Mock revision Flashcards
What was the Occupation Statue?
- A treaty defining the rights of Britain, France and USA in West Germany
What happened on 7th June 1947?
- Germans in the Western Zones were granted permission to create a constitution for a democratic. federal West Germany
What happened on the 20th June 1947?
- The Western allies introduced a new currency behind the Soviet Union’s back
- The currency was called Deutschmark
How did the Soviets respond?
- Four days later, they introduced a new currency, the Ostmark
What was West Berlin totally dependent on?
- Rail and road links running through the Soviet-controlled zone for its supplies and food from Western Germany
When did the Berlin blockade start?
- 1948
What did the Soviets cut off during the blockade?
- Electricity
- Road/rail links to the west
What was the Western response to the blockade?
- Airlift over the 3 ‘corridors’ allocated to them by the Soviets
What was the average amount of supplies that the West was able to fly in a day?
- 2000 tones of food and raw materials
What talk followed the Berlin blockade?
- The Moscow talk (1949)
What measures did the West take to damage the Soviet zone in Germany?
- Stopped all Western exports to the Soviet zone, increasing the pressure on the zone’s economy
What was the daily average tonnage by January?
- 5620
What was the daily average tonnage by April?
- 8,000 tons
When was the blockade lifted?
- 12th May 1949
Why was the blockade lifted?
- Stalin couldn’t afford to go to war over Berlin
- The lack of trade with the West was crippling his economy (lol)
What were the newly formed sides of Germany following the blockade?
- FRG (Federal Republic of Germany)
- GDR (General Democratic Republic)
When was the West German constitution approved?
- Spring of 1949
Who was the first West German Chancellor?
- Konrad Adenauer
When was the European Coal and Steel Community established?
- July 1952
Why was the ECSC established?
- To enable the Western to exploit Germany’s coal and steel resources for their own rearmament programmes without running the risk of creating a strong independent West Germany
How did the superpowers react?
- The West German chancellor received the news enthusiastically
- Italy and Benelux states also welcomed it
- Britain refused to join
What was the impact of the ESCS?
- Together with the formation of NATO, it strengthened the Western Bloc
What did the ESCS regulate?
- Coal and steel industries in Italy, the FRG, France and the Benelux countries, guaranteeing that the economic needs of each member for these vital raw materials would be met
When was cominform formed?
- 1947
Why was cominform established?
- To promote ideological unity among the Communist parties in Europe
- Its main task was to complete Sovietisation of the Soviet satellite states, co-ordinate activities of the communist parties and to combat Titoism
When was Comecon formed?
- 1949
What was COMECON’s main task?
- To integrate the economies of Eastern Europe with the USSR’s
- Collectivize agriculture
- Establish centralised economies
- Five Year Plan
