Germany, Cold War

Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin, in a picture taken before the Berlin Wall was dismantled. Checkpoint Charlie was the military ‘border’ between communist East Berlin and democratic West Berlin, and a potent symbol of the division of Germany during the Cold War.

The Berlin Wall, near the Brandenburg Gate. The Wall was built in the German capital in 1961, and became an icon of the division of Europe during the Cold War. In 1989–90, with the collapse of communism in Soviet-controlled eastern Europe, it was torn down.

Following World War II, disagreement among the wartime Allies over the future of Germany became one of the first flashpoints of the Cold War. On the one hand the USSR sought to weaken Germany in order to avoid future war, and promote communism; on the other, the Western Allies (the USA, UK, and France) wanted to reassert democracy and rebuild German industry as a bulwark against communist ideology. After 1947 Germany was divided into East and West sectors, the division being formalized following the Berlin blockade 1948–49 and the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961. Rapid militarization ensued on both sides of the East–West border as Germany became the front line in the Cold War. With the collapse of Soviet power 1989–91, East Germany disintegrated and the reunification of East and West Germany took place in 1990.

Post-war division of Germany After its unconditional surrender in May 1945, Germany was divided into four zones of occupation. The USSR held the largest in the East, and systematically started to strip the factories and industries of its zone to obtain compensation for damage inflicted by the Nazis. The Soviets wanted to cripple and permanently divide Germany so as to avoid any potential for further war. The Western Allies adopted a different attitude towards their zones of occupation; they worked to resurrect democracy and encourage the rebuilding of German industry. The wartime allies were soon in disagreement over the future of Germany.

Berlin blockade Germany was a source of conflict both at the start and during the years of the Cold War. Following the breakdown of discussions over its future in London in 1947, Germany was effectively split into West and East territories. The introduction of the new Deutschmark currency in the British, French, and US zones sparked the Berlin blockade 1948–49, the first major confrontation of the Cold War superpowers in Germany. The Western Allies countered Stalin's attempt to cut off West Berlin with the Berlin air lift, in which constant supplies were flown into the city. The incident demonstrated the willingness of both sides to resort to strong action, and that the potential for agreement had disappeared. In 1949 the Cold War division of Germany into West and East was confirmed.

Both the USA and USSR stationed thousands of troops, aeroplanes, and tanks in bases built in their respective parts of Germany after 1949. Germany became the frontline of the Cold War, and nuclear weapons systems were stationed in both East and West Germany. The USA deployed nuclear missiles in West Germany from 1955 onwards until, in the 1970s, there were over 3,000 nuclear weapons on West German soil. The USSR also deployed thousands of weapons on East German soil, although the exact figures are unknown.

The Berlin Wall In 1961 the erection of the Berlin Wall around West Berlin by the East German government marked another major incident in the Cold War on German soil. East Germany and the USSR wanted to stop the flood of refugees leaving the impoverished East for West Germany – those who tried to cross the wall were shot. In 1963 US president John F Kennedy visited West Berlin and made a speech declaring US opposition to communism and support for democracy and freedom in West Germany and West Berlin: ‘Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us.’ His words exemplified the tensions of the Cold War, and their effect on Germany.

End of the Cold War Eventually, following détente in the 1970s and 1980s, and the collapse of Soviet power in 1989, the Cold War came to a close. The Berlin Wall was dismantled from November 1989, and the East German state rapidly disintegrated without the essential support of the USSR; German reunification occurred in 1990. Germany had been a symbol of the divisions of the Cold War and heavily affected by its events, only re-emerging as a unified nation after the conflict ended in December 1989.