1. Establishing and consolidating communist rule

• When did the 'big three' meet at Yalta?

  February 1945
• What decision was made by the 'big three' at Yalta?

  Division of Germany and Berlin into zones of occupation.
• When did the 'big three' meet at Potsdam?

  July 1945
• What was agreed at Potsdam?

  • Denazification
  • Demilitarisation
  • Large German industrial concerns would be dismantled to keep Germany weak as well as to ship materials to USSR for reparations
  • Military zones of occupation were approved.
• What linked the western sectors of Berlin with their zones of occupation in Germany?

  Four roads, two railway lines, three air corridors.
• Why was Stalin so ruthless in his extraction of reparations from the Soviet zone?

  25 million Soviet lives were lost, along with huge amounts of territory.
• Why was Stalin's extraction of reparations a source of tension?

  The western powers were dependent on the USSR for access to their zones in Berlin but felt that the ruthless extractions were detrimental to the zones economic and political development.
• What was the Soviet zone of Germany initially governed by?

  The Soviet Military Administration and a group of experienced German communists.
• When was the Soviet military administration created?

  June 1945.
• What did Ulbricht say about the Soviet Military Administration?

  It's got to look democratic but we must have everything in control.
• What did the Soviet Military Administration comprise of by November?

  50,000 Soviet and German members, including 21 generals.
• What was the role of the Soviet Military Administration?

  To ensure the Soviet zone evolved in the ways Stalin wanted and to supervise all German administrators.
• What were the four key areas of the Soviet Military Administration's responsibility?

  Military affairs, the economy, civil administration, and political questions.
• When did the Soviet Military Administration end?

  With the creation of the GDR in October 1949.
• Why was there incompetence within the Soviet Military Administration?

  Vague orders from Moscow, confusion about its role in Germany and whether it had a greater weight of power than that of the Soviet Government.
• When and how was the SED formed?

  In April 1946, when 600,000 KPD members and nearly 700,000 members of the SPD merged to form the Socialist Unity party of Germany.
• Why did the German Communist Party and the German Social Democratic party merge to form the SED?

  There was Soviet pressure on the SPD to disband and a general desire to avoid having to left-wing political parties competing for votes.
• What did SED leaders do to ensure the political party was dominated by Communists?

  There was a purge of SED members who had been former politicians and supporters of the pre-Second World War SPD. By 1950 approximately 5,000 former SPD members had been arrested and sent to Soviet prisons.
• Who were the Ulbricht group?

  A group of German communists who were trained in the USSR to prepare for the spread of communism in Germany after the Second World War. They were therefore communists who were loyal to Moscow.
• When did the Ulbricht group arrive in Berlin?

  30th April 1945.
• What was the Ulbricht Group's priority?

  To try to ensure that the German Communist party controlled as many key local administrative positions as possible and to encourage popular support for the party.
• What did the KPD stand for?

  German Communist Party.
• What did the SPD stand for?

  German Social Democratic Party.
• Why did the Western Allies disprove of the USSR's demands for reparations?

  Saw the demands as excessive likely to hamper Germany's economic recovery. They believed a weak economy and lower living standards would increase the appeal of communism.
• What happened in January 1947?

  After almost a year of secret negotiations the US and British government announced their decision to merge their zones into one economic unit that became known as by Bizonia.
• What did Stalin regard the creation of Bizonia as?

  The first deliberate step by Britain and the USA towards the creation of an independent, capitalist West German state.
• When was the Truman Doctrine announced?

  1947
• What was the Truman Doctrine?

  A policy of containment; 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.
• What was the Marshall Plan?

  Economic policy to directly support the Truman Doctrine. The US government made large sums of money available to countries in Europe to help them recover from the Second World War.
• Why did the US introduced the Marshall plan?

  It believed that increasing prosperity would prevent the spread of communism.
• Why was the Marshall plan significant?

  It demonstrated that US policy towards Germany had changed. Rather than actively wanting to punish and humiliate a defeated power, the USA now wanted to actively support the rebuilding of a prosperous state.
• When was the Deutschmark introduced?

  June 1948.
• Why was the Deutschmark introduced?

  Economically it was seen as essential in order to successfully boost trade, increase industrial production and eradicate the extensive back market.
• What was the Soviet attitude towards the Deutschmark?

  It was seen as an act of aggression. The Soviets regarded it as a deliberate strategy by the West to undermine the Soviet zone by disrupting Berlin's economic unity and disregarding the principle of joint allied decision-making over Germany.
• What was the Soviet response to the Deutschmark?

  A total blockade of West Berlin.
• What did Stalin hope would happen as a result of the blockade?

  It would coerce the West into surrendering their sectors, creating a united Berlin in the Soviet zone.
• When did the USSR sever all rail, road and canal links from West Berlin to the Western zones?

  23rd June 1948
• When did the Berlin airlift begin?

  26th June 1948.
• How good was the Berlin airlift at its height?

  Aircraft landed in West Berlin every 90 seconds and delivered 8000 tons of supplies each day.
• What were the problems with the Berlin airlift?

  The operation was carried out with ill-equipped planes, poor runways and crews working long hours in very dangerous conditions. International relations became even more strained with the USA's deployment of fighter planes in Britain that were rumoured to be carrying atomic bombs.