Secondly, Stalin’s introduction of communist-style government in the Soviet zone and in other areas shows that the USSR’s actions were primarily responsible for the division of Germany. While America in particular wanted to promote a democracy to de-nazify Germany, Stalin had allowed deliberate plans for the promotion of the German Communist Party. The fact that the allies disagreed over things like this shows that without more fighting, Germany did have to separate. While it could be argued that it was also equally due to England and America’s actions, they openly discussed what they wanted to do with Germany’s future while Stalin agreed and then promoted things like this in his own area of Germany, showing that is was the actions of the USSR mainly responsible.
A final reason was due to Stalin imposing the Berlin Blockade which led to Cold War tensions, the creation of NATO and the FRG. In June 1948, in response to the currency reforms, Stalin blocked all land and water routes to the Western zones and West Berlin, meaning that the USA and England had to fly in resources to the inhabitants there. At the height of the blockade, a plane left Tempelhof airport every 90 seconds, and the people of West Berlin were supplied with food and fuel. The Berlin Airlift made the division impossible to avoid, and it was due to this that the beginning of NATO was discussed. Stalin had essentially split Berlin of his own accord, showing that it was the actions of the USSR that were primarily responsible.
On the other hand, the events and future of Germany were due to the wider context of Cold War rivalry. It is unknown as to whether or not the division was planned at the Potsdam conference or not or if the formal decision to split Germany remained open until a letter from Stalin in 1952. This shows that if it was never certain, it could not have been Stalin’s actions that were primarily responsible.
Secondly, there were the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. After the war, there were mounting tensions between Stalin and the other allies, resulting in a Cold War. The USA made it clear that it did not want communism and was intent on containing it throughout the world- The Truman Doctrine. The Marshall plan also aimed to prevent the spread of communism by reviving the economy in Germany. It was as a result of these plans that the new currency was introduced, the Berlin Blockade being a response to this as everybody tried to change money to the new currency. These plans from the US show that the US was actually aggravating the USSR, and so the USSR’s actions were not primarily responsible.
The new currency created a divide in Germany, not due to Stalin’s actions. The creation of bi-zonia, meaning two zones, had also split up the country which was not all the USSR’s idea, showing that it would be unfair to suggest that it was mainly the actions of the USSR that caused the divide in Germany in 1949. Stalin thought that this was created as an anti-Soviet area and so felt threatened, in response trying to build up his area of Germany for security as a ‘buffer’ zone. His proposal in 1947 for a German government was rejected in order to stop communism, so to Stalin it would have felt like all of the allies were against him.
To conclude, I think that it was the USSR’s actions that were primarily responsible for the divide in Germany in 1949 because Stalin didn’t respond to problems well. By the Berlin Blockade he made the division inevitable since the US and England had to fly supplies into the area. As well as this he promoted communism in his area when the US had clearly said that was the last thing they wanted and were fully intent on trying to stop communism throughout the world.
