Thesis:
West Germany would have been a stronger country had the Berlin Wall not been knocked down in 1989 because it had to subsidize East Germany's economy.
Definitions:
East Germany - the former independent nation created in 1949 from the area of Germany occupied by the former Soviet Union after World War II. It was reunited with West Germany after the fall of its communist government in 1990.
West Germany - After being defeated in World War I, Germany was taken over in the 1930s by the Nazi dictatorship that led to a policy of expansionism and eventually to complete defeat in World War II. Germany was occupied for a time by the victorious Allies and was partitioned. The western part (including West Berlin), which was occupied by the US, Britain, and France, became the Federal Republic of Germany or .
a fortified and heavily guarded wall built on the boundary between East and West Berlin in 1961 by the communist authorities, chiefly to curb the flow of East Germans to the West. It was opened in November 1989 after the collapse of the communist regime in East Germany and subsequently was dismantled.
USSR - a former federation of communist republics that occupied the northern half of Asia and part of eastern Europe; capital, Moscow. Created from the Russian empire in the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution, the Soviet Union was the largest country in the world. After World War II, it emerged as a superpower that rivaled the US and led to the Cold War. After decades of repression and economic failure, the Soviet Union was formally dissolved in 1991. Some of its constituents joined a looser confederation, the Commonwealth of Independent States
Types of Sources:
Secondary Sources – I have a book specifically on the Berlin Wall that can be used also as a primary source because it had pictures from the years that the Berlin Wall was up. Another book I have to use is A History of Berlin. I have another book about the Berlin Wall that deals with the construction of the wall and what happened after the wall was knocked down. Another book to be used is The Second World War, focusing on WWII that I may use to explain and analyze how Germany was before the Berlin Wall was put up and then knocked down.
The Second World War – John Keegan
The Berlin Wall – Cindy Mur
The Berlin Wall: A World Divided – Frederick Taylor
Primary Sources: I have photographs to use as primary sources. I am also using primary source websites, one being the Chronology of International Events, which was issued by the Department of State in 1941. I also have a speech by John F. Kennedy.
http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/events/events.html
http://www.bartleby.com/33/21.html
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/germanunification.html
1. Allied parties agreed to divide Germany and its capital into four separate zones.
- West Germany was controlled by France, Great Britain, and the United States
- East Germany was controlled by the USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, making it a Communist country.
- West Germany was able to have advanced technology and up-to-date living situations because it
was controlled by advanced countries.
- East Germany did not see the advances in technology prevalent in the United States and Great Britain.
2. The United States Secretary of State, George C. Marshall, suggested Western support for the rebuilding of Europe.
- Marshall thought that food should be supplied, along with other products.
- President Harry S. Truman agreed that an economically recovered Europe would be more politically
stable and would therefore have a less chance of becoming completely Communist.
- West Germany would have to give up money and put forth products to subsidize East Germany’s
economy and get them up to par with the rest of the world.
3. East Germany was a “struggling social experiment” (Taylor).
- The West was booming in pursuit of political freedom and a higher standard of living.
- Between 1945 and 1961, around two and a half million people fled to West Germany.
- East Germany was losing educated professionals and skilled workers.
4. East Germany was governed by people wanted to control every aspect of the East German’s lives.
- “The state was all-powerful, determining where people could live, where they could go to school..etc” (Richie).
- These people were unstable and could not fend for themselves, being governed so closely by ruling powers.
- These people were used to being controlled and may not know what to do with freedom that West Germany experiences.
5. “And let us hear at that time from the two and one-half million refugees who have fled the Communist regime in East Germany. (JFK)
- This displayed that the people were voting for Western-type freedom.
6. German people were hesitant about the unification of East and West Germany.
- “Anxiety concerning the possibility of German reunification has been voiced, from time to time”
(http://chnm.gmu.edu/1989/items/show/324).
- These fears cannot be dismissed because that would be like concentrating too much on
“demarcation” propaganda statements from East Germans.
7. West Germany was not in a good geographical area to be fighting East Germany and its controller.
8. West Germany itself bounced back from an economic decline in 1949.
- Steal industry was prevalent in West Germany.
- February 1951 – economic policy reached a turning point with the Federal Government’s decision
to suspend trade liberalization.
- It was ruled by up-to-date and modern countries, while East Berlin was ruled by Communists who
did not have technological advancements, and East Germans were lucky to have clean water.
No comments:
Post a Comment