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A General
Overview of the Cold War
The Cold War was an ideological war between the two world superpowers,
the United States and the Soviet Union, beginning after World War Two.
After the war, Germany was left defeated, and Britain and France were left
drained and exhausted. The United States and the Soviet Union, though also
drained, held considerable power, and both soon rose to superpower status.
The two became rivals through "conflicting ideologies and mutual distrust"1,
and constantly competed for power.
The Soviet Union wanted to spread Communism in Eastern Europe and create
a "buffer zone" of friendly governments as defense against Germany. In
1946, with Eastern Europe under Soviet control and influence, Europe was
divided into a West (western democracies and the United States) bloc and
East (Soviet Union and Soviet occupied territory) bloc. An "iron curtain"
separated Europe.
Germany Divided
The aftereffects of World War Two were what shaped Cold War Germany.
The post-war state of Germany was grim: about 1/4 of housing had been
destroyed, the economic infrastructure had largely collapsed, inflation was
rampant, there was a shortage of food, and millions of homeless Germans from
the east were returning. After its unconditional surrender, Germany was
divided into four zones of Allied military occupation: American, French,
British, and Soviet. The old capital of Berlin was also divided into four
zones, but Berlin itself remained inside of the Soviet zone. In 1949, the
French, British, and American zones merged and formed the Federal Republic
of Germany (Bundesrepublic Deutschland), with its capital city Bonn. Also
in 1949, the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche
Demokratische Republik) with the Soviet sector of Berlin as the capital.
West Germany became a suprisingly stable western democracy. A new
policy required a 5% vote for a political party to be represented in the
Bundestag (the upper legislative house), in order to prevent any small
extremist parties from gaining representation too easily. This was what
brought the downfall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazi Party,
after all.
East Germany was established as a Stalin-style Socialist state. It
became a member of the Warsaw Pact and came to have one of the most advanced
economies and standard of living of the Soviet-bloc states (though that's
not saying much, as it still lagged behind West Germany). The East German
government was formed into a centralized and dictatorial regime. The State
Security Police (Stasi) maintained the Soviet expectation of the people.
Free speech and opinions against the regime were not tolerated, and artistic
and intellectual programs were strongly controlled.
The partition and division of Germany drove a block in between both
United States to Russia relations and West German to East German relations.
The Allies were at the same time trying to be forgiving to the Germans for
World War Two while also insuring that the Germans could never again begin
the expansionism that had led to the two previous wars.
During the Cold War, Germany became the center for all the tensions
between Democracy and Communism. The location of Germany as the gateway
between East and West Europe made it the ideal place for these political
struggles to occur. When Russia had tried to expand in the late nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries, they were checked by the rising power of the
German state. Therefore, after Germany fell in World War Two, Russia
attempted to begin its expansion across a now weakened Europe.
The end of World War Two left Russia in possession of all of Germany up
to 300 miles west of Berlin. This new annexation caused the powers in
Europe to become unbalanced and Russia replaced Germany as the country that
was getting too big. Contrary to their actions against rising powers in the
past, England did not try to stop the Russian expansion. They did this
because they thought it preferable to give Russia parts of Germany over
giving them other territories that would allow Russia access to the
Mediterranean.
The Allies had many reasons for partitioning Germany. Overall, the
purpose of dividing land up was to control Germany until a new government
could be instated. France, America, England and Russia all had parts of
Germany that were put temporarily under their control. While the Allies
were still in occupation of the country, decisions were made by a council of
the four powers. The representatives were then responsible for carrying out
the decisions of the council in their allotted territory. There was a catch
that the Russians exploited to thwart the other powers. According to the
treaty, proposals to the council were only put into effect if there was a
unanimous vote. The Russians could use this just like they used the U.N.
Security Council. The Russians had annoyed the other powers by using their
veto power in the Security Council to veto every proposition that came
before them. By exercising their right to arbitrarily veto any decision
made regarding Germany, they could prevent any actions that were against
their best interest. The Soviets then would be able to run Eastern Germany
as they wished, because no proposition stopping them from doing so could be
passed.
The
Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine
In June 1947, the Marshall Plan was put into effect in order to stop the
Russians from influencing any of the weakened western powers. During the
time the United States sent massive economic aid to Europe democracies to
help rebuild. Billions of dollars were spent to help countries recover
quickly and to reduce the influence of Communism. This plan helped to
restore West Germany and rebuild it as a new ally in America's fight against
Russia. Russia refused the aid of the Marshall Plan and, as a result, East
Germany was not completely rebuilt. This lack of reconstruction showed
through even after the reunification. The German economy after reunification
took a big hit, because it had to pay for all the reconstruction that the
Communists never did.
