The Halves That Were Not Equal

Like the division of South and North Korea, Germany was once separated, too. The two countries were called Eastern, Western Germany. Compared with the case of Korea’s partition, Germany was also affected by World War2 and conflict between U.S. and the Soviet. However, among the comparison, there is one big thing that is dissimilar to us. It is that Germany had achieved “reunification”. Then, even at the same situation, receiving similar affects, how could Germany reunify, not Korea?

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

The containment of the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the World War II was a main American policy (261). The Western European and North America allies saw the Soviet domination in the regions as a threat to their democracy. European countries struggled for the need for economic reconstruction, and during containment it became useful in the effort to aid recovery (260). Postwar Germany was a special problem (261) . There had been a division into U.S, Soviet Union, British, and French zones of occupation, with the former German capital of Berlin (itself divided into four zones), near the center of the Soviet zone (261). When consolidated federal state was created from their zones by the western powers, Stalin responded by Blockade of Berlin

2. After WWII, Germany was divided into four zones. West Germany was occupied by the U.S., Britain, and France. Whereas East Germany was occupied by the Soviet Union. Berlin

Germany is not undergoing democratization. After WW2 and the Nazi reign, Germany wanted to get as far away from anything even close to the previous dictatorship

Immediately after World War II, Germany French, Britain, United States and the Soviet Union divided Germany into four zones and commensurately occupied by the areas.

The Berlin Wall, for twenty-eight years, separated friends, families, and a nation. A lot of suffering began for Germany when World War II commenced, but by the end of the war Germany was in the mists of a disaster waiting to happen. After WWII was over Germany was divided into four parts. The United States, Great Britain, and France controlled the three divisions that were formed in the Western half; and the Eastern half was controlled by the Soviet Republic. The Western divisions eventually united to make a federal republic, while the Eastern divisions became communist.

In the year 1945 as a consequence of Nazi Germany’s defeat in World War II the country was forcibly split between four powers the Soviets in the East and Allies of the West in a period known as the division of Germany. The country was stripped of its many spoils of war and lost all of its territories in the east. At the Potsdam Conference Prime Minister Clement Attlee of Britain, Premier Stalin, and President Truman put forth the guiding ethos for the Allied Control Council: Germany’s complete and total disarmament and demilitarization, destruction of its war potential rigid control over it’s industries, and the decentralization of the political and economic structure. Finally, for purposes of Political control Germany was divided into four national zones to be occupied by the allied forces. The occupation of West Germany by the allies would last well into the Cold War, whilst East Germany, would remain under Soviet influence until after the Cold War had ended. It should also be noted that West Germany adopted a more capitalistic model while the East side of Germany remained a Communist society till after the Cold War.

In February of 1945, the Nazi Germans got defeated and soon surrendered to the allied powers. Germany’s nation was split between the four allied powers: United States, Great Britain, Soviet Union, and France. In addition, the capital city of Berlin was also divided amongst the Allied Powers into four sections. However, tensions among the Western Powers and Soviet Union caused a shift into a Cold War. In 1949, Germany and the city of Berlin got divided into two nations in which became known as the West and East Germany. West Germany is known as the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and is supported by the three Western Powers. East Germany is known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and is governed by the Soviet Union. The Western Powers and the Soviet Union created different philosophy within the territories that they governed. Each of the territory has its own identity, economy outlook, and lifestyle.

Before the rise of Adolf Hitler to power there was the devastating Great Depression that affected a large amount of families across Germany. Like most hard times the struggles of the depression caused the people to want change a new form of leadership that would lift the nation out of the hard times. Written in J.S Conway’s personal journal “ It was these economic causes rather than the inapplicability of their ideas which liberals believed was the basic cause of the seduction of Germans away from democracy.” The German people were sick of the Weimar Republic and

In early September of 1945, Germany lay in total and utter ruin following World War 2. In the wake of a major defeat at the hands of the Allied Powers led by the United States, the future of Germany stood on precarious footing. In the post war Reconstruction period which followed, Germany was divided into zones and placed under Allied occupation. Within short order Germany became a country of two nations: West and East Germany.

After World War II, Germany was separated into four different sectors assigned to the triumphant Allied forces: the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. (Wolski) The capital was located one hundred fifteen miles into Soviet territory. (Kenny) The Western Allies believed this was unfair because Berlin was the only large city at the time. They agreed to separate Berlin into quadrants as well. (Wolski) The United States, Britain, and France joined their sectors together as a democratic state called the Federal Republic of Germany. (Taylor) Meanwhile, Russia kept their portion separate and it became known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR). However, this caused a problem because the democratic West Berlin was

The Soviets did not want Germany to be divided. Russia was especially adamant on wanting to keep Germany down, in fear of it potentially rising to power again, but the United States was not quite on the same page with that desire. The French also became apart of the conversation as they were against reconstruction of Germany (9). It seems like the only entity that wanted the division of Germany to take place was the United States, and it was all out of a need for market control, power and dominance. American administration assumed that Germany’s presence was vital in pursuit of goods in the global market. With an emerging economic crisis in 1947 in Western Europe, the United States was on edge. If German productivity failed to increase, the United States could face potential downfall as free markets could vanish, severely impacting the U.S. (9).

Germany was formally divided into four Allied occupation zones. The eastern part of the country went to the Soviet Union, and the western part went to the United States, Great Britain and France. In fact, Berlin was also divided into these 4 zones. However, as the relationship between the Soviet

Unlike the rest of the Eastern Bloc countries, East Germany did not secede as a separate republic when the Berlin Wall fell; instead, it was reunited with West Germany. Shortly, all its legal institutions were converted to Western standards. The only remaining differences between East and West Germany were non-legal institutions, such as infrastructure, firm organization and value differences. On the other hand, there is no reason to believe that there were any meaningful differences in trends in any of these institutions before the divide; in fact, many scholars (e.g. Alesina & Fuchs-Schündeln, 2010) use West Germany as a control for East German communist treatment for various measures, relying on this common trends assumption.