(4) Conflict over Germany Flashcards
What was the Allied Control Councill?
✩ In 1945, the Four Power Allied Control Council divided Germany up. Germany was divided into Four Power Zones.
✩ Each country was free to determine how they would run their zone.
✩ To ensure that all Germans were treated equally, the Allied Control Council was established which coordinated economic and political decisions, making sure that all plans were unanimously decided upon.
What happened to Berlin as well?
✩ Berlin (the capital city) would also be divided into similar zones.
✩ Germany was divided into Four Power Zones. Each would be controlled by a different country; the USA, the USSR, Britain, and France.
What were the USA’s view on Germany?
✩ America believed that a revived Germany was important to European trade and US financial interests.
✩ The USA believed that the harsh punishment given to Germany after the First World War created the conditions in which extremism flourished.
✩ America opposed the Soviet suggestion of a fully united and neutral Germany, fearing that it would be absorbed into the Soviet sphere of influence.
What were the Soviet Union’s view on Germany?
✩ The USSR believed a revived Germany and the later unification of western zones posed a threat to its security and interests. Instead, the USSR argued for a fully united and neutral Germany.
What did the Soviet Union do in Germany?
✩ Stalin set up the Soviet Military Administration which was responsible for merging the Communist Party and the Social Democrats into the German Socialist Unity Party (SED), in an attempt to increase communist influence.
What was the British view on Germany?
✩ The British sought to help their section of Germany to recover economically. This relied on help from America and the Marshall Plan as Britain wasn’t economically strong enough to help Germany.
✩ Britain wanted to protect the Ruhr Valley from potential French and Soviet control.
What was the Ruhr region?
✩ The Ruhr was an important industrial region of Germany close to the border with France and also home to many coalfields which were vital to Germany’s industrial production and, therefore, its ability to pay reparations.
Why had there been problems regarding German economic recovery?
✩ Both the USA and Britain wanted Germany to economically recover. Yet, this proved very difficult, especially because of the large migration of Polish and Czech refugees into Germany due to the treatment that they faced from the USSR.
✩ Britain, America and France therefore, wanted to stop the reparation payments from their areas of Germany as it was costing too much money and preventing economic rehabilitation.
✩ This situation was made worse by the fact that the USSR was dismantling Germany factories and taking them to the USSR
4.1 Developments within the sectors, including Bizonia and currency reform.
What had been the context and tensions regarding the Bizonia.
✩ At a meeting in Moscow in March 1947, talks broke down over a US proposal for monetary reform to simulate German industry.
✩ The Soviet believed the reform would give the Americans greater influence over Germany, saw this as a way of creating western capitalism in Germany, and thus rejected it.
✩ As a consequence, the US and Britain agreed to greater political integration and Bizonia was formed.
What was the new currency reform and when had it been introduced?
What tensions had arisen as a result?
✩ In June of 1948, the Western Allies introduced the Deutsche Mark in all Western zones in order to boost the economy.
✩ This angered Stalin! He feared these new ideas and currency would spread to the Soviet zone and undermine his efforts to weaken Germany. In response, he introduced a new East German currency, the Ostmark.
What was Bizonia?
✩ Bizonia was created as a combination and economic unification of the British and American zones.
4.2 The Berlin Blockade
What was the Berlin Blockade and its purpose?
✩ From June 1948 to May 1949, the USSR shut off land routes across Soviet controlled Germany into Berlin.
✩ The Berlin Blockade was an attempt by Stalin to force the Western Powers to allow the entirety of Berlin to be controlled by the USSR.
✩ Their plan was to win a propaganda victory over the Allies and they believed this could happen as Trizonia wouldn’t have been able to communicate with Berlin leading to the West Berliners soon running out of food. This meant they would need to turn to communism and Stalin’s forces to survive.
4.2 The Berlin Blockade
What was the Berlin Airlift and its consequences?
✩ The USA overcame the Soviet’s plan by flying their supplies into their zones in Berlin through planes, organising highly successful airlifts - Operation Vittles (US) and Operation Plainfare (Britain) brought supplies such as food and fuel to Berlin. By May 1949, 2.3 million tons of supplies had been flown into the city.
✩ This was called the Berlin Airlift (May 1948 to June 1948)
✩ Thus, the West had responded in a peaceful way to what looked like a very aggressive and short-sighted act by Stalin!
4.3 The Creation of East and West Germany
What was Trizonia and when was it created?
✩ The Trizonia was created when the French zone merged into Bizonia (which was previously the combination of US and British zones) in April 1949.
4.3 The Creation of East and West Germany
Why had the Berlin Crisis been significant in the splitting of Germany?
✩ The failure of the blockade was embarrassing to the USSR, and it failed to prevent the unification of western zones which became the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) on 23 May 1949
✩ In response, the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
