Buffer Zones and Satellite States
- Friendly states that separate hostile nations
- North Korea between China and Russia
- Eastern Bloc countries between Russia and west Europe
- Satellite States for Russia include Poland, Hungary, Romania etc.
The Division of Germany and Berlin
- Potsdam conference had decided the division of Germany
- Divided into 4 occupation zones under control of Allied Control Council
- 1947 US and GB join their zones. (France joins in 1948 to form West Germany (est. 1949) (Federal Republic of Germany led by Konrad Adenhauer)
- Stalin forms East Germany with his zone the same year (German Democratic Republic GDR)
Summary
At the end of World War II, the Allied powers divided conquered Germany into four zones, each occupied by either the United States, Great Britain, France, or the Soviet Union (as agreed at the Potsdam Conference). The same was done with Germany's capital city, Berlin.As the relationship between the Soviet Union and the other three Allied powers quickly disintegrated, the cooperative atmosphere of the occupation of Germany turned competitive and aggressive. Although an eventual reunification of Germany had been intended, the new relationship between the Allied powers turned Germany into West versus East, democracy versus Communism.In 1949, this new organization of Germany became official when the three zones occupied by the United States, Great Britain, and France combined to form West Germany (the Federal Republic of Germany). The zone occupied by the Soviet Union quickly followed by forming East Germany (the German Democratic Republic).