Causes: The first Berlin crisis : In 1948, the Soviet Union cut off the water and land traffic between the occupied areas of western Germany and West Berlin in 1948 to protest against the United States and other countries implementing currency reforms in western Germany, and only retained air routes.
In 1949, the United States, Britain, and France merged in the occupied areas of western Germany to form the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany); in order to counteract the Soviet Union established the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in the occupied areas of eastern Germany. .
Prior to this, Germany was occupied by the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union. The United States and the Soviet Union, which play a leading role in German affairs, both agreed to reunify Germany, but they have great differences on the issue of how to reunify.
The United States advocates for Germany to achieve economic reunification before completing political reunification. The Soviet Union advocated that political unity should be realized first, and then economic unity should be realized. The two sides refused to give in to each other, and the delayed reunification of Germany could not be achieved.
The divisional occupation of Germany by the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and France
The United States, Britain and France decided to first merge the three countries in the German occupation area into the "Western Occupied Area". Then the three countries held meetings in London, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg to discuss the economic revival of the Western Occupied Region and the establishment of a new German regime. The six countries formulated the London Protocol at the London meeting. According to the agreement, the United States , Britain, and France began to prepare for the drafting of the German constitution and the occupation law that regulates the relationship between the occupying power and Germany.
The governors of the Western Occupied Region put forward some opinions on the arrangements of the United States and other countries. They suggested that the "Constitution" should be renamed the "Basic Law" to avoid giving people the impression of a "state", because Germany has not yet been unified.
Although the military authorities in the Western Occupied Region had a tough attitude at first, they reached an agreement with the governors after many rounds of consultations and decided to establish a "Parliamentary Committee" to replace the Constitutional Assembly to formulate the Basic Law. The leader of the Christian Democratic League Adenauer serves as the chairman of the parliamentary committee.
The crux of the establishment of the West German regime at that time was in two aspects. One was the division of power between the central government and the states, and the other was the relationship between the new regime and the occupation authorities.
As for the Western Allies, their opinions on the power of the central government of West Germany are inconsistent. France fears that Germany will rise again and hopes to limit the power of the central government. The United States believes that the power of the central government does not need to be too restrictive.
The formulation of the "Basic Law" went through many twists and turns. Later, according to the basic idea of the United States, the states have sufficient powers, and the federal (ie, the central government) also has sufficient powers in major national affairs.
On the other hand, the military authorities of the Western Occupied Region promulgated the "Occupation Regulations Clarifying the Powers Reserved by the Occupying Power", referred to as the "Occupation Regulations". The "Occupation Law" stipulates that after the establishment of the federal government, the highest commander of the occupying forces is mainly responsible for military work and no longer participates in local administration.
After the "Basic Law" came into effect after a vote by the states, a meeting of the four foreign ministers of the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain and France was held in Paris to discuss the German issue. The Soviet Foreign Minister Vyshinsky proposed to establish the All-German Conference and make it have government functions.
This is obviously not in the interests of the United States, Britain and France. US Secretary of State Acheson believes that these Soviet proposals are "like asking a 3/4 of a paralyzed patient who has recovered to be completely paralyzed."
The United States put forward suggestions at the meeting, requiring the "Basic Law" to be extended to the whole of Germany and to achieve German reunification. Wiesinski rejected the American proposal. The meeting of the four major foreign ministers ended in vain, and the division of Germany is a foregone conclusion.
West Germany had to hold the first Bundestag election in 1949 when Germany was divided. A total of 402 members were elected. The Christian Democratic Union won 139 seats, making it the largest party. Adenauer was elected Prime Minister of the Federal Government. The Federal Republic of Germany was formally established, and its capital was Bonn .
While the United States, Britain and France were preparing for the establishment of the West German regime, the Soviet Union was also preparing for the establishment of the East German regime in the Soviet theater of Germany.
When West Germany enacted the Basic Law, the "German People's Committee" of the Soviet-occupied area was also drawing up a draft constitution. After the draft constitution was passed, the "German People's Committee" and the Economic Committee of the Western Occupy Region proposed to convene a joint meeting to discuss "methods and means to achieve German reunification."
This proposal was rejected by Western allies and West Germany.Immediately after the Western Occupation Region passed the "Basic Law" formulated by the parliamentary committee and announced the "Occupation Regulations" after the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Soviet Union believed that Western countries were splitting Germany and refused to recognize West Germany, and soon let the "German People's Committee" A plenary meeting was held in Berlin and unanimously passed a resolution on "establishing the Provisional House and organizing the Provisional Government of the German Democratic Republic."
The Provisional People's House resolved to establish the German Democratic Republic on the same day, declaring the constitution passed by the German People's Congress to take effect. Four days later, the Provisional People's Chamber authorized Otto Grotivor of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany to organize the government. The German Democratic Republic was formally established.
Consequences: The June 17 Incident in East Germany: In 1953, East Germany caused a nationwide demonstration due to a workers’ strike. Participants in the demonstration proposed to withdraw foreign troops, implement freedom of speech, release political prisoners, and hold free elections in Germany, etc. The slogan was finally suppressed by the Soviet army.
Conclusion: The establishment of the West and East German regimes was the result of the influence of the United States and the Soviet Union on the German regime. The division of Germany intensified the confrontation between the socialist camp and capitalism
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