the war had caused and
he wanted the USA to play a part in recovery. Marshall Aid was announced at the
same time.
Truman was trying to stop any other countries in Europe becoming Communist.
Already the Iron Curtain had cut Europe in two; he did not want that to go any
further.
Truman also hoped that he might be able to persuade some of the countries of
Eastern Europe to break away from Communism. Marshall Aid was also intended
to help here.
While the Truman Doctrine did not actually mention the Soviet Union, it was
obvious that it was intended as a warning to Stalin that Truman was not going to
let him get away with any more attempts to take control of Europe. Truman had
said that he was going to ‘get tough with Russia’; this was one example of his
policy.
SUPERPOWER RELATIONS, 1945-1990
The Origins of the Cold War and the Division of Germany
7
How did Marshall Aid work?
Marshall Aid was an attempt to rebuild Europe after the Second World War. It put
the ideas of the Truman Doctrine into effect. In March 1947 President Harry
Truman offered grants of American money to all European countries. The plan
was named after his secretary of state George C Marshall.
Truman intended that Marshall Aid would be made available to all countries in
Europe, but in fact only countries in the west accepted it.
The USSR and other eastern countries attended the first meetings in 1948, but
withdrew when they discovered that they would have to join the Organisation for
European Economic Co-operation. The Marshall Plan would control how Marshall
Aid would be spent. Individual countries would not be able to decide for
themselves
This would mean that the USA would be able to influence the countries of the east
and undermine communism. This was what Truman had hoped would happen.
When the Soviet Union realised what Truman was up to, other Eastern Bloc
countries, Czechoslovakia in particular, were forced to withdraw applications for
Marshall Aid.
Altogether seventeen countries received a total of $13,750,000,000, which
allowed them to recover from the war much more quickly than the countries of the
east. Italy, which had been an ally of Germany during the war, received
$600,000,000. Marshall Aid was one of the reasons why Stalin tried to force the
west out of West Berlin in 1948.
Stalin set up a Soviet version of Marshall Aid, COMECON, the Council for Mutual
Economic Assistance on January 25 1949. It was intended to be the Soviet
Union's response to Marshall Aid. Stalin offered aid to communist countries to
help them recover from the effects of the Second World War.
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The Origins of the Cold War and the Division of Germany
8
In 1958 Communist China, North Korea, North Vietnam and Mongolia agreed to
integrate their economies with Comecon and in 1964 an International Bank of
Economic Collaboration was established. But Comecon was only a pale shadow
of the economic institutions of the West. The Soviet Union lacked the financial
strength of the USA and the attempt to set up a communist rival led to bankruptcy
and ruin. Comecon was a major drain on the resources of the Soviet Union and
helped to bring about its economic downfall in the 1980s.
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9
Berlin
At first travel between the four sectors in Berlin had been easy; people could live in
one sector and work in another. Then in June 1948 Stalin blockaded West Berlin.
The Berlin Blockade
From June 1948 until May 1949, Joseph Stalin ordered that all traffic between West
Germany and West Berlin should be stopped. He was able to close the road, canal
and rail routes, but was not able to prevent the western allies, Great Britain, France
and the USA from bringing supplies into West Berlin by air. The Berlin airlift lasted
ten and a half months and one plane landed in West Berlin every ninety seconds.
Why did Stalin blockade Berlin?
The main reason for the blockade was that Great Britain and the USA had made it
clear that they intended to rebuild the economy in their zones of Germany. In 1947
the British and US zones were joined together in ‘Bizonia’ and the French zone
was added in 1948.
Stalin believed that Germany should be kept weak to prevent any risk of further
trouble. He also wanted to get reparations from Germany to help rebuild the
Soviet Union.
In 1948 the western allies announced that they were going to introduce a new
currency in the west to help the economy get going again. This would mean that
east and west would be separate economically.
West Berlin was a temptation to East Berliners. In the west the Marshall Plan was
beginning to make life much better. Already East Berliners and East Germans
were trying to escape to the west.
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How did the Allies react?
They were determined that Stalin should not succeed. General Lucius Clay the
US Commander in Berlin said, ‘If West Berlin falls, West Germany will be next’.
Clay offered to fight his way out of West Berlin, but was ordered not to by
Truman.
The Allies believed that if they gave in Stalin would behave as Hitler had in the
1930s. More and more countries would be taken over.
The Allies began to bring supplies into West Berlin by air. 4,000 tonnes were
needed every day. Eventually they were bringing in 8,000 tonnes; even coal was
brought in by plane.
More than 320,000 flights were made altogether and 79 pilots died.
In May 1949 Stalin gave up. It was obvious that the West was not going to give
in so he ended the blockade.
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NATO, the Warsaw Pact and the Arms Race
Many East Germans began to try to escape from the Soviet zone to the other
three.
NATO was set up in 1949.
The Federal republic of Germany was set up in 1949.
What is NATO?
NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which was set up in 1949 during
the Berlin Blockade.
It was a sign that relations between the Superpowers were now so bad that some
form of military alliance was necessary.
Thirteen countries joined in 1949, including Britain and the USA.
It led to US troops and aircraft being stationed in European countries to protect
them against a possible attack by the countries of Eastern Europe.
The most important aspect of the alliance was that if anyone of the member
countries was to be attacked, all the others would immediately protect it.
Since 1949 most countries of Western Europe have joined NATO and in the last
years some of the former communist countries, such as Poland and Hungary have
joined. Since the alliance was set up, none of the members has been attacked.
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The Federal Republic of Germany
After the Berlin Blockade the Allies decided to create the Federal Republic of
Germany, with its capital at Bonn in the Rhineland. This became known as West
Germany.
West Germany existed as a separate country from 1949 to 1990. It became a
member of the UN and was admitted to NATO in 1955, although it was never
allowed to have nuclear weapons. The Allies continued to occupy it and there are
still British forces in Germany today.
In 1949 the Soviet Union also exploded its first atomic bomb. This led to an Arms
Race between the superpowers.
The two Superpowers had now given up any pretence of co-operation. The
Cold War had begun in earnest.
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What was the Warsaw Pact?
The Warsaw Pact, which was set up in 1955 in response to the admission of West
Germany (the German Federal republic to Nato, was an attempt to protect the USSR
by drawing the countries of eastern Europe even closer together. This showed the
fear that the Soviet Union had of a further invasion by Germany.
The members of the Pact were the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and East Germany.
The full title was the 'Pact of Mutual Assistance and Unified Command'. It had
two important effects.
It created a joint command of the armed forces of the alliance.
It set up a Political Committee to co-ordinate the foreign policies of the members.
The Pact increased the influence of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe and led
to more Soviet troops being stationed there. This made the crushing of the
Hungarian Rising of 1956 all the easier.
From the 1950s to the 1980s, the threat from the Warsaw Pact was taken very
seriously by the West. Its forces outnumbered those of the West and an invasion
through northern Germany always seemed very likely.
In fact, support for the Pact was financially ruinous for the Soviet Union and was an
important factor in the bankruptcy and collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The events of 1945 to 1949 led to the COLD WAR. This is the name used to
describe the hostility between East and West which existed until the 1980s. It
was a war of propaganda and ideas, but there was very little actual fighting
