The cold war

The Cold War was the opposite of a Hot War. It was a conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, which lasted from the 1940s through the 1990s, but it was always fought by proxy (Cuba, North and South Vietnam, East and West Germany, Afghanistan, etc. ). The United States and the Soviet Union never directly fought each other, in large part because of the fear of nuclear weapons, which both countries possessed in large numbers. The Cold war can be considered more a diplomatic war then a real one. In part, the Cold War was based on Realpolitik, the control of land and resources in Western and Eastern Europe, but it was also a battle of ideologies. It was a war between democracy and communism, between capitalism and state-planned economies.

For a number of years Britain, Russia and the United States had discussions among themselves in an attempt to agree on the principles according to which a defeated Germany was to be treated. It had been relatively easy to establish a consensus on certain negative aims. Thus there was no question that Germany must be demilitarized and her war industries destroyed. Those primarily responsible for unleashing the Second World War and for perpetrating war crimes were to be brought to justice. All other Germans were to be de-Nazified. The Allies also agreed that Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia were to be reconstituted as sovereign states.

In the winter of 1945-46, the once-great city of Berlin was beginning its long climb from the ruin of war. Under terms of the Yalta Agreement, Germany had been divided among the three victorious Allies with an area assigned to the French taken from the American Zone of Occupation in western Germany. Similarly, Berlin was divided into four sectors for each of the occupying powers (US, France, Great Britain, URSS). However, this division was not able to prevent further conflict. For example the East Germany wasn t enjoining the same high standard of living as the West Germany. When the U. S. initiated the Marshall Plan in 1947, to improve Europe s market strength, it offered to extend it to Eastern Europe as well as Western Europe. The Soviets viewed this as a propaganda ploy and would not allow any East European countries to join.

In 1949 the Soviets decided to blockade any land routes to West Berlin to prevent any goods from arriving there. The Soviets ended their blockade in May 1949. In 1961, the Soviet and East German leaders decided to build a wall around East Berlin and ultimately a fortified border between the two German states.

According to East German officials, this was done to protect East Germany from the West, but the fortification also made it impossible for East Germans to go to the West.

So the two Germany were now officially divided and were viewed as separate entities. Since now on (until 1990 when the unification of Germany was done) they had to go on different roads.

In 1949 the East Germany had to face reconstruction. The ...