The Truman Doctrine, a plan to help states going through a struggle for
freedom against their oppressors, was instituted in 1948. President Truman
said, "I believe it must be the policy of the United States to support free
peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by
outside pressures." The Truman Doctrine instituted a policy of containment;
Communism would be limited only to areas already under Soviet control, and
Americans would resist Soviet expansion everywhere else.
The Truman Doctrine could not have been more clearly directed towards
East Germany and, technically, West Germany. Germany was both under
subjugation by an outside force and also under the power of the armed
minority that the Russians would soon put into power in the form of the DDR
(Deutsches Demokratische Republik). In 1949 the Allies made good on what
they promised in the Truman Doctrine and unified West Germany into the BDR
(Federal Republic of Germany). At the same time the Russians instituted the
DDR, which turned out to be more of a regime than a government.
The
Berlin Crisis and the Berlin Airlift
Due to horrible conditions in East Germany, its citizens had begun to
cross over to West Germany and were allowed to proclaim themselves
refugees. 2.6 million out of 17.5 million residents of East Germany had
crossed over by 1961. This caused labor shortages in East Germany and also
the further degradation of an already failing East German economy. As East
Germany got worse and worse, Russia became willing to take offensive
measures to reclaim West Berlin.
In December of 1947, Russia and the United States finally parted ways
and the Western Powers began to meet about German business without the
Russian ambassador present. On March 20, 1948, Russia declared that the
Allied Control Council of Berlin no longer existed and voluntarily withdrew
from all of their meetings. As a result, there were no government relations
existing between Russia and the other Allies.
The problems worsened when the Russians decided that they wanted all of
Berlin under their control. There had been no previous treaties giving the
Allies free access to West Berlin through Russian territory, so Russia
exploited this situation and isolated Berlin from American soldiers and
supplies. The Berlin Blockade began in mid 1948 as Russian forces
surrounded West Berlin in an effort to make Allied soldiers there surrender
from starvation. The Soviets sealed off railroads and highways to the
Western sector of Berlin, effectively cutting it off from the Western Allied
sector of Germany. In response to this, the Allies instituted the Berlin
Airlift on June 21, 1948, in order to provide West Berlin with food and
fuel. Cargo planes dropped food, fuel, and other supplies into West Germany
24 hours a day.
Russia rationalized the blockade by saying that they were doing
extensive roadwork (this didn't fool anyone). Russia then went on to claim
that Berlin was rightfully theirs and that the Western powers had control
only of West Berlin because they had more votes when the partition was being
made. Marshall answered this by declaring to the Russian government that
all Allies had a right to be in Berlin and that the United States intended
to stay. He then went on to cut off all passage of trains between East and
West Germany.
The conflict intensified when America secretly moved 60 long-range
bombers into the British Isles. Russia saw that the Allies did not intend
to surrender so they offered the citizens of West Berlin food on the
condition that they came over to the Russian side. The West Berliners
decided that they would rather starve than be under Russian authority. In
May, 1949, Russia called off the failed blockade. They lost this
confrontation for two reasons. First, the Russians had not yet acquired
nuclear capabilities and therefore could not stage a larger offensive.
Second, the Russians were in an extremely bad position in regard to foreign
relations; "...before the eyes of the world, it appeared to be trying to
starve over 2 million men, women, and children in West Berlin. While the
Berlin Airlift continuing month after month provided a tangible
demonstration of western determination and competence."2 So
basically, through this whole conflict, Russia was making themselves look
like murderers and the Allies looked like saviors. The Western powers'
unflinching support of Berlin gave other parts of Germany more confidence in
their commitment to Germany's well-being.
Reconciliation
West Germany began their first big step toward making amends with France
in March of 1950. They made a peace treaty with the French that ended the
conflict that had been going on since the early 1800s. The peace treaty was
a step toward assuring the Allies that there was no possibility of German
expansion and the outbreak of another war, the only things the Allies
required to guarantee Germany its autonomy. On May 9, 1950, France and
Germany made a treaty that gave joint control of the steel and coal industry
in Germany and France making it "not merely unthinkable, but materially
impossible"3 to have a war between the two countries. This
treaty was called the Schuman Plan and was a large step toward France's
approval of West Germany's autonomy. Soon after, the European Coal and
Steel Community was established consisting of six European powers. As a
result of these actions, West Germany became accepted again in European
affairs.
