Allied Occupation of Germany

The conflict among the Allies after World War II was exemplified by the debate over how to occupy the defeated country of Germany. The Allies agreed to partition the country among France, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union. The three Western Allies wanted to combine their zones into one state under democratic principles.

Berlin Blockade The Allies also decided to divide Germany’s capital, Berlin, into four zones. The three Western zones would become a free city that was located within the Soviet zone of Germany. The Soviets wanted to stop these Western plans and control all of Berlin. They set up a blockade of the Western zones in Berlin to prevent the West from moving supplies into the area by land. The Western Allies did not want to risk a military confrontation with the Soviets and ultimately began the Berlin Airlift. Through this operation, the Allies flew supplies into Western zones between February 1948 and May 1949, when the Soviets lifted the blockade.

Two Germanys After the blockade ended, Germany split into two states. West Germany became the Federal Republic of Germany. East Germany became the German Democratic Republic. The division of Europe into East and West was complete.

Berlin Wall As citizens of East Germany saw the prosperity and democratic lifestyle of West Germany, many wanted to move to the West. Between 1949 and 1961, about 2.5 million East Germans fled.

However, the East German and Soviet governments were determined to keep people in East Germany. They knew that the exodus to the West reflected poorly on the communist system, and it was hard on their economy. They first set up barbed-wire fences patrolled by guards along the perimeter of East Germany and between East and West Berlin. In August 1961, they began replacing the fences in Berlin with a wall, which became known as the Berlin Wall. Between 1961 and 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, soldiers killed about 150 people as they tried to escape over it.