Germany and the Cold War

• In 1946, Britain, France and USA combined their zones in Western Germany to form trizonia. This angered Stalin because:


  Trizonia would make Germany stronger
• In 1948, Trizonia introduced a new currency for Germany called Deutsche Mark. The aim was to help Germanys economy recover. This angered Stalin because:


  This could make Germany stronger economically when Stalin wanted Germany to be weak economically
• Stalin felt that Eastern Europe was his sphere of influence and that the USA should not get involved
• Reasons why Stalin may have blocked Berlin

  • To try and make trizonia weaker
  • No resources for people would make people want communist control
  • To prevent capitalist influence by making Berlin poor economically
• The Berlin Blockage

  In June 1948, Stalin decided to shut off the land routes across Germany controlled by the Soviet Union into Berlin
• Between June 1948 and September 1949 thousands of tonnes of supplies were flown daily into Berlin.
• Stalin also created the Berlin Blockage to show USA, Britain and France that a divided Germany would not work
• In September 1949, the West announced the German Federal Republic ( West Germany ) was established. As a response, in October 1949 the USSR announced the German Federal Republic ( East Germany )
• In April 1949, NATO was formed to defend against Russia. It included countries surrounding Russia and around the North Atlantic
• In response to the formation of NATO, Stalin formed the Warsaw Pact, an alliance of communist countries in Eastern Europe for mutual defence
• In August 1949, the USSR exploded its first atomic bomb, in which USA no longer had a monopoly on nuclear weapons. The USA and USSR realized they were in competition and began to build up army and weapons