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The Creation of East and West Germany - Coggle Diagram

- - - - The Soviets tried to rally public opinion across Germany against
        the policy of the Western allies. An organisation called the ‘German People’s Congress for Unity and a Just Peace’ was made.
        
        Representatives from all parties throughout Germany were invited to attend its meetings on 6–7 December 1947 in Berlin
        
        The intention was then to send a delegation to the London Conference to support the Soviet demand for the formation of a German central government
        
        Roughly one-third of the 2225 delegates came from the West, but these were overwhelmingly Communists from areas like the Ruhr and the big industrial towns
        
        The movement did not therefore genuinely reflect West German opinion, and the British foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, refused to allow its delegation permission to enter Britain.
    - - The Soviets accused Britain and the USA of violating the Potsdam Agreement and of denying the USSR its fair share of reparations
      - The Western powers rejected Soviet proposals for forming a German government, which would govern a united Germany, as they feared the Soviets would gain control of it
      - All hope of Four-Power Control now disappeared, and instead, for Britain, France and the USA, the alternatives of a Western alliance, closer economic co-operation in Western Europe and the creation of a West German state seemed more ideal
- - - - Benelux states Belgium (Be), the Netherlands (Ne) and Luxembourg (Lux).
      - US and British plans met with considerable hostility from France, which dreaded the revival of a Germany with the potential to invade France yet again. French fears were gradually eased by a US pledge to keep troops stationed in Western Europe to maintain peace and prevent a revival of an aggressive Germany.
      - Britain and the USA also promised to control tightly the new German government that they were resolved to establish.
        
        The production of the great industrial centre of the Ruhr, for example, was to be regulated by the International Ruhr Authority, which would be controlled by the Western allies.
        
        West Germans would also have to accept the Occupation Statute
        which would give Britain, France and the USA far-reaching powers over trade, foreign relations, economic issues and disarmament.
      - On 7 June, Germans in the Western zones were granted permission to create a constitution for a democratic, federal West Germany.
      - The decision to introduce a new currency (Deutschmark) into the Western zones of Germany was taken.
        
        This would not only move these zones towards greater economic stability but it would represent the beginnings of the formation
        of a separate and distinct West German state.
        
        Introduced on 20 June, 1948 without consulting the Soviet Union.
        
        On 24 June, the Soviets responded by introducing a new currency for their Eastern German zone, the Ostmark, or East mark.
- - - - The British were absorbing huge numbers of German refugees expelled by the Poles and the Czechs.
      - In addition to this, there was the continuing dispute with the USSR over the scale of reparations that it could demand from the Western zones. The Soviet Union systematically removed industrial plant and other resources from Germany in order to restore its own industrial recovery.
        
        Such reparations had been agreed but
        the USSR wanted more reparations than the other allies could accept.
        
        In May 1946, General Clay announced that no further reparations to the USSR would be allowed until there was an overall plan agreed for Germany’s economic recovery.
        
        The USSR saw this as an American strategy designed to create a German economy based on the Western capitalist system.
    - - The American position was that this was consistent with the Potsdam Agreement. However, it was also a clear indicator that the four-power control of Germany had failed.
- - - - A month later when parliament met, Konrad Adenauer became the first West German chancellor.
      - The FRG was, however, far from being independent. The Occupation Statute, which came into force in September, replaced the military government in the former Western zones with a High Commission. This still gave Britain, France and the USA the final say on West German foreign policy, security questions, exports and many other matters that an independent state is free to decide on for itself.
  - - - The USSR was initially reluctant to establish a permanent division of Germany. Its objective was to create a pro-Soviet united Germany.
      - Despite this democratic façade, the constitution was based on a one-party state system with the SED as the party for voter choice. In October the new East German state was officially formed.