Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

GDR Key Topic 1 - Establishing and Consolidating communist rule in the GDR, c1949-61 > Why did events in the years 1945 to 1949 lead to the division of Germany? > Flashcards

Why did events in the years 1945 to 1949 lead to the division of Germany? Flashcards

1
Q

What was the most pressing issue post-war?

A

The biggest issue was what would happen to Germany because it had the potential to become very strong economically.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

When was the FRG first established?

A

May 1949

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Who was in the FRG?

A

The FRG included the French, British and US zones

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

When was the GDR first established?

A

October 1949 (4 months after FRG creation)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Who was in the GDR?

A

Eastern Bloc communist countries and the USSR

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What did the creation of the FRG and GDR mean for relations between sectors?

A

It just established the division more as it showed the difference between the two sides of East and West Germany.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What were the three Conferences?

A

Tehran, Yalta, Potsdam

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

When was Tehran?

A

November 1943

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Who was involved in Tehran?

A

Stalin (USSR), Churchill (Britain), Roosevelt (USA).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Agreements made in Tehran? (3 Points)
(No disagreements)

A

-Britain + USA agreed to open a second front up.
-United Nations Organization to be set up after the War.
-Area of Eastern Poland to be added to the Soviet union.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Why were there no Disagreements in Tehran? (2 Points)

A

-They all had the common enemy of Germany so agreed a lot on a lot of things.
-Roosevelt was quite ill so just agreed with most things Stalin said. This did annoy Churchill a bit.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

When was Yalta?

A

February 1945

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Who met at Yalta?

A

Stalin (USSR) , Churchill (Britain), Roosevelt (US)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What were the three leaders know as?

A

‘The Big Three’

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What was one of the key decisions made at Yalta?

A

After the second World War the USA, Britain and the USSR would each be allocated an occupation zone of Germany as well as a sector of Berlin

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What were the Agreements made at Yalta? (5 Points)

A

-Soviet Union were to go to war with Japan.
-Germany would be split into 4 Zones (USA, USSR, French, British)
-Berlin to be also split into 4 zones (USA, USSR, French, British)
-Nazis to be put into court.
-United Nations Organization to be made.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What Disagreements happened at Yalta? (2 Points)

A

-Leaders clashed as they didn’t agree on German Reparations. Stalin wanted more reparations than the other leaders because more damage had taken place to the Soviet Union than anywhere else.
-Disagreements with Poland. Stalin wanted the Polish/German border to be much further west.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

When was Potsdam?

A

July 1945

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Who were the three Leaders involved in Potsdam?

A

Attlee (Britain), Truman (USA), Stalin (USSR).
Roosevelt died and was replaced by Truman. Churchill was reelected and Attlee replaced him.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What was the main thing decided at Potsdam?

A

Each power would be able to take reparations from its zone of occupation as compensation for war damage

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What were the Agreements made at Potsdam? (3 Points)

A

-Germany was to be demilitarized.
-Democracy was to be re-established in Germany which included free elections, free press and freedom of speech.
-Nazi party was Banned.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What were the Disagreements made at Potsdam?

A

-They differed in their views about free elections.
-How much Germany were to pay in Reparations because Stalin wanted more as a result of the damage made to USSR.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Why was there more tension and disagreement at Potsdam than before?

A

There were more disagreements partially due to the death of Roosevelt in April 1945 and the outlook of his more ant-communist successor Truman.
One Particular Source of Tension was the USSR reparations which were regarded by the by the Western Allies as excessive and likely to hamper Germany’s Economic recovery

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

How much did the USSR loose in WW2?

A

Lost around 25 million lives and a huge amount of soviet terrority

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

What two parties merged in April 1946? How many members were in each? What did they merge to become?

A

600,000 KPD and the 700,000 SPD merged to become the SED

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

What is the SED and what does it stand for?

A

SED was a coalition government consisting of the SPD and KPD. It stands for Socialist Unity Party.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

What principle’s did the SED have?

A

They said they had Marxist-Leninist principles.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

What elements undermined democracy in the SED? (2 Points)

A

-People in the SED had to vote otherwise they would be punished. It was compulsory.
- On the Voting paper there was only one option and if you didn’t want to choose that one option you had to go into a private box without secrecy. The consequences of this were severe including expulsion or close surveillance by secret Police.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

What’s the SED structure?

