9. frg politics

• Yalta Conference 1945


  Divides Germany into the four military zones (US, USSR, Great Britain and France) it also created the an Allied Control Council to oversee the four zones
• The USA and the UK combine zones to create Bizonia in January 1947
• In April of 1949 the French zone combines with Bizonia to create Trizonia
• The FRG is founded in May of 1949
• In August 1949 Konrad Adenauer becomes the first chancellor of the FRG
• Konrad Adenauer was a member of the CDU/CSU
• In October of 1951 the Treaty of Paris creates the European Coal and Steel Community
• The Neo-Nazi Socialist Reich party are banned in 1952
• In 1957 Adenauer wins a majority in the national election ( only leader in FRG history)
• The FRG joins NATO in 1955
• In 1956 the KPD are banned
• In 1959 the SPD create a new party constitution at the Bad Godesberg Party Congress
• In 1961 the EEC is created
• In 1961 Adenauer wins a reduced percentage of the vote
• In October 1963 Adenauer resigns and is replaced with Ludwig Erhard
• In December 1966 Kurt Kiesinger heads the coalition between the CDU/CSU and the SPD
• In October of 1969 Willy Brandt of the SPD becomes Chancellor
• In May of 1974 Brandt resigns and is replaced with Helmut Schmidt
• In October 1982 the CDU/CSU and the FDP form a coalition under Helmut Kohl
• In October 1990 East Germany is abolished and reunited with the FRG
• Germany surrenders on the 7th of May 1945
• Four million Germans died in the war and a further ten million would be expelled from Eastern Europe
• The Reichsmark collapsed at the end of the war.
• THere were over 7 million more women than men in 1945
• Potsdam Conference June 1945

  • Former Nazis would be brought to justice
  • ensure a strong democracy
  • reduce Germany's industrial power
• The Deutschmark is introduced in June 1948
• From the 24th of June to the 12th of May 1948, Stalin cut off all food and water from non-Soviet Berlin to force the Allies out.
• In response to the Berlin Blockade the allies launch a massive airlift invasion. At one stage planes were reaching Berlin every 30 seconds.
• On the 23rd of May 1949 Trizonia becomes the Federal Republic of Germany.
• The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) were both set up in 1945.
• On the 15th of June 1945 the SPD reformed. Many members, such as their leader Kurt Schumacher, had been in concentration camps.
• The SPDs policies were more radical than the KPD, including nationalising banks, land and key industries
• The KPD was the first party to be reformed on the 11th of June 1945. They wanted "German Socialism" with a new education system, land reform and a democratic government.
• The Free Democratic Party (FDP) was formed in 1947 and pursued centrist policies.
• Basic Law was created on the 23rd of May 1949 and defined the FRG constitution.
• The President of the FRG has the power to appoint and dismiss the Chancellor but this is largely symbolic and exercised on the advice of the Bundestag.
• Article 1 of Basic Law states "Germany is a democratic and social federal state"
• Basic Law details all fundamental rights and provides for an independent constitutional court (article 93) to protect individual rights
• Article 2 guarantees the right to free development of personality
• Article 14 guarantees the right to property.