Why Was Germany At The Centre of Cold War Tensions 1945 - 1961

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Why Was Germany At The Centre of Cold War Tensions 1945 - 1961?

The Cold War was a war of tension that ran for the majority of 20th century and throughout this time Germany was at the centre of many of the key conflicts a crisis points. This can be explained by a number of explanations. Foremost among these was the way that the Second Word War ended. When the war ended and the way it lead to there being a power vacuum in Europe this of course was a major reason for the break out of the Cold War in Europe. Another reason was the constant tension in Berlin. As was the point where the two ideologies clashed frequently and most noticeably, due to the sides developing different ideals and goals for there sectors that lead to tension between the two sides. Contributing to this factor economic prosperity of the FDR, which only served to highlight the differences between the two sides and in particular, the shortcomings of the Communist system. Yet one cannot overlook the idea that many of the crisis's of the Cold War were simply brought about simply because both sides were using Berlin as a bargaining chip to achieve their true goals, indeed it was Khrushchev who said "Berlin is the testicle of the West ... every time I want to make the West scream I squeeze on Berlin". Therefore it is important to bear this in mind when thinking about the many crisis of Berlin

The nature of the German's defeat in World War II was important in both the development of the Cold War and understanding why Germany became a focal point for Cold War tension, indeed it was George Bust Sr. who said "The Cold War began with the division of Europe. It can only end when Europe is whole". After the German defeat in WWII it left a major power vacuum, as a major power in Europe may as well have not existed. Germany had always been important military, political and economic power in Europe, but now there was nothing there. Who would dominate the powerhouse of Europe became and important issue for the Allies, one indeed that they would fall out over. These issues would come to a head in the post war peace conferences of Yalta and Potsdam. The decisions taken at Yalta and Potsdam would become crucial in shaping the fundamental structure of the Cold War. How to deal with Germany was obviously very high on the agenda at these conferences, and there were obviously many disagreements on how was the best way to deal with Germany. Both sides had very different ideas on what they wanted Germany to become. The West wanted a weak Germany wanted a economically self-sufficient Germany that would be strong, this was their ideal situation as they wanted to learn from the mistakes made at the end of the previous war, however they also wanted a strong, but divided, Germany to act as a buffer against the threat of an expanding USSR. Yet the USSR wanted a weak Germany that they could drain dry of resources and reparations. These were crucial decisions in shaping the impact of the Cold War on Germany. In the Allies decision to split up Germany they turned it into a major Cold War battleground for the duration of the conflict. As by splitting it up they created an area of where the two ideologies would meet and clash. Inevitably this created tension, especially in the East where they felt that the West were making their sections of Germany strong to deliberately show them up.
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The policies of the US also had an important impact on Germany and understanding the conflict that they created especially for Germany. After the war the whole of Europe was in tatters and communism was springing up in many countries, to try to combat this the USA launched the Marshal Plan, an plan to give financial aid to any country that asked for it. Although it was never stated this was to combat communism the East viewed it with distain and forbade all of their satellite states from asking for it. This had important consequences for Germany. As ...

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