A

Starting from top:
Party Congress
Central committee
Politburo
Central committee organizations
Regional, district, local organization

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

What was the SED paper called?

A

Neues Deutschland

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

Why did these two groups merge?

A

Came about as a result of the soviet pressure on the SPD to disband and a general desire to avoid having two left-wing political parties competing for votes.
It was created because there was lots of pressure to merge as the soviets didn’t want two socialist parties so resulted in the coalition government of the SED.

32
Q

How long did it take Britain and France to join together to make Bizonia?

A

They had a year of secret negotiations before they made tgeir decisoon to merge their Zones making one economic unit (Bizonia).

33
Q

When did Bizonia first get announced?

A

January 1947

34
Q

What was Bizonia?

A

Bizonia was when the US and Britain merged together into one economic unit.

35
Q

What countries were in Bizonia and Trizonia?

A

Bizonia was when Britain and the USA merged together and Trizonia is when France joined their merge and so it became know as Trizonia.

36
Q

What were Bizonia and Trizonia?

A

Bizonia and Trizonia were when Britain, USA and France united to form a cooperated group for the sole purpose of making decisions to improve their German Zone economies.

37
Q

What did Stalin think of the creation of Bizonia?

A

He thought that it was the first deliberate step by Britain and the USA towards the creation of an independent, capitalist West German state. He argued that it should have been discussed before with both the USSR and France

38
Q

Why were they created?(Includes Dates of when created)

A

After WWII the cost of rebuilding and reparatios were destroying to the German economy. Western Germany needed food and some West German people had fewer than a thousand calories a day. USA and Britain releaised they needed to fix this and realised the only way to do that was to cooperate with each other which resulted in the creation of Bizonia in the summer of 1946.
The French then joined their zone to Bizonia to create Trizonia in April 1949. With the three zoes uited unification seemed more likely.

39
Q

What was the impact of the creation of these Groups?

A

The impact is that it made two district Germanies. 1 Capitilst and Western and the other Communist in the East and dominated by the Soviet Union.

40
Q

What did Britain and France then announce?

A

They announced the introduction of a new currency called the Duetschamrk(DM) which was used to help boost trade succesfully, increase industrial production and remove the need for a Black Market.

41
Q

Why were the USSR annoyed after the introduction of the Deutschamark?

A

The USSR believed that the new currency was and act of aggresion to undermine the soviet zone by diregarding the point of joint-Allied decision making.

42
Q

What was the Deutshmark currency in preparation for?

A

It was in preparation for the creatiuon of a new state which became know as the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in May 1949.

43
Q

Was the Deutschamrk a success or a failure?

A

It was an immediate success as it helped to have rapid economic progress. The Soviet Zone meanwhile was still in poverty.

44
Q

What were the Political Issues with the Deutschmark introduction?

A

For the USSR the currency was seen as an act of aggression. The Soviets regarded it as a deliberate strategy by the West to undermine the Soviet by disrupting Berlin’s economic unity and disregarding the principle of joint Allied decision-making over Germany

45
Q

What did the Soviet Zone do in retailation to the Deutshcmark?

A

The Soviet Zone opposingly introduced a new Currency called the Ostmark but it was a failure and didn’t help to clear up the Poverty in the Soviet Union like they had anticipated.

46
Q

What was Truman’s Policy of Containment?

A

A key policy after the second world war to prevent the spread of communism. It reflected the US concerns about the USSR’s increasing power and influence over Eastern Europe and other places.
Truman announced a policy which would try to contain the growth of communism by providing financial, political and military support to all democratic nations under the threat of communism.

47
Q

When was the Truman Doctrine?

A

March 1947

48
Q

What was the Truman Doctrine?

A

Truman established the policy that the USA would provide political, military and economic support to all democratic nations that were under threat from communism either from within their own country or from other nations

49
Q

When was the Marshall Plan?

A

1948

50
Q

What was the Marshall Plan?

A

The US government made large sums of money available to countries in Europe to help them recover after the Second World War. The US believed this would stop the spread of Communism.
Following the harsh winter of 1946-47 George Marshall Realized the continent couldn’t recover without help. So in 1947 he introduced the Marshall Plan which was to provide financial aid to Europe for recovery after WW2.

