(official) What extent, East-West relations affected over Berlin 1948-1989?

Over Berlin
1. Berlin Blockade
  1. USSR claimed the wet had broken Potsdam agreement, treating Germany as a single economic unit
  2. Soured relations, USSR used force to block off Wests access to their half of city
    1. Incidents such as a USSR fighter colliding with a British transport plane worsened relations
2. Berlin Wall+crisis
  1. Broke four power accord, allowed free travel between all zones
    1. Allies did not like this, heightened tensions
  2. Sign of aggression by the USSR
    1. Physical sign of political failure by the GDR
  3. Brandt criticised the Berlin Wall and the east for building it, this did not help the relations as the countries were talking negatively of each other
3. Ostpolitik
  1. Positively improved relations between both states
    1. Moscow Treaty 1970, gave GDR international recognition, GDR joined UN
      1. 1984, recognised by 132 states, joined UN
    2. Warsaw Treaty 1970, financial aid given to eastern bloc country
    3. Four power agreement 1971, improved travel rights for west Berliners
    4. Basic Treaty 1973, FRG recognised the GDR, visa introduced to allow west Berliners to travel to East Berlin 1 day
    5. Made GDR thankful for loans, allowed GDR to grow a little, cheaper exports for GDR
      1. Relations better, GDR could gain access to materials they previosuly could not, became an unofficial extra member of EEC
    6. GDR were reliant on loan, 38.5 billion in debt to FRG, they were thankful after the USSR had pulled support
  2. Ostpolitik
    1. Drove states apart at international level
      1. propped up the GDR for longer, keeping the division existing between them
        Broke the Basic laws commitment to unification
Other
1. Currency reform 1948
  1. USSR claimed the west had broken potsdam agreement, the reform united the currency of the three allied zones which meant the western zones could be treated as single economic unit
    1. Caused severe disagreement with the USSR and the west, led to the Berlin Blockade and airlift, blocked travel to and from Berlin for westerners
2. Ideological differences
  1. Marshall Aid
    1. USSR thought west was trying to build up western Europe as a defence against communism
      1. Negative relations with the west, they thought they were attackingt communism
        Officially to help the economic recovery of Europe
  2. Hallstein Doctrine, made relations worse, isolated GDR
    1. Hallstein Doctrine, isolated the GDR and made them loose faith in the west, they began looking Eastward. Damaged relations with the west
    2. Stopped countries from having diplomatic relations with GDR, as they would have theirs with the FRG removed
      1. Left the GDR isolated, relatiosn worsened as GDR looked Eastwards for support
        Drew both states further apart
  3. Incompatable ideologies, communism vs capitalism, they were unlikely to have many agreements over things
  4. NATO, the wests relationship with the east dissapeared as they looked for western integration, NATO meant the Warsaw Pact was created as a reaction to the west, damaged relations as they looked towards the eastern bloc for support that the west was not giving them
3. London conference
  1. Excluded from the conference, it was to discuss German affairs
4. NATO/ Warsaw Pact
  1. Bolstering defence against communism in West
    1. Fears in East, FRG may be used to attack East Germany
    2. GDR accepted into Warsaw Pact 1955, gave them a new sense of security as they had the mutual support of Eastern bloc countries
      1. Look eastwards for support, not westwards, they lost faith in the West when FRG joined NATO

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(official) What extent, East-West relations affected over Berlin 1948-1989?

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	Created by Joel Towner over 8 years ago