The Roles of Adenauer and Walter Ulbricht in the Development of Post War Germany
Both Adenauer and Walter Ulbricht had very important roles in the
development of post war Germany. Adenauer brought West Germany to an
acceptable economic level quickly, as well integrating Germany into
Europeby joining NATO. Adenauer also helped to make West Germany
political stable. Erhard was important in the development of East
Germany, however, not as important as Adenauer in the development of
the whole of Germany. East Germany was influenced heavily by the
Soviets and was associated heavily with the Soviet bloc, which meant
that East Germany had a communist political and economical system.
Ulbricht was very influential in decision making, yet the East never
had the popularity the West had, or the economic prosperity. Yet
because of the foreign relations Adenauer created with the Western
Allies in light of the cold war, as well as the economic prosperity
that came with it, I believe Adenauer was more influential than
Ulbricht and Erhard.
Adenauer was very successful as the Chancellor of West Germany.
Politically, he managed to create a coalition with the Liberals as he
had no majority with the CDU which helped him to stay in power.
However, it could be said that he was dependent on another party to
remain in power, yet he still managed to do it. This coalition was
still in power together even up to 1961, showing the strength of
Adenauer's leadership. Adenauer also faced the problem of the economy,
and with the help of Ludwig Erhard and the Americans, Adenauer was
able to produce what some described as a 'miracle'. He was faced with
massive une...
... middle of paper ...
...gn himself inn 1966 having over
reacted to signs of inflation. His East German counterpart failed to
reproduce anything like the prosperity of the West in the East, and it
was Ulbricht's alliance with the Soviet's that led to the further
divide of the two and eventually the Berlin Wall. Historians differ on
the two leaders of east and West Germany. Those who were brought up in
East Germany were effected by anti capitalist propaganda and the evils
of capitalism, therefore critical of Adenauer. Whereas those who were
brought up in West Germany had an anti totalitarian ideology,
therefore were critical of the east and Ulbricht. Their emphasis would
be on the promotion of free democracies and distancing themselves from
Nazism. Therefore there are many different interpretations on as to
the success of Adenauer and Ulbricht.
The first major reason that the Weimar republic failed was that it was extremely inefficient and did not have clear goals set within the government. All the different ideas coming from the parties in the republic, created a situation where the people of Germany were getting very unclear, vague messages. This problem can be seen in the struggle between the German Democratic Party and the Communist Party. Troeltsch, a theologian and leader of the German Democratic Party said, “The development will not stop at democracy, and a ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ will assume the form of terrorist domination by a minority” (Doc 1). This statement is only somewhat reliable because Troeltsch was a politician, and he would benefit from over exaggerating what would happen if the opposing party were to gain control. The exact opposite of this idea is the view of Communist Party member Clara Zetkin. When she talks about how the only way that Germany can really get rid of monarchy is by having a proletariat uprising it can be seen that she obviously embraces communist policy. (Doc 3)....
The political system in the FRG was a total success. The Basic Law, which was the constitution of the FRG and outlined the political system of the FRG was a total success because it allowed freedom of speech, it gave more powers to the lander making the FRG more federal meaning that the regions had a bigger influence. Furthermore, the upper house of Parliament, the Bundesrat, meant that the Lander were represented
There were a number of events that occurred before eventually resulting in the reunification of Germany in 1871. The first steps towards the unification of Germany began in 1814 after the downfall of Napoleon’s ‘Rheinbund’ this began the period of restoration, where princes and knights etc. reclaimed their political control over their territory that they had under the old ‘Reich’ before 1789 (Mark Allinson, 2002).
The Break Out of the Revolution in Germany in 1848 There were a numerous external and internal factors behind the 1848 revolutions in Germany. Externally, changes in the international climate and political upheaval in Austria provided German nationalists with an avenue of opportunity to cease power. Internally, the growth of German nationalism and liberalism coupled with the acute financial and food crisis of 1847 created an atmosphere fit for revolutionary activity. Between 1815 and 1847, the Great powers reduced the importance of nationalism and liberalism in order to maintain the ideals set about at the Treaty of Vienna of peace, order and stability within the balance of power. The Great powers installed Austria as the ‘reactionary henchman’ of Europe.
them make a full recovery but in the long run I don't think that they
Germany experienced a lot of economic changes after Germany was split into East Germany and West Germany. Initially, West Germany was established as a federal republic but was established as it’s own independent nation in 1955. Many events happened in West Germany from the 1950s to the 1980s before Germany became one nation again. There were events such as “oils price shocks, generous social programs, rising deficits and loss of control.” East Germany’s economy was strong due to the Soviet Union’s reliance on Eastern Germany’s production of machine tools, chemicals and electronics. It became appealing to reunite with West Germany when the value of East Germany’s currency became “worthless” outside of it’s country because Eastern Germany was relying on the Soviet Union’s demand (Marketline).
