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CAUSES OF THE COLD WAR: GERMANY - Coggle Diagram
CAUSES OF THE COLD WAR: GERMANY
US policy
Originally wanted a unified and democratic Germany; became very concerned about the need for a European economic recovery which was reliant on Germany; the occupation was a growing financial burden
was opposed to heavy Soviet reparations; decided to stop Western reparations from their zone and redivert the coal to support German economic recovery
faced a serious refugee crisis as many fled from the Soviet zones; led to serious food shortagess
strong pressure from the British and the Germans especially the conservative Christian Democratic Union to unify the Western zones; led to the creation of Trizonia and the introduction of the Deutschmark in June 1948; led to the victory of the CDU which was strongly anti-communist and committed to the West
the Berlin Blockade convinced the Western Europeans of the Soviet threat; led to the formation of NATO in 1948; eventually led to the rearming of West Germany by 1954 to strengthen NATO
Soviet policy
wanted a unified communist Germany; assumed KPD was popular; changed his mind as he realised the KPD was hated, in part due to Red Army abuses and Soviet forcible reparations; worried that if West withdrew from Germany due to mounting cost, Germany may become a future threat
Stalin was under pressure from the KPD as its unpopularity would cause it to lose any elections; they wanted a separate East Germany as a united Germany would be anti-communist
Wanted to cripple the German economy through heavy reparations due to inability to get Western aid; failed to provide food needed by the Western zones which caused severe food shortages
to stop the unification of the West German zones, Stalin imposed the Berlin Blockade; his failure led to him supporting the creation of East Germany
The original wartime agreements; demilitarisation, de-industrialisation, decentralisation, democratisation and denazification
Germany and Berlin divided into zones for the Americans, British, French and Soviets
the Western zones were the industrial areas while the Soviet zone was the agricultural areas; needed to be treated as an economic unit