German Division in Cold War
Germany 1945-1990
WEST:
Adenauer 1949-63
He faced three main issues when he came to power. First, 2 million Germans were unemployed and that very clearly showed by the poor performance of the economy.
Second, his party the CDU did not obtain a full majority and depended on the votes of the liberals in order to stay in power. Third, by 1949, the existence of W Germany wasn’t quite official yet as they had been no post WWII peace treaty yet and thus the FRG’s existence was still unclear.
1955 was an important year for the FRG as it was in ’55 that the FRG was officially recognized as an independent state and was cleared of its occupational status except for west Berlin which was still protected by allied troops. Also W Germany became member of NATO in 1955. By the late 1950’s West Germany had undergone a true economic miracle under Adenauer’s economic minister who was Erhard. Erhard had came up with the concept of a mixed economy which was essentially based on the best features of a socialist economy and of a capitalist one. The factors that also helped the economic miracle that Germany underwent were: Cheap labor force due to a huge number of immigrants. Access to cheap raw materials. The Korean War which was at its peek by then allowed them to make money by producing weapons and military material for the USA. The Marshall Plan also played a significant role as it basically set the FRG on its feet.
Adenauer was very pro western and was very fortunate that his country grew with such stability and consistence. He was forced to resign in ’63 after a fiasco, which was in essence quite silly. Some information on military spending had leaked to a newspaper and was published, Adenauer was not pleased and ordered the arrest of the journalists in question which was seen as an attack to freedom of speech, thus he was forced to resign.
Erhard 1963-66
Brandt 1969-74
Brandt was the first socialist chancellor (SPD) of West Germany in a very long time. He was not
WEST:
Adenauer 1949-63
He faced three main issues when he came to power. First, 2 million Germans were unemployed and that very clearly showed by the poor performance of the economy.
Second, his party the CDU did not obtain a full majority and depended on the votes of the liberals in order to stay in power. Third, by 1949, the existence of W Germany wasn’t quite official yet as they had been no post WWII peace treaty yet and thus the FRG’s existence was still unclear.
1955 was an important year for the FRG as it was in ’55 that the FRG was officially recognized as an independent state and was cleared of its occupational status except for west Berlin which was still protected by allied troops. Also W Germany became member of NATO in 1955. By the late 1950’s West Germany had undergone a true economic miracle under Adenauer’s economic minister who was Erhard. Erhard had came up with the concept of a mixed economy which was essentially based on the best features of a socialist economy and of a capitalist one. The factors that also helped the economic miracle that Germany underwent were: Cheap labor force due to a huge number of immigrants. Access to cheap raw materials. The Korean War which was at its peek by then allowed them to make money by producing weapons and military material for the USA. The Marshall Plan also played a significant role as it basically set the FRG on its feet.
Adenauer was very pro western and was very fortunate that his country grew with such stability and consistence. He was forced to resign in ’63 after a fiasco, which was in essence quite silly. Some information on military spending had leaked to a newspaper and was published, Adenauer was not pleased and ordered the arrest of the journalists in question which was seen as an attack to freedom of speech, thus he was forced to resign.
Erhard 1963-66
Brandt 1969-74
Brandt was the first socialist chancellor (SPD) of West Germany in a very long time. He was not