PowerPoint Lecture

Lecture 15

The Division of Germany (1945-55)

(CFM = Council of Foreign Ministers)

London CFM (Sept-Oct 1945): Bidault (Fr) rejects all-Ger admin; wants sep Rhineland and Westphalia; Molotov (USSR): central gov & 4-power control of Ruhr; Byrnes (USA): 4-powers demil Ger for 25 yrs

Paris CFM (Apr-July 1946): Molotov: central state & $10B reparations - Byrnes presses in vain for 4-power tty using Bizone as threat

Sept/Oct 1946 American and British Zonal administrative councils: food, trans, econ, finance, post

1 Jan 1947 Bizone (merger of US and GB Zones) proposed by US July 1946 comes into being

Moscow CFM (Mar-Apr 1947): SU owed $2-300M in backlog for W zones deficit - Marshall offered current reps, but Mol declined - cannot agree peace treaty (fed v centralism) - US reached GB's conclusions of mid/late-1946 in late 1947 - after failure of Moscow CFM anti-Comm offensive

25 June 1947 Econ Council meets in F/M as proto-parl

London CFM (Nov-Dec 1947): aborted over reparations, dismantling etc - rejects delegation from East Berlin

Feb/Mar 1948 London 6-power conf I (USA, GB, Fr, Benelux): fed gov for a W Ger involved in ERP & Ruhr

17 Mar 1948 GB, Fr & Benelux sign Western Union (anti-USSR not Ger)

20 Mar 1948 Sokolovsky walks out of Allied Control Council

Apr/June 1948 London conf II: W Länder to devise constit (Sept 1948-May 1949 Parl Council drafts Basic Law)

20 June 1948 W Zones' currency reform (DM printed in USA)

24 June 1948 Soviets reply by blockading W Bln (until 5 May 1949)

Apr 1949 Fr > Bizone (Trizone); Occupation Statute reserves rights on Ger fp; level of W Ger ind raised

22 Apr 1949 Ruhr Statute: Internat Ruhr Authority (Allies + Benelux + later W Germans) fixes production/exports for coal/steel

24 May 1949 Basic Law > provisional FRG (fed, lib-parl state - weaker Pres than Weimar; stronger Chancellor)

Paris CFM (last) (May/June 1949): collapses over peace treaty

20 June 1949 Mil Govs replaced by civilian High Commissioners

14 Aug 1949 1st Bundestag elec > CDU-CSU/FDP/DP coalition under Adenauer

Sept 1950 USA, GB & Fr moot Ger armed forces & only recognise FRG

14 Sept 1951 USA, GB & Fr to integrate FRG on equal footing in a Euro Defence Community (EDC)

10 Mar 1952 Stalin Note: neutral uni Ger in 1945 borders with defence force, & peace treaty then free elecs - Adenauer ignores & Allies insist on EDC

26 May 1952 USA, GB, Fr: General Treaty - FRG sov except over Allied troops; Bln; reuni; peace treaty - 27 May as stipulated FRG agrees to provide EDC troops

5 May 1955 FRG attains sovereignty; ambassadors replace High Commissioners

9 May 1955 FRG > NATO after failure of EDC Aug 1954 - no Ger nukes

1955 Hallstein Doctrine: FRG ostracises states recognising GDR

Ostpolitik (1969-72)

28.9.1969 SPD and FDP form coalition - CDU out for 1st time in 20 years

28.10.'69 New Chancellor Willy Brandt announces Two-States-One-Nation

25.11.'69 Federal Government initiates negotiations with Poland

13.12.'69 Ulbricht demands the recognition of GDR as equal state

1/2.'69 SPD's Egon Bahr begins talks in Moscow on renouncing force

19.3.1970 Willy Brandt visits GDR Premier Willi Stoph in Erfurt (GDR)

21.5.1970 Stoph returns the compliment in Kassel (FRG)

23.6.1970 FRG signs trade agreement with Poland

13.8.1970 Brandt signs Moscow Treaty renouncing force & border revisions

7.12.1970 Signs Warsaw Treaty accepting Oder-Neisse - kneels at ghetto

17.12.'70 Ulbricht proclaims GDR a `socialist German nation-state'

3.9.1971 USA, GB, France and USSR sign Four-Power Treaty on Berlin

10.12.'71 Brandt awarded Nobel peace prize

17.5.1972 Eastern Treaties ratified in Bonn with CDU/CSU abstentions

26.5.1972 FRG & GDR sign agreement on travel between FRG/W. Berlin & GDR

14.9.1972 FRG commences diplomatic relations with Poland

21.12.'72 FRG & GDR sign Basic Treaty assuring mutual state sovereignty