From Alliance to Division: Cold War Origins and Post-war Recovery (1945–1963)

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1. Ideological (capitalism vs communism) 2. Strategic (Soviet buffer zone in eastern Europe vs western demand for free elections) 3. Personal/political (Truman far more hostile to Stalin than Roosevelt had been)

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Supporting 'free peoples' resisting communist pressure anywhere in the world — the formal statement of the US containment policy. Triggered by crises in Greece and Turkey.

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$13 billion between 1948 and 1952 (the European Recovery Programme). Paid for raw materials, machinery, food, and fuel. Also required recipient cooperation — laying the foundation for European integration.

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Triggered by western introduction of the new Deutschmark in their occupation zones (June 1948). Stalin blockaded all surface routes into West Berlin. The western response — the Berlin Airlift — lasted 11 months. Stalin lifted the blockade in May 1949, having failed to force the West out.

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FRG (West): parliamentary democracy, social market economy, aligned with USA/NATO, capital Bonn, chancellor Adenauer. GDR (East): Soviet-style one-party state (SED), command economy, aligned with USSR, continued paying reparations to USSR.

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East Germany was losing its most skilled and educated citizens through West Berlin — 2.7 million people left between 1949 and 1961. The Wall stopped emigration instantly and sealed the German division physically.

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A system combining free markets with strong social welfare protections and an independent central bank (Bundesbank). Gave West Germany market dynamism without the social instability of unregulated capitalism. Implemented with Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard.

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West Germany's 'economic miracle' — average GDP growth of ~8% per year from 1950 to 1963. Caused by: Marshall Plan aid, social market economy, skilled workforce, currency reform (1948), Korean War export demand, and Gastarbeiter labour migrants.

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1. An independent foreign policy (not a US satellite) — withdrew from NATO's integrated command (1966) 2. An independent nuclear deterrent (the 'force de frappe') 3. France as the leading power in European integration — vetoed British EEC entry in 1963 and 1967

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'The Thirty Glorious Years' (1945–1975) — France's period of ~5% annual economic growth. Driven by state-led indicative planning (the Plan), the baby boom, urbanisation, welfare state expansion. Ended with the 1973–74 oil shock.

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Signed by Adenauer and de Gaulle in January 1963. Formalised Franco-German friendship and cooperation — transforming centuries of rivalry into the core partnership of European integration. Symbolised West Germany's acceptance by its former enemy.

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The Marshall Plan was a Cold War weapon (stabilise western Europe against communist parties). Adenauer's westernisation strategy was only possible because the USA needed West Germany as a Cold War ally. De Gaulle's independence was itself a response to Cold War bipolarity. So the Cold War both divided Germany and funded the western half's recovery.