Konrad Adenauer Essay

After World War II Germany was left devastated and in ruins. There had been massive destruction of the country’s infrastructure (Bessel 2011), it lacked political structure and economic activity had plummeted. There was a scarcity of food, fuel and housing and Germany was in no condition to clothe or feed its population (O’Dochartaigh 2003).

Germany started out as a divided nation fighting for dominance in Europe. Otto Von Bismarck was able to take this struggling complexity and unify it. During this process Bismarck turned the small country of Prussia into a powerhouse, growing the population from 11 to 18 million. Bismarck sprung from a landlord class and moved his way up the political ladder as realpolitik, realistic Politician. He was a man of simple ideals; he stressed duty, service, order, and the fear of God. These ideals along with manipulative tactics are what lead Bismarck on his journey of the unification of Germany, proving that without Bismarck’s diplomatic efforts between 1871 and 1890 Europe would not be the stabilized continent it is today.

From the Treaty of Versailles, to the rise of Hitler, and the failure of the League of Nations, there were many causes that lead up to World War II. World War I left Germany with many shortfalls, thus leaving them in the hands of the Treaty of Versailles. Rather unfair of a Treaty, this left Germany once again looking for another way out. A country resented by many had no other choice but to feel optimistic toward Adolph Hitlers empty promises… making it substantially simple for him to gain power so quick. Throw in the Great Depression, and you have a vastly unstable world, which the Germans believed Hitler would lead them out of.

In addition to the damaging consequences of the First World War with the requirements of the Treaty of Versailles, certain features of Germany caused the state to be susceptible to the influence of this dangerous ideology. Along with the damage to the national ego as a result of the First World War, Germany had co-existing and conflicting highly modern strands of development forced to integrate with powerful remnants of archaic values and social structures, and had a deeply fractured parliamentary political system, and the weaknesses of this system reflected the social and political differences within the population. This shame and failure after World War I was superimposed onto a modern country which once had an advanced economy, a sophisticated state

In 1919, Treaty of Versailles was made after the World War I. Germany and Austria-Hungary was blamed for the Great War and was imposed financial debts and territorial dismemberment on them. Germans could not afford the huge debts and during the 1920s the Great Depression which started in the USA impacted the economies of the whole world. There was high unemployment and the prices of daily necessities were high. The German government was distrusted. People chose to believe a man Adolf Hitler with his extreme ideas, and Racism that promised to make Germany stand up again. After Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, he had secretly built up a military and

With incompetent leadership and an unhappy nation, the German people began to realize that their country was in a vulnerable situation and began to look for stable alternatives to democracy. Hitler’s

During this time East Germany was under the Soviet Union, which was communist; the Soviet Union during the cold war era had many European countries in their union. Germany was split with eastern Germany being communist and western Germany being a federal republic of Germany. Many families were split when the boundaries between the two states were drawn so people typically immigrated out of Eastern Germany into Western Germany. Eastern Germany tried to stop their people from leaving by imposing the “iron Curtain”. The Berlin wall was heavily guarded so America could not barge in and destroy the wall; America did make it known they were not pleased by the

Following the Second World War, Germany was rebuilt out of practically nothing into one of the richest countries of the world. This well-known transformation is known as the "Wirtschaftswunder" (wonder of economics). Yet in the recent reunification of West and East Germany, German leadership has ignored crucial lessons from this successful period of transformation. Three problems highlight this claim:

To refresh your memory, at the end of World War II, the Allied powers divided Germany into four different zones. Decided at the Potsdam Conference, each separate zone was controlled by The United States, Soviet Union, France, and Great Britain. (Rosenburg) But as the relationships between The Soviet Union and the rest of The Allied Powers quickly evaporated, aggression and power became the main focus. The United States, France, and Great Britain combined their zones, creating “West Germany”, and The Soviet controlled zoned turned into “East Germany” (Rosenburg). Being controlled by democratic nations, West Germany’s living conditions and economy were flourishing. Almost Miraculously. On the other

It was Nationalism more than any other factor that led to the fall or the Weimar Republic and the end of democracy in Germany in 1933. The conditions of the Treaty of Versailles were extremely harsh, they caused germany to pay unthinkable amounts in reparation and give up good land that used to cause major income. The depression hit Germany hard and caused economic issues, such as major hyperinflation and the inability to pay full reparations for the Treaty of Versailles. This then led to Germany losing land that would have helped Germany pay the reparations. Then propaganda was used by the Nationalist Socialist party, or Nazi party, led to an increase in the feeling of nationalism, which in turn, led to Nazi Germany and World War Two.

After WW2 came to an end the world was thrown into a new conflict, the Cold War. This was primarily between the free democratic nations led by the USA and the communist countries led by the USSR, It was a battle between capitalism and communist ideology. An Iron Curtain (As can be seen in the image below) was formed, Winston Churchill labelled this the ‘Iron Curtain’ because of the split in European countries. The split could clearly be seen in east and west Berlin. Germany was split into two countries after their WW2 defeat. Over time, the discrepancy between the two sides was obvious with differences in living standards in West Germany and the living conditions in East Germany. Many tried to avoid communism with the Soviets invading and occupying many European countries such as Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. A lot of people attempted to flee East Germany in the search of a better life in West Germany, but any chances were ceased when a four-metre high and 100km+ long fence was built. Several civilians were mistreated by the leaders of the USSR and without doubt Joseph Stalin was one of those leaders, he sent his own civilians to Gulag camps were most people spent their entire lives working.

Shortly after WWI, Germany’s economy took a big hit and their country was facing a financial crisis. Hitler and his party were coming to power and they wanted their people to stay calm even

As it began, our century drew to a close, with Germany once again the economic powerhouse and political hub of Europe. What is remarkable is how quickly this happened, how unbidden and unanticipated: the toppling of the Berlin Wall in November 1989; the reunification a year later; the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in late December 1991; a resurgent impetus to West European integration in 1992; and NATO enlargement, which was consecrated in April 1999. Unquestionably, this chain of events has profoundly affected Germany’s situation over the past decades. For the first time since the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in 1949 and the painstaking process of

Bismarck was the man who did the most to unify Germany. It was clear that unification was one of his major objective which he announced in his famous ‘Blood and Iron speech’. I was fascinated by how he managed to unify the so many divided states. Thus, my historical investigation examines the question, to what extent was the Franco-Prussian war Bismarck’s final step to unify Germany? To assess whether the Franco-Prussian war was Bismarck’s final step for unifying the loose net of 39 German states or not, the investigation analyses the previous steps made by Bismarck to unify Germany. It investigates the events between 1962, when Bismarck became Minister president of Prussia and 1971, when Germany became officially unified. The events analyzed are the Danish war, The Prussian Austrian war and the Franco Prussian war.

Along with every other nation around the globe, Germany has its own unique past. From the days previous to Bismarck to present time, the Germans have undergone significant trials and tribulations. Unfortunately for Germany the world will forever equate German history with Hitler and the Third Reich. As educated people, we need to be able to get past this stigma and appreciate the Germans for who they truly are. After the ending of the Second World War, Germany was divided in two: a free western Germany, and the communist East Germany. West Germany flourished while East Germany struggled to breathe under the heavy shadow of the Soviet Union. In 1990, after the Berlin Wall fell, Germany finally became one again with the union of East