In 1945, Germany was divided into two countries following the World War II era when its defeat led to its occupation by the Allied Troops. As a result, the western part of the country was occupied by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, while the eastern part was occupied by the Soviet Union.
This division was meant to be temporary and the two parts of Germany were intended to be reunited after a period of democratic reform.
However, the two parts of Germany evolved in very different ways, influenced strongly by the respective occupying forces. In the West, the free-market economy was introduced, along with certain freedoms and democratic reforms, while in the East, the communists took over and a centrally-planned system of governance was introduced.
In 1957, these two countries then became formally independent when the Federal Republic of Germany was established in the West, and the German Democratic Republic was established in the East. As a result of the vastly different experiences that these two countries underwent in the post-war period, their paths diverged and it became increasingly difficult to imagine the two joining forces into a single country.
Thus, the division between the two countries hardened and the division of Germany persisted until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the eventual reunification in 1990.
Why did Germany split East and West?
The division of Germany into its two separate post-war states was a result of the Allied occupation of the country in the wake of its defeat in World War II. The two states were the Federal Republic of Germany, commonly referred to as West Germany, and the German Democratic Republic, commonly referred to as East Germany.
At the conclusion of World War II in 1945, Germany was divided officially into four occupation zones, each under the control of the Allied forces of the U.S., France, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union.
Berlin, which was also divided into four zones, was a separate entity within the occupational arrangement, meaning it was not part of any one country. It was during the period of occupation that the two German states began to emerge.
The creation of West Germany in 1949 was officially based on the London Protocol of the Allied Control Council, and East Germany was officially proclaimed in October of the same year. The split between East and West Germany was a result of the Cold War, as the four Allied conquerors gradually became ideologically opposed to each other.
West Germany embraced a free market economy, freedom from oppression and democratic principles. East Germany established a communist system of government and a centrally-planned economy. The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 to separate the two German states and served as a physical representation of the split between the East and West during much of the Cold War.
The wall was eventually demolished in 1989, symbolizing the fall of the East German state and the reunification of Germany in October of 1990.
Why was Germany split into 4 different zones after ww2?
At the end of WWII, Germany was divided into four occupation zones. The four powers that occupied Germany were Great Britain, the United States, France, and the Soviet Union. This division was made in accordance with the agreements established at the Yalta Conference in February 1945 and the Potsdam Conference in August 1945.
The Allies agreed at the Yalta Conference that Germany should be divided into occupation zones controlled by the four Allied powers. The zones were to be democratically managed by the occupants and were to be used to administer the German population in rebuilding the nation.
Essentially, each Ally received a share of responsibility on helping rebuild the destroyed country.
At the Potsdam Conference, it was officially finalized that each power would receive an occupation zone for administration. The British Zone would encompass north-west Germany, with its capital located in Hanover; the American Zone would encompass south-west Germany, with its capital located in Bavaria; the French Zone would encompass portions of south-west Germany and Baden-Württemberg; and the Soviet Zone would encompass the Eastern part of Germany and its capital located in Berlin.
The division of Germany into four zones was an attempt to aid in rebuilding the country after its destruction from World War II. This division of Germany was meant to alleviate the burden of overseeing the German population and the task of rebuilding Germany by distributing it among the four Allied Powers.
In essence, the division of Germany into separate zones administered by separate powers was an effective way of bringing reconstruction and order to the shattered country.
Why was Germany divided by a wall?
The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to divide East and West Germany, as a way of stopping citizens of East Germany from escaping to West Germany. The wall was constructed as a physical barrier between the two governments, one of which was a Communist regime and the other of which was a Democracy.
The wall stood as an incredibly powerful symbol of the stark ideological and political differences between the two nations. The East German government officially referred to the wall as the “Anti-Fascist Protection Wall,” however, most people around the world associated it with oppressive Communist regimes ruling in the East and freedom in the West.
The East German government saw the wall as a way to prevent its citizens from fleeing to the West, while West Germany viewed it as a threat to their national sovereignty, since the East German government could keep tabs on their citizens.
The Berlin Wall ultimately became a global symbol of a divided Germany and served as a physical reminder of the Cold War that had doomed the world to decades of tension and fear caused by the development nuclear weapons and other Cold War-era developments.
It also served as an ideological reminder of the ideologies that divided the two countries as it existed to prevent East Germans from experiencing the relative freedom they found in the West.
What was the agreement to split Germany?
The agreement to split Germany was made in the Potsdam Agreement of 1945 and was signed by the Big Three – the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. It was crafted to divide the conquered German state into Allied occupation zones after the end of World War II.
The agreement stated that Germany would be split into four zones: French, American, British and Soviet. The city of Berlin, located in the Soviet zone, was also split into four sectors in the same fashion.
Each zone was governed by the respective Allied power with the exception of Germany’s eastern provinces and some small cities, which were given to the Polish state.