Richard Bessel’s article stresses the political structure of Weimar Germany as the cause of its failure. Its structure was flawed in numerous ways, all of which contributed to its inevitable failure. First of all, the problems within Germany due to the First World War were massive. This caused economic, political and social problems which first had to be dealt with by the new Weimar government. The loss of the war had left Germany with huge reparations to pay, and massive destruction to repair. In order to gain the capital needed to finance efforts to rebuild, and repay the Allies, the economy had to be brought back to its prewar levels. This was not an easy task.
East Germany was like a many Communist governments. Not a single person actually believed in what they taught and they were just corrupt bureaucrats that wanted to get rich. Wiesler was one of these guys at one time, but he changed. Hempf was as corrupt as you could get. Grubnitz, on the other hand, took advantage of the system. Blackmail was very prevalent in Communist societies to the point that it was how things got done so the leaders could continue on with their shenanigans.
The Weimar years were marked by extraordinary and unrivaled economic, political, and social struggles and crises. Its beginning was marked as being especially difficult in that Germany was wiped out and devastated after four years of the unprecedented warfare of World War I. By 1918 the world had been shocked with over 8.5 million killed on both Allies and Axis sides and many more severely mangled and scarred – body, mind and spirit. This is seen as German Soldier, Ernst Simmel, writes, “when I speak about the war as an event, as the cause of illness, I anticipate something has revealed...namely that it is not only the bloody war which leaves such devastating traces in those who took part in it. Rather, it is also the difficult conflict in which the individual finds himself in his fight against a world transformed by war. Either in the trenches or at home can befall a single organ, or it may encompass the entire person” (Simmel, 1918). For Ernst, and millions of other participants, the war had turned forever changed their world.
due to a couple of reasons. The most important one was the fact he was
The German Reunification failed in its attempt to bring the two Germanys together after being separated for nearly 45 years. The myriad of negative ramifications brought about by the Reunification only strengthened the divide between the East and West Germans. The devaluation of the East German mark and depopulation of East German cities, along with unemployment and poor living conditions, instigated discontent among the East Germans. West Germany’s “taking over” of East Germany in the act of Reunification induced a lopsided economy with its Eastern half still trying to catch up to its Western half, establishing the myth of German Reunification.
Hyperinflation soon occurred, which put the economy in a weak position and further contributed to the downfall of the Weimar Republic. Many resented the government because of its agreement to the Treaty of Versailles and lack of resistance.... ... middle of paper ... ...
German people were unused to a democracy and blamed the government “November criminals”, for signing the Treaty of Versailles. From the very beginning, the new Weimar government faced opposition from both sides of the political spectrum. The Left wing Spartacist group, lead by Liebknecht and Luxemburg, looked up to the new Soviet councils in Russia, wanted to place Germany into a similar system.
Despite the favourable outlook of Germans regarding reunification, its initial stages were unsuccessful in establishing a foundation which Germany could answer the people’s dreams of peace, prosperity and unity. The collapse of communism in Europe signified a change in people’s ways of thinking due to the fact East Germans had experienced suppression for forty years. Subsequent to the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the March 1990 free elections, a positive outlook for the future and belief in freedom began to proliferate amongst East Germans. German Chancellor Kohl took an optimistic outlook for the future, and believed German free enterprise would create ‘economic miracles’ . This new method of thinking was growing within the East of Berlin before the problems of reunification that soon grew within society.
The Unification of Germany In 1871 the thirty-eight states of what was once the Holy Roman Empire. re-united to become what was known in the early twentieth century as simply, The German Empire, united under the rule of the German Emperor, or Kaiser. There are many factors which led to the unification of the German states: liberalism, nationalism, Otto Von Bismarck, fear of ‘another Napoleon’, the Prussian King William I, and the three wars Prussia fought. One of the key factors which led to the unification was nationalism.