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 Germany is Divided Into Four Sectors |
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(http://www.spiritoffreedom.org /airlift.html) |
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| Yalta and Potsdam |
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"Held during the war, on the surface, the Yalta conference seemed successful The Allies agreed a Protocol of Proceedings to: "Russia would join the United Nations. "Divide Germany into four ‘zones’, which Britain, France, the USA and the USSR would occupy after the war. "Bring Nazi war-criminals to trial. "Help the freed peoples of Europe set up democratic and self-governing countries by helping them to (a) maintain law and order; (b) carry out emergency relief measures; (c) set up governments; and (d) hold elections (this was called the ‘Declaration of Liberated Europe’). "But, behind the scenes, tension was growing. "After the conference, Churchill wrote to Roosevelt that 'The Soviet Union has become a danger to the free world.' Potsdam (July 1945) "At Potsdam, the Allies met after the surrender of Germany (in May 1945) to decide the post-war peace. "America had a new president, (Harry S.) Truman, who was determined to ‘get tough’ with the Russians. Also, when he went to the conference, Truman had just learned that America had tested the first atomic bomb. It gave the Americans a huge military advantage over everyone else, but Truman did not tell Stalin -- something which angered Stalin when the Americans used the atomic bomb at Hiroshima. "At Potsdam, the arguments came out into the open. "The Conference agreed the following Protocols: "To set up the four ‘zones of occupation’ in Germany. The Nazi Party, government and laws were to be destroyed, and ‘German education shall be so controlled as completely to eliminate Nazi and militarist doctrines and to make possible the successful development of democratic ideas.’ "But in fact the Allies had disagreed openly about: "1. The details of how to divide Germany. "2. The size of reparations Germany ought to pay. "3. Russian influence over the countries of eastern Europe." (http://www.johndclare.net/cold_war4.htm) |
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| Differing Political Ideologies |
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East German Government (German Democratic Republic formed by Soviets) “Communism, a theory and system of social and political organization that was a major force in world politics for much of the 20th century. As a political movement, Communism sought to overthrow capitalism through a workers’ revolution and establish a system in which property is owned by the community as a whole rather than by individuals. In theory, communism would create a classless society of abundance and freedom, in which all people enjoy equal social and economic status. In practice, communist regimes have taken the form of coercive, authoritarian governments that cared little for the plight of the working class and sought above all else to preserve their own hold on power.” (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761572241/Communism.html) West German Government (Federal Republic of Germany formed by Allies) “Democracy (Greek demos,”the people”; kratein, “to rule”), political system in which the people of a country rule through any form of government they choose to establish. In modern democracies, supreme authority is exercised for the most part by representatives elected by popular suffrage. The representatives may be supplanted by the electorate according to the legal procedures of recall and referendum, and they are, at least in principle, responsible to the electorate. In many democracies, such as the United States, both the executive head of government and the legislature are elected. In typical constitutional monarchies such as the United Kingdom and Norway, only the legislators are elected, and from their ranks a cabinet and a prime minister are chosen”. (http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761572241/Communism.html) |
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