Foreign

• Adenauer's foreign policy was geared towards establishing sovereignty for the new state and exploiting the economic, political and military strength of the free western wall
• The Petersberg Agreement:

  • autumn of 1949
  • signed with the Allied High Commission
  • allow the FRG to join the International Ruhr Authority
  • dismantling of industry by the allies was limited
  • gained the right to establish democratic relations with other states
  • allowed to join the European Council in 1950
• The European Coal and Steel Community (ESC): formed in 1951

  • organise the free movement of coal and steel and to free up access to sources of production
  • Robert Shuman (French Foreign Minister) suggested it to oversee French and German steel and coal production
  • economic expansion, employment and better living standards => main goals
  • common prices for coal and steel, subsidies and investment
  • FRG was treated as an equal partner
  • coal and steel within the community increased by 44% from 1952-1957
• Robert Schuman:

  • member of the French resistance in the Second World War
  • strongest supporter of NATO
  • key to developing post-war institutions
  • Schuman Declaration was presented by French foreign minister Robert Schuman on 9 May 1950. It proposed the creation of a European Coal and Steel Community
• The European Economic Community (EEC):

  • signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957 ==> created EEC effectively
  • harmonise measures of trade and prices in areas such as agriculture and fisheries
  • 1964 - 85% of West German Agriculture produce was under EEC trade
  • closer union
  • coordinate transport systems, develop general economic policies, remove measures restricting free competition, assure mobility of labour and capital
  • know as 'Common Market'
  • FRG was largest member
• Other Economic agencies:

  • General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) -> reducing barriers of international trade -> joined 1951
  • Organisation of European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) -> joint economic co-operation => administered the Marshall Plan
  • International Monetary Fund (IMF) -> FRG joined 1952 => stabilise exchange rates
• The outbreak of the Chinese Revolution (1949) and the Korean War (1950) heightened the fear of communism, USA urged Europeans to make a greater effort to increase their defence -> especially the FRG.
• European Defence Community:

  • Plan proposed by the French Prime Minister => Pleven
  • pan European defence force
  • limited German contingency
  • allowed -> October 1954
• German Sovereignty:

  • occupation was ended and the FRG was a sovereign state
  • May 1955
  • Western Powers kept power over West Berlin
• Less thoughts on reunification as Ardenaur said:

  ' We belong to the west, not Soviet Russia'
• Germany joined Nato in 1955
• Relations with the West?

  By the mid 1950s, the FRG was thoroughly integrated into the west. However, a lot of political opposition in West Germany for the treaties. Especially with remilitarisation, especially when Stalin offered reunification. Fully integrated into Western society, helped fix relationship with France
• Adenauer had a mistrust with communism, relationships with the FRG and USSR was strained. GDR was not an accepted state:

  • official language of the FRG, East Germany was simply the Soviet Occupation Zone
  • no international diplomatic relations
  • GDR signed a peace treaty with Poland in 1950 but the FRG didn't agree
  • spoke negatively of the GDR

  3 million refugees came to the FRG from the GDR
• The Stalin Notes:

  • signing of a final peace treaty for a united Germany with free democratic elections
  • establishment of a united Germany with the Oder-Neisse line as the eastern frontier
  • removal of all foreign troops from Germany
  • stay neutral
  • creation of a defensive army for the new state

  Rejected by the Western powers, especially by the USA, Adenauer also agreed. Renewed several times after Stalins death but the West didn't agree. Adenauer blamed for not pursuing the negotiations, seen as abandoning the East during the 1953 Uprising. But, Stalin could've been bluffing. Seen as propaganda.
• The Hallstein Doctrine:

  • September 1955, Adenauer visited Moscow when he was prepared to establish diplomatic relations with the USSR in exchange for 10 000 prisoners of war and 20 000 civilians still held in the Soviet Zone
  • USSR recently launched the Warsaw Pact and the 'two state theory'
  • Adenauer stated that his own government would refuse to have diplomatic relations with any state officially recognised by the GDR -> except the USSR
  • 10 YEARS -> generally successful but this meant no chance to reconcile Germany
• Relations with the West were better than relations with the East