The occupying powers had different objectives for their respective sections. The Americans and British sought to establish a democratic state, and adopt free markets, free trade, and free elections; while the Soviets wanted to establish a Communist-style government and developed a planned economy.
The Cold War soon followed the agreement with the Soviets implementing a “Moscow-directed Soviet-style government” in the Eastern parts of Germany.
For the duration of the Cold War, Germany was divided by the Berlin Wall and the two sections had limited contact with one another. In 1989, the reunification of Germany became a reality as the Berlin wall was torn down and the transition from East Germany to present-day Germany began in earnest.
Why is Germany allowed to have an army but not Japan?
Germany is permitted to have an army because of provisions made under Article 24 of the Constitution of Japan, which states that the Japanese people “forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.”
This decision was made at the conclusion of World War II due to the great devastation and loss of life that Japan experienced during the conflict. As a result of these provisions, the Japanese government has maintained a pacifist stance, disallowing a standing army and strictly limiting its military capabilities.
Conversely, Germany is allowed to have an army because of the terms set out in the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, which was established in 1990. This treaty stipulated that Germany could possess and maintain armed forces for purposes of defense, but prohibited it from fielding forces with offensive capabilities.
As a result, Germany is currently permitted to engage in military operations if authorized under the United Nations Charter. This allows them to take part in international peacekeeping efforts, and participate in operations to promote security and stability around the world.
Why did East Germans go to West Germany?
East Germans went to West Germany for a variety of reasons, but primarily for economic and political reasons. The economic opportunity in West Germany was much greater than that of East Germany, as West Germany had a robust and growing economy while East Germany’s economy was in decline.
East Germans had limited access to food and other necessities, while West Germany enjoyed a standard of living well beyond what East Germany could provide. Furthermore, the political climate in East Germany was oppressive, and East Germans were subject to constant surveillance by the Stasi and other security agencies.
The rights of East German citizens were severely limited and freedom of expression was discouraged. By contrast, West Germany was a beacon of democracy, with a robust system of checks and balances that ensured basic civil liberties, including the right to vote and the right to free speech.
For these reasons, many East Germans chose to flee their homeland and seek the greater economic and political freedom in West Germany.
What was the conflict between East and West Germany?
The conflict between East and West Germany was a result of the post-World War II division of the country. After the war, Germany had been divided into four zones, and Berlin, the geographical and historical capital of the country, was similarly split.
The United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union each assumed control over particular zones. In the subsequent decades, an East-West conflict arose between the two sides, as the western zone adopted a democratic form of government and a capitalist economic system while the eastern zone was under control of the Soviet Union, adopting a communist form of government and centrally planned economy.
This conflict effectively created two distinct German countries as the two sides failed to reconcile or reunify.
The two German states were officially established in 1949. East Germany, known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a Soviet-style socialist republic, while West Germany, officially known as the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), was a representative democracy with a capitalist economy.
The political structures, cultures, and economic systems in each part of the country grew more distinct over time. Moreover, the different ideologies of each country meant that tensions between them frequently ran high.
Most notably, the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, completely dividing the city and symbolizing the stark physical, social, and political differences between the two countries.
Despite the entrenched ideological divisions between the two sides, efforts to bring them in line continued throughout their existence. Ultimately, in 1989 the East German government began to collapse, leading to a peaceful reunification of East and West Germany the following year in 1990.
This marked the end of the conflict between East and West Germany, giving the country one unified government, a unified culture, and a unified economic system.
Why did they divide Germany?
Following the end of World War II, the victorious Allied powers sought to demilitarize and de-Nazify Germany, as well as to ensure that it would never again be a threat to its European neighbors. Under the protracted negotiations among them, it was ultimately decided that Germany should be divided into four distinct occupation zones controlled by each of the Allied powers: the United States, United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union.
This arrangement was intended to prevent any one country from dominating Germany and to allow the Allied powers to rebuild Germany in the form of a representative democracy that was limited in its ability to threaten world peace.
The occupation zones were based primarily on the pre-war borders of Germany, reflecting the three western powers’ desire to preserve existing boundaries. However, the Soviet Union unilaterally altered these borders for its zone, primarily for the purpose of attaining power and influence over the other three zones.
Following negotiations, the German Democratic Republic in the Soviet zone came into being as a separate nation from the rest of Germany in 1949.
In the aftermath of WWII, the Allied powers brutally suppressed Nazi ideology, disbanded Nazi institutions, and tried Nazi criminals for war crimes. They also extensively de-industrialized Germany and broke up the large industrial cartels that had made Germany a global economic power.
In addition, the Allies strictly regulated the economic activities that were permissible in the different zones, which included the right to form union organizations and collectivize economic activities in the Soviet zone.