At about the same time as the treaty (May 1950), the Korean War broke
out, and Europe tensed for a Russian invasion into the West. West Germany
was allowed to contribute soldiers under the power of NATO. This showed
that some of the Allies were beginning to trust the Germans again. The only
obstacle was France, who greatly opposed any German army, even under the
authority of NATO. They thought if German got an army of any kind, they
would immediately make an alliance with Russia and attack the French. On
May 26, 1952, the occupation of West German was officially over according to
the treaty, and West Germany was supposed to have its own government. The
Allies would not let go of the country until they were absolutely sure that
Germany would not return as a threat. On May 27, 1952, a defensive treaty
against Russia called the European Defense Treaty was proposed between
France, Italy, Holland, Germany, Luxembourg, and Belgium. This was to
create an army that was composed of all these countries under the command of
NATO. The French Assembly rejected this treaty for fear of the German army,
and as a result, attempts to unify West Germany under its own authority were
very temporarily dropped. The English, on October 3, 1952, made the last
step that France needed to be assured that Germany was not a threat by
declaring that they would maintain a military presence on mainland Europe.
This gave France the security they wanted against a German invasion. France
then consisted to end the occupation of West Germany and to admit it into
the 1948 Brussels Treaty. West Germany was now a wholly independent state
except for West Berlin.
Tension
Between the Superpowers Rises
During the time elapsed between the first blockade and 1958, Russia had
developed nuclear capabilities and they were ready to go after West Berlin
again. In 1958, East Germany began to again block immigration to West
Germany by establishing barbed wire fences and patrols along the whole
border between East and West Germany. Berlin was the only spot open to
immigration between the two countries. At the time of Russia's second
offensive, the Western powers had 11,000 troops in Berlin compared to the
550,000 that Russia had. The Russians restricted access to West Berlin,
except through two routes. The first route consisted of heavily guarded
roads where Russian soldiers harassed travelers. The second consisted of
three airlines; Russian fighter planes "buzzed" flights. Basically, these
tactics were adopted to demonstrate to the Allies that they were helpless to
stop any Russian movement. Russia at that time had the technology to
prevent another airlift, so the Allies had no option of peacefully supplying
West Berlin with food.
"We are
certainly not going to fight a ground war in Europe. What good would it do
to send a few more thousand or indeed a few divisions into Europe with
something like 175 Soviet divisions in the area?" -President
Eisenhower
Russia
intensified the conflict when it declared it would hand over all power in
East Berlin to the DDR regime effective on May 27, 1952. The Allies had no
alliances with the DDR in terms of established passages into Berlin, and so
the Allies had no way to hold Berlin, but still refused to let it go.
Russia and the Allies entered a stalemate. But, as May 27 got closer,
Russia began to look for a way to back down and get out of the situation.
Russia launched a flurry of new deadlines. On March 5, they declared that
they were willing to delay the transition of power to the DDR. On March 9,
they declared that they wanted to have all countries involved in the
conflict withdraw their troops. They finally backed down completely on
March 11, when they declared that they would allow free access to West
Berlin for all travelers. And so, again, the Communists lost the cosmic
game of chicken.
The Berlin Wall
In 1961, Berlin, the last place through which immigrants could leave
East Germany, was blocked off by the "infamous" Berlin Wall, at which more
than 80 persons were shot while trying to escape East Germany on
non-consecutive occasions. This state of affairs continued until the the
summer of 1989, when the reforming Hungarian government opened Hungary's
borders and allowed passage of East Germans through that country. From
Hungary, East Germans could go directly into West Germany. The Berlin Wall
was then rendered useless (except to keep the neighbors' dog out, and even
it could go through Hungary). By November 9, 1989, the people had begun to
openly destroy the Wall and so Russia decided to take it down, allowing free
immigration between the countries and also instigating the first of the
movements to unify Germany.
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During the Cold War, Germany became the center
for the conflict between Communism and Democracy. Germany was the site
where all the tensions between the two ideals was played out. Because of
its location as the farthest western city to the east, Berlin was torn in
half by the struggling parties. The repercussions of this are what is
shaping the problems in modern day Germany. The neglect that East Germany
suffered through at the hands of the Communists would cause not only
economic problems but also social problems as the Western and Eastern
Germans grew apart as a people. The scars that the Communist Party left on
the East Germans are still being repaired. The reconstruction of East
Germany would almost bankrupt the West. Not only had much of East Germany
not been rebuilt, most of what was produced had been shipped back to the
Soviet Union as "war reparations".
Divided Germany had also caused a social split to occur between the
Eastern and Western Germans. The Western German's lives had greatly
improved since the end of World War Two but the Eastern German's lives were
still mired in the destruction wrought by the war that could not be fixed
under the Communist regime. These differences caused East Germans to view
their western relatives as pampered and privileged. These social end
economic issues are still being repaired in Germany and the end of the
social schism does not appear yet to be in sight.
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