Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

Compare the Roles and the importance for development of post-war Germanyof any two of the following; Konrad Adenauer, Ludwig Erhard, Walter Ulbricht.

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Compare the Roles and the importance for development of post-war Germany of any two of the following; Konrad Adenauer, Ludwig Erhard, Walter Ulbricht. Both Adenauer and Walter Ulbricht had very important roles in the development of post war Germany. Adenauer brought West Germany to an acceptable economic level quickly, as well integrating Germany into Europe by joining NATO. Adenauer also helped to make West Germany political stable. Erhard was important in the development of East Germany, however, not as important as Adenauer in the development of the whole of Germany. East Germany was influenced heavily by the Soviets and was associated heavily with the Soviet bloc, which meant that East Germany had a communist political and economical system. Ulbricht was very influential in decision making, yet the East never had the popularity the West had, or the economic prosperity. Yet because of the foreign relations Adenauer created with the Western Allies in light of the cold war, as well as the economic prosperity that came with it, I believe Adenauer was more influential than Ulbricht and Erhard. Adenauer was very successful as the Chancellor of West Germany. Politically, he managed to create a coalition with the Liberals as he had no majority with the CDU which helped him to stay in power. ...read more.

Middle

Adenauer's popularity was largely down to the economic success, which we have seen is clearly down to the policies of Erhard and the West's funding, i.e. America. Despite this, Adenauer was still very successful. In contrast to this, Walter Ulbricht was relatively unsuccessful in creating a prosperous East Germany on the scale of which Adenauer managed, which is important as the failure to do so meant the people of East Germany would want to go to the West. One of the key failures of the East was that it often failed to reach the level of economic equality that a communist state entailed. Because of this Ulbricht never gained the support that the West had. By being so closely linked to the USSR also meant the divide between East and West was further increased especially in light of the Cold War. Ulbricht regularly used intimidation and propaganda tactics to establish control which was very similar to Nazi methods used before the divide. This was also showed by them gaining control of the police, judicial system as well as using education to reinforce its message. Propaganda was mainly used to ridicule the West, which seemed 'strangely familiar to the Nazi regime, despite communism being the very political system Hitler set out to destroy. ...read more.

Conclusion

In conclusion it is clear to see that Adenauer's West Germany was far more prosperous than Ulbricht's East. The development of the East lagged behind the West, mainly due to the diplomatic relations Adenauer created with its western allies. His contribution to the West Germany was incredibly positive, helping to develop and modernise Germany, even if he did it with the help of Erhard and Adenauer. His skills were shown to be greater than Erhard when Erhard replaced Adenauer in 1963 and was forced to resign himself inn 1966 having over reacted to signs of inflation. His East German counterpart failed to reproduce anything like the prosperity of the West in the East, and it was Ulbricht's alliance with the Soviet's that led to the further divide of the two and eventually the Berlin Wall. Historians differ on the two leaders of east and West Germany. Those who were brought up in East Germany were effected by anti capitalist propaganda and the evils of capitalism, therefore critical of Adenauer. Whereas those who were brought up in West Germany had an anti totalitarian ideology, therefore were critical of the east and Ulbricht. Their emphasis would be on the promotion of free democracies and distancing themselves from Nazism. Therefore there are many different interpretations on as to the success of Adenauer and Ulbricht. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our AS and A Level International History, 1945-1991 section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related AS and A Level International History, 1945-1991 essays

  1. Free essay

    To what extent are Walter Scott(TM)s novels a product of the Scottish Enlightenment? Discuss ...

    David Hume, again its chief exponent, declared that, in contrast to moral philosophy, political economy need not be rooted in historical or social conditions but rather economic laws existed externally in their own right. David Hume refused the Mercantilist and French approaches to economy and declared, rather, that commerce must be the driving force of new economies (Devine, 1999).

  2. The Roaring Twenties: Life in Post-war America

    Source E is helpful to a certain extent. It is a photograph to show the amount of people that are going to the cinema. The movie industry was an important part of an American life, as cinema tickets weren't too expensive and people know had their family cars they could go a lot.

  1. How did the Cold War shape post-war politics during the period 1945-1961?

    The USA tended to dominate more by trade power and the USSR more by political power. For the period of the Second World War, the Western democracies had not been completely secure about collaborating themselves with Stalin's Russia, and it did not take long for this partnership to fall.

  2. Superpower Relations 1945-90

    These differences were reflected in the way the Allies governed their zones of Germany and Berlin. [At Potsdam, the Allies had agreed to establish an Allied Control Commission which would make decisions that affected Germany as a whole, and a Kommandatura to coordinate the four zones of Berlin.] * The

  1. The Not So Free.

    and walk in to the dark room to coordinate the counter attack they call Operation "Melt Down". Suddenly and from out of the blue a shocked voice came out of the dark room next door. Lights were flashing up in locations on a huge map on the wall, "Major, Generals

  2. The Economic "Miracle".

    Vaccines against viruses also increased. Tenetanus vaccines... Tuberculosis. Progress on viruses were slow except small pox. 1954 Jonas Salk introduced vaccine against polio, gov offered to public for free. By 60's vaccines had been virtually eliminated. Death rate in kid decline and average life expectancy increased to 71 years.

  1. Dtente, meaning and definition.

    The increasing costs of a continued arms race thus contributed to a development of d�tente. Northedge and Grieve rightly observed:"The fear of thermonuclear war, could annihilate both sides. And determination to avoid the kind of confrontation between two super-powers from which thermonuclear war could spring".

  2. China's Relationship With The West

    It is obvious that he believes in very different tactics to what President Clinton does. The main reason for Mr Blair's conciliatory and diplomatic tactics was that he did not want to jeopardise trade routes, as this would affect the employment and the economy in Britain.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work