Division of Germany was not intended to be permanent, but with the onset of the Cold War, it became increasingly difficult to make progress toward reunification. This process was further complicated by escalating tensions between the Western and Eastern blocks, the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961, and the employment of a nuclear deterrent.
For this reason, Germany remained divided until 1990, when East and West Germany were reunified, ending four decades of separation.
What caused the fall of the Berlin Wall?
The fall of the Berlin Wall was the culmination of a series of events which had their roots in the policies of the Soviet Union and the other countries of the Eastern Bloc. In the 1950s, the Soviet government sought to quell dissent and unrest by instituting a policy of intense state control over its satellite states in East Germany, Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
This included a complete closure of their borders, which meant that people could not move freely between these countries or into West Germany.
The situation started to change in the late 1970s as a result of a variety of factors. Firstly, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev adopted a policy of glasnost (‘openness’) which gave people greater freedom of speech and allowed for criticism of the Soviet system to be voiced and discussed.
Secondly, economic problems began to mount in the Soviet Union, causing discontent among the population. This discontent was fuelled by the growing social and political movements such as Solidarity in Poland and the dissident Charter 77 movement in Czechoslovakia, who sought to challenge the authority of the Communist system.
The situation in East Germany was more difficult and it was only through the efforts of its citizens that the Berlin Wall was eventually breached. In June 1989, mass demonstrations took place in East Berlin in support of political reform and the overthrow of the Communist government.
Several months later, on November 9th, 1989, East German authorities unexpectedly announced that East Berliners could move freely into West Berlin. Subsequently, tens of thousands of East Germans crossed to the West, forcing the East German government to officially open the Berlin Wall and leading to its eventual dismantling.
Who built Berlin Wall and why?
The Berlin Wall was built by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) that began construction on August 13, 1961 and was officially completed on August 15, 1961. The wall was built to prevent East Germans from escaping to West Germany, which had become a haven for people wanting to escape the oppressive rule of the GDR.
Over the course of its existence, the wall became a symbol of the Cold War.
The East German government saw this loss of population as a threat to the country, and so they built a wall to prevent citizens from fleeing to the West. The wall also served to prevent members of the West from entering East Berlin, and as a visible reminder of the ideological differences between the two countries.
Ultimately, the Berlin Wall was one of the most visible symbols of the Cold War and the divide between the East and West. It was a constant reminder of the ideological and physical barriers between the two halves of the city.
The wall remained until November 9, 1989 when it was unified Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Is any of the Berlin Wall still standing?
Yes, parts of the Berlin Wall are still standing today. After the wall was initially opened to the public in 1989, pieces were taken home as souvenirs, or sold to tourists. However, the reunification of Germany in 1990 meant that the wall that was still standing soon became a protected monument.
Today, many parts of the wall remain standing as memorials to the Cold War and the urban environment of East and West Berlin. As of April 2021, there are eight remaining sections of the wall, two of which were officially designated as memorials.
One of the memorials is located at the East Side Gallery, a long, open-air gallery featuring murals and artwork created by artists from all over the world. Several smaller remnants of the wall can be found around the city, including Checkpoint Charlie and the Topography of Terror.
Throughout its history, the fall of the Berlin Wall has become a symbol of hope and freedom and serves as a reminder of the hardships so many endured during that period. Today, it provides a striking physical reminder of the power of reunification and the joys of unity.
Do East and West Germany still exist?
No, East and West Germany no longer exist. Germany was officially reunited on October 3rd, 1990, following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. This marked the end of the division between East and West Germany, which had existed since 1949.
At the time of German reunification, the five re-established eastern states of the Federal Republic of Germany—Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia—merged with the ten states of the former West Germany to form the Federal Republic of Germany.
The re-established five eastern states are now officially unified with the western states and together constitute the single, modern nation of Germany.
Which side of Germany was communist?
The eastern side of Germany was communist during the Cold War. This division started in 1945 when Germany surrendered at the end of World War II. The Soviet Union occupied the eastern part of the country, while the Allies, the United States, Britain, and France, occupied the western part.
In 1949, the two sides agreed to separate into two distinct countries, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in the West and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the East.
The GDR was a one-party state, under the control of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany. It was aligned with the Soviet Union and modeled its government after the Soviet Union’s political and economic systems.
The GDR remained a communist country until the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany in October 1990.
Who divided Germany into two parts?
At the end of World War II, Germany was divided into two parts – East Germany and West Germany. This division was largely the result of Allied agreements to follow the French and British plan for occupation of post-war Germany, outlined in 1943 at the aftermath of the Casablanca Conference.
Thus, the Allied Powers agreed to divide Germany and the German capital, Berlin, into four separate occupation zones. The United States, Great Britain, and France established their own zones in western Germany while the Soviet Union occupied a region in the east.
As a result, Germany was partitioned into two separate states: the Soviet-controlled German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the east and the Western-controlled Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in the west.
The two states were unified after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990.
