Allied occupation

• Potsdam


  The Potsdam agreement was highly important in bringing about the division of Germany because it laid the foundation for the dividing tensions between the USSR and Allied powers, specifically the US.
• Potsdam

  The 1945 agreement established that Germany was to be divided into 4 zones, supposedly for the purpose of facilitating post war reconstruction.
• Potsdam

  • The division showed that reconstruction and peace was not the priority. The USA had a power leverage due to Nuclear weapons, and the USSR held a strong negotiating position because of the establishment of the Red Army.
  • This caused tensions to rise between the USSR and USA, because of the power status of the other alongside their contrasting political ideologies.
• Potsdam

  However the division showed that reconstruction and peace was not the priority. The Usa had a power leverage due to Nuclear weapons, and the USSR held a strong negotiating position because of the Red Army’s establishment. This caused tensions to rise between the USSR and USA, because of the power status of the other alongside their contrasting political ideologies.
• Potsdam

  • So, Instead of the division being for the purpose of reconstruction, it ended up turning Germany into a pawn for the USSR’s communism and the US’ containment theory.
  • The division outlined in the agreement led to conflicts between the 3 capitalist zones and the communist zone, which caused the formation of trizonia, which continued to escalate until two separate countries were formed.
• BB

  The Berlin Blockade was additionally an important event in establishing the division of germany. The Soviets attempted to merge West Berlin with their communist zone by blocking all transport links so the US could not supply them. However the US were dedicated to containment, so the Berlin Airlift took place, where 2.3 million tonnes of food were shipped into Berlin.
• BB

  The Blockade was the first real clash between the east and west, and it showed the extent the USSR and US would go to preserve communism and capitalism. This was an important event in establishing the division because it demonstrated the commitment of the western powers to Berlin.
• BB

  It contributed to the cold war atmosphere and showed how flawed the idea of the allied control council was, both sides were so dedicated to their causes it was impossible for both sides to exist alongside each other as the same country
• Millions of German citizens were displaced by the war
• When did the Allies enter Germany

  September 1944
• It is estimated that 1/3 women in Berlin were raped by the Red Army
• After an unconditional surrender was signed on the 8th of May 1945, the Allied dissolved the replacement government.
• • The USSR viewed Germany with trepidation.
  • They had been invaded by them twice in 30 years
• Why did the USA want to restore Germany


  • ensure it was a valuable trading partner
  • fear for the Soviet's spread of communism and it's policy of ''world revolution'
• What was established at Potsdam

  The allied control council
• The powers agreed that Germany would be demilitarised
• The First step of de-nazification


  • Nuremburg; brought major war criminals to trial
• Who lead the communists in divided Germany

  Walter Ulbricht
• What did the Soviet Military administration issue in June 1945


  Order Number 2
• What did Order Number 2 allow


  The formation of Political Parties
• Who were the KPD and SPD forcibly merged into in 1946


  The Socialist Unity Party (SED)
• The communists argues that Nazism Had emerged as a result of a crisis in capitalism, and therefore, to deal with the roots of Nazism, capitalism had to be abolished.
• Soviet economic developments contributing to the creation of Bizonia


  • takeover of banks and factories
  • Seized assets to take back to Soviet Union as reparation
  • Kidnapped German scientists and experts to facilitate reconstruction is the USSR
• The formation of Bizonia


  • the Uk and US merged their zones
• When was Trizonia Formed


  1948
• The SED portrayed the Soviet Union as a liberator from fascism
• The Soviet Zone

  • Suppressed political activity in Berlin
  • Merged the CDU and LPDP into the SED controlled National Front for Democratic Germany
• CDU


  Christian Democratic Union
• LPDP

  Liberal Democratic Party of Germany
• The Soviet Zone


  • democracy was formally abandoned and the SED announced a Marxist - Lenist ‘Party of a new type’
  • Established mass communist organisations for women, children, unions ect
• Marxist - Lenist


  • The Political ideology of the USSR under Stalin
• The Truman Doctrine


  Part of the policy of containment, designed to prevent the further spread of communism. It involved sending money and equipment to any country facing the threat of communism
• The Truman Doctrine


  Part of the policy of containment, designed to prevent the further spread of communism. It involved sending money and equipment to any country facing the threat of communism
• Many in the west believed Stalin’s aim was world domination
• the fight against communism occupied US foreign policy
• Marshall Plan


  The US poured resources into the German economy as poverty was seen as a breeding ground for communism
• What did the soviets refer to Martial Aid as

  Dollar Diplomacy
• Currency Reform, the work of Ludwig Erhard was the trigger for the Berlin Blockade, and the physical and permanent political division of Germany
• What was the name of the currency introduced by the Allies in 1945

  The Military Mark
• Why was the Military Mark devalued

  The Soviets over printed