51
Q

How much did the Marshall Plan allocate?

A

$13 Billion

52
Q

Why did the US give this much money to European Countries?

A

They did this because they believed a weak economy and low living standards would increase the appeal of Communism. This gave the countries economic stability.

53
Q

What was the Berlin Blockade?

A

The Berlin Blockade was a crisis in 1948-49 when the Soviet Union blocked the access of the Western Allies to their sectors of Berlin, which was located in Soviet-occupied East Germany123. The blockade was an attempt by the Soviets to force the Allies to abandon their post-war rights in the city and to gain control over the whole of Berlin

54
Q

Why did Stalin do a Blockade?

A

He didn’t want to risk starting war over Berlin. He wanted to show the economic power from the Soviet Union and Stalin believed West Berliners would be starved into submission.

55
Q

When did the Berlin Blockade begin?

A

24th June 1948

56
Q

Who were the main people affected?

A

Wets Berliners who were working and living in the Western sector.

57
Q

What did Stalin stop?

A

Rail, Canals, gas + electric

58
Q

When was the Berlin Airlift?

A

Six days after the introduction of the new currency

59
Q

What was the Berlin Airlift?

A

Stalin imposed a total blockade of West Berlin as a means of coercing the West into surrendering their sectors, creating a united Berlin in the Soviet Zone. On the 23rd of June, the USSR severed all rail, road and canal links from West Berlin to the Western Zones. The West faced the problem of not being able to access West Berlin and being able to apply food, fuel and medical supplies to its population of two million.

60
Q

What was the reason for the Blockade?

A

Stalin was trying to force the allies to withdraw from their zone and abandon their plans for separate German Zones.

61
Q

What did the USA and Britain do to supply things to West Berlin?

A

They took a significant risk and airlifted in supply to West Berlin

62
Q

When did the Airlift begin? How often were the Airlifts at their height?

A

26th June and at its height it aircraft landed in West Berlin every 90 seconds and delivered 8,000 tonnes of supplies each day.

63
Q

What happened to international relations because of this?

A

They became even more strained as the fighter planes were rumored to have atomic bombs. It later turned out this info was deliberate misinformation from the alllies in order to get Stalin to back down

64
Q

When did the Blockade finally get called off? After how many days and flights?

A

In May 1949 after 322 days and 277,000 flights

65
Q

What was the impact of the Berlin Airlift?

A

It showed the West’s Commitment to protecting the population and maintaining their military Prescence in West Berlin.

66
Q

After the Berlin Airlift what group was formed?

A

Following the Berlin Airlift the Western Allies decided to co-ordinate their armed forces. This was a fundamental reason for the creation of NATO

67
Q

What did many states refuse to do when the GDR was first made?

A

Acknowledge its existence until the 1970s and so it was often referred to in the FRG as ‘the zone’ or “GDR”

68
Q

What was the Stalin ‘Note’?

A

It was a note that Stalin sent to the FRG in April 1952 which he put forward the idea of a united Germany. This idea was dismissed.

69
Q

What was thought would happen with the division of Germany? Why did this seem impossible?

A

It was thought that it would be a temporary division but it seemed that as more time went on it was becoming more permanent. This was due to the tensions between the two zones which made it almost impossible that they would unite.

70
Q

When did the Berlin Airlift start?

A

26th of June 1948

71
Q

How long did the Airlift last?

A

322 Days

72
Q

What did the Airlift supply?

A

It supplied food and medicines to West Berlin.

73
Q

When was the Airlift at its peak?

A

The Airlift started off at its peak because every 90 seconds an Airlift landed with food and overall it ended up that there were 277,000 and 8,000 tones of supplies dropped off.

74
Q

When did Stalin call off the Blockade?

A

In May 1949 Stalin called off the Blockade and the West’s Airlift was successful.

75
Q

What was the Impact of the Berlin Airlift?

A

It showed the West’s commitement to protecting its population from communism .

76
Q

What did the Berlin Airlift lead to?

A

It lead to the creation of NATO formed with the western allies and it helped them cooperate more and be a defense force to the USSR.

GDR Key Topic 1 - Establishing and Consolidating communist rule in the GDR, c1949-61 (7 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions