Germany was desperately in need of the US recovery plan known as the Marshall Plan. It was introduced to help boost economies in Europe and help the ongoing economic struggle. Germany was in a terrible state both politically and economically and welcomed the help received from the US.
The increase amount of intervention in Germany meant that they struggled to handle the domestic affairs of the country, the allies held a tight grip over the country. It can be argued that this was because the allies were worried another dictator would be produced through the economic heartache of the country similar to the way Hitler took the nation by storm after the economic and political difficulties of the Weimar Republic. The amount of investment by the US and the other allies meant Germany couldn’t progress by them and therefore although the investment was needed it didn’t allow for the right political and economic development that Germany needed to do by themselves. The same can be compared to the situation in Iraq and how after the last war with them allied occupation of the region is not allowing for Iraq to progress as their own country.
In 1950 there was a complete turnaround of fortune for Germany and its economy. Unemployment dropped dramatically, almost overnight, and Germany started to reap the benefits of an increase in employment and an increase in economic growth. Figures show that the GDP of the country rose by 25% in 1950 and again by 18.1% in 1951, and unemployment fell from 10.3% to 1.2%. This remarkable economic sensation meant that now Germany’s economy was increasing in strength and prosperity and set the standards that were to follow for many years to come.
In comparison to the economy the political progress was not doing so well. Divides in Germany were beginning to form and only the west side of Germany, the FRG, was seemingly meeting the requirements of the occupied allied forces. The FRG chancellor Konrad Adenauer’s aim was to establish the west in terms of both politically and economically. However the allies had political control through the post-war policies that were implemented and Germany consequently had no political power. The fact that the FRG was respectively achieving the standard wanted by the allies, a divide grew between West and East Germany. The Germans were by no means in the same respect as its western superior democracies in terms of its political stature. The economic and political divide that was to last through to the 1990’s showed that Kissenger’s view had the relevant evidence to reassure his statement.
The fact that the allied occupied both sides of Germany meant that where the allies occupied their political systems were implemented. For instance West Germany was assigned to the more liberal democracies and East Germany was under control of communist influence from the Soviet Union. Therefore from directly after the war and to the 1990’s there was two political influences in Germany, and as the West was doing far better than the East it can be said that communism was not in the same league as liberalism and the western system. However a valid point to note was that due to the East being occupied by the Soviet Union they did not have any aid available to them under the Marshall Plan. This meant that the East was already in a position much worse than the neighbouring counterparts and found economic and political rebuilding even harder.
Throughout the 1950’s the economic performance of the West ultimately slowed down, as there was no way the rapid increase could continue, but remained steady. The East had contrasting fortunes to the West, their economy was suffering and seemed to lack clear objectives and goals in order for them to take steps forward. The unfortunate occupation of the Soviets meant that the East was mismanaged and had to have a communist approach implemented upon them. In 1953 when Joseph Stalin died the GDR made attempts at modifying and improving the awful regime. Even though there were five year plans implemented to help improve the East and their standard of living and economic growth, there were still tough measures such as rationing of food and essentials. At this time there was a sense of anarchy in East Germany and many protestors and demonstrations were held in order to show public opinion. The soviet troops physically put a stop to any such demonstrations in order to help save the soviet regime. This was known as the June 1953 Uprising and brought back memories to East Germans of the rise of Hitler.
Within East Germany it became clear that in order to gain a more prosperous and better life; East Germans would have to flee to the West. This meant that with people fleeing to a better life in West Germany the employment figures in the GDR would decline, this led to the realisation by the GDR government that serious political was needed to be taken in order to stop their citizens from leaving.
The political action taken by the GDR was an action which would split a nation in two for many years and show a massive national divide. The Berlin Wall was built in 1961, which now meant that Germany was no longer one country but two, Germany was now known as West Germany and East Germany.
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West Germany’s economic greatness and stability was mainly put down to Chancellor Adenaeur, who reigned as chancellor from 1949 – 1961. Adenaeur’s did many things well in his time as chancellor; he brought back credibility for Germany’s disrupted liberal-democratic institutions. Adenaeur realised that liberal democracy had been associated in the German mind as incompetent and realised he needed to correct their views. Once the economy and political scenes started to take force the West Germans realised that liberal democracy is concerned with strong foreign policy and a strong and prosperous economy and no longer associated liberalism with inflation and unemployment.
In contrast to Adenaeur, the GDR continued with stating and trying to achieve five year plans, in terms of success the GDR did not have nowhere near the same amount as the FRG, but the GDR did continue to be steady and achieved some small economic success, however their real downfall was on the political scene.
In the 1960’s the economies started to slow down and Karl Schiller, the new economics minister, argued strongly for legislation that would allow the federal government greater authority to control economic policy. In 1967 the Bundestag passed the Law for Promoting Stability and Growth. This piece of legislation is still in effect today however it has not been used in the same manner as it was with Schiller. The law provided integration of federal and local budget plans in order to give fiscal policy a much stronger presence. The law also introduced four requirements which West Germany was to be measured by, such requirements were currency stability, economic growth, employment levels and trade balance.
Throughout the period of 1949 to 1990 there were many events that changed the prosperities of West and East Germany respectively. After the war Germany was in turmoil and throughout that forty year period West Germany recovered extremely well to become known as on of the best world wide economies. They combined their stable economy with political stability and showed the world that they could control the two at the same time. On the other hand, East Germany never had the same success as its West counterparts but throughout the years became a steady achiever.
It has been over ten years since the unification of Germany and we can see today that Germany is an extremely strong economic country and its political status is improving all the time. From evaluation of the period that Kissenger spoke about shows that his assessment of Germany is an extremely fair one. However we can say that Germany will always be indebted to the allied forces and without their help after the Second World War we do not know what sort of assessment would have been speaking about them, for without intervention it would have been a long hard struggle.
