Anna Maria Daher

Topic: The division of Europe after 1945

The year 1945 marked a significant turning point in Europe’s history. The Second World War

had just ended, and the Nazis were vanquished, but with the Grand Alliance having no other

reason to exist, fear reintroduced itself once more in the world. The political tensions between

the East and the West resurfaced and manifested themselves on the devastated European

lands. It is these differing political ideologies between a Capitalist United States and a

Communist Soviet Union that directly led to the division of Europe. This division would shape

the continent for the following decades, and this would be seen through what was known as the

Cold War where there would be an ideological rivalry between capitalism and communism, the

fear shown through the formation of military alliances and the nuclear arms race, and the case

of Germany as a miniature version of this political conflict.

Firstly, one of the leading examples of the political effects on Europe’s division is the

ideological rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. While the West, with the

United States at its head, encouraged capitalism, the Soviet Union believed in communist

principles. Though never directly engaging in battles on their own territories, both major powers

battled to spread their political doctrines after the Second World War by engaging other

countries and using them as battlefields. As an example, in 1948 the United States began to

implement policies such as the Marshall Plan, where they provided economic support to

Western European Countries — such as Western Germany — to help them rebuild their

shattered economies. But this policy was not implemented because of the States’ charitable

intentions, but rather as a way to prevent the spread of international communism. Countries

where poverty was rampant and the economy was destroyed were at a higher risk of leaning

into a communist mentality since communism promised every hungry person a loaf of bread.
Therefore, rebuilding an exhausted economy and improving the quality of life of its citizens

would eliminate communism’s chance of settling itself in those countries. As a retaliation, the

Soviet Union went on to support Eastern European, Asian, and African countries that aimed to

spread the communist regime through political movements. The communist Red Army

supported, for example, the communist part of China through the Sino-Soviet Alliance between

Mao Zedong and the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1950. Consequently, this treaty resulted in

the United States seeing it as proof of the USSR’s attempt at international communist

expansion. And, although this treaty was not an actual indicator of this movement, it couldn’t

matter, for it was not the intention that was the most important, but its perception elsewhere.

Secondly, the fear of one political ideology gaining supreme power over the other split

Europe in two through military alliances and the race for nuclear arms. Considering the military

forces in Europe, the NATO and the Warsaw Pact were the most important of them. The NATO,

created in 1949, joined the United States, Canada, and Western European countries against by

fear of the potential menace of international communism. Becoming a member of this alliance

meant engaging in the promise of mutual defence, or in other words, if one member was

attacked, then all the other members consider themselves attacked as well and thus join forces

against the offender. Fearing a solidified capitalist military force in turn, the Soviet Union joins

the Eastern European countries and itself in the Warsaw Pact in 1955, counterbalancing the

NATO and solidifying its communist influence in Europe. In this manner, both major powers

cemented themselves firmly in the continent of Europe, each taking a side as a battleground.

Naturally, tensions rose, the military forces settled themselves in their respective countries, and

fear skyrocketed. People from all nations feared the beginning of a Third World War. What’s

even worse, the nuclear arms race did not help in alleviating people’s waging anxieties.

The threat of a war with nuclear weapons breaking out augmented the existing levels of fear
with the major powers’ progressive acquisition of nuclear arms. The United States, which had

held a monopoly

on nuclear weaponry after its first developed atomic bomb in World War II, had lost its

advantage in 1949 when the Soviet Union had tested an atomic bomb of its own with success.

This nuclear competition would go on for the following years, reinforcing the division of Europe

and the fear of the people.

Thirdly, the division of Germany represents the ideal example of the entire division of Europe

but on a smaller scale. After the Second World War, the triumphant Allies decided to occupy

Germany and divide it between them into four occupation zones: one for the United State, one

for the Soviet Union, one for the United Kingdom, and one for France. However, because of the

differing political ideologies of the Soviet Union and the three other allies, two separate states —

West Germany and East Germany — have emerged. It was already clear from the beginning

that both Western allies and the Soviet Union had different intentions for this occupation. The

United States, with Harry Truman as president, wanted prosperity for Germany, seeing the

economic benefits of this procedure in the long term as well as the buildup of communism

resistance. Joseph Stalin, on the other hand, sought to punish Germany for its war crimes and

use its riches to rebuild the Soviet Union. At first, Germany’s division was mostly seen

geographically in the zones of occupation. The United States, the United Kingdom, and France

all united to control the western zones of occupation whereas the Soviet Union took charge of

the eastern region of Germany. Berlin, however, rooted within the Soviet area, was divided in

four as well, further symbolizing in this way the whole division of the country and the continent.

And, as a result of it having a western region, Berlin was kept open, giving access to the

capitalist allies to enter the Soviet region freely within the borders of Western Berlin. Stalin was

not at all appeased with this open access through West Berlin. What’s more, with the start of
the Marshall Plan’s application in 1948 came the use of a new monetary currency — the

Deutschmark. As a result, Stalin was distraught, fearing it deteriorates the monetary currency in

East Germany. Indeed, the economic differences and quality of life between Eastern and

Western Germany become more and more evident as the western region undergoes an

economic miracle while the eastern side becomes more impoverished. Fed up with only the

image of a communist utopia, East Berlin citizens flock to West Berlin. To avoid further

humiliation, Stalin orders the blockade of Berlin in the same year, 1948, and expects the United

States to surrender all of Berlin to the Soviet Union. In response, however, the United States

supplies Western Berlin with food for a whole year before the blockade was removed in 1949.

To the Western German citizens, it becomes clear which countries represent political heroes

and which ones represent the opposite, with the United States feeding the west of Berlin, while

the Soviet Union attempts to starve its people. Therefore, to secure military protection from

further tensions and threats of Soviet expansion, Western Germany accepts certain conditions

and becomes an official member of the NATO in the year 1955, whereas East Germany secures

its spot in the Warsaw pact in 1956. This military division will last the during the entirety of the

Cold War displaying Europe’s division even more.

In conclusion, the division of Europe after the year 1945 was the direct result of ideological

rivalries between the capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union. The major

powers’ competing visions for Europe paired with proxy warring plunged the continent in utter

darkness for many decades. Not only were multiple nations at odds with each other, but even

countries themselves, such as Germany, have been divided in two. However, after the end of

the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union at the end of the twentieth century,

Europe began to reunify itself once again. This continental division serves as a reminder of the
Cold War’s devastating effects not only on the countries involved but on the world in its entirety.