Discuss the implications of the division of Germany agreed upon at the

Potsdam Conference and its long-term impact on the Cold War and the
subsequent reunification of Germany.

The decision to divide Germany began with the Potsdam Conference, where leaders
confirmed plans to disarm and demilitarize Germany, of which would be divided into four
Allied occupation zones controlled by the United States, Great Britain, France and the
Soviet Union.

The relationship between the former wartime Allies, although tense from as early as
1942, became increasingly strained as they struggled to reach agreement on the shape
of post-war Europe. The Soviet Union had sought to establish communist governments in
Poland, Hungary and east Germany, while the Western Allies were concerned about the
expansion of its influence. Moreover, there had been disagreements on Germany’s
treatment after its defeat, the Soviet Union opting for a more agrarian development,
whilst the allies favored a more economically integrated Germany. By 1945, the United
States and the Soviet Union had begun to emerge as ideologically opposed
'superpowers', each wanting to exert their influence in the post-war world.

The division of Germany had solidified the divide between eastern and western powers,
the Soviet Union’s communism and the western democracies capitalist system, which
mirrored the broader ideological and geopolitical divide of the Cold War itself.

The split of Berlin occurred in 1945, where the capital of Germany was divided into east
and west sectors. It was later in 1949 that the four allies saw Germany formally split into
two independent nations: the Federal Republic of Germany located in the west of
Germany, allied to the Western democracies, and the German Democratic Republic, allied
to the Soviet Union and located in the east of Germany. Berlin, similarly split east and
west, saw the most tension between its fate of remaining under Western Allied control,
or being absorbed into Soviet-controlled eastern Germany. This later sowed the seeds of
tensions between the post-war alliances.

It is because of influence from two powerful foreign powers that the division of Germany
had physically and ideologically erected a barrier, a divide that could be visibly seen via
the Berlin Wall. Built to prevent people from east escaping to the more affluent West
Berlin, what started out as barbed wire continued to develop into a fortified concrete
structure that isolated West Berlin from the surrounding east territories.The Berlin Wall
psychologically separated families, suppressed freedom and created disparities, and
moreover had heightened tensions between the eastern and western powers. The
western democracies condemned the wall for its separating of families, and later on the
wall came to become the starkest symbol of the ideological divisions of the Cold War.

And with the division of Germany comes the hope of eventual reunification, especially
from the people living on the eastern side who have been unhappy with the suppression
of freedom and the stagnant economic growth from the socialist system. Not having
been hindered by the ideological and physical barriers meant that the reunification of
Germany was soon triggered, as reforms and revolutions in the 1980s swept through
Eastern Europe, marked officially by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

The impact of Germany’s reunification was immense especially for the post-Cold War
European powers, leading to the growth in western influences and a united Europe.
Germany had become a major player within the European Union and assisted in
promoting closer political and economic cooperation. This opened up doors for economic
growth, investment and trade opportunities which spread from a unified German market
to the rest of Europe. Moreover Germany’s reunification had served as an inspiration to
other war stricken countries and particularly for Eastern Europe, to strive for freedom
and unity.

All in all, the division of Germany agreed upon at the Potsdam conference had
far-reaching implications for the Cold War and the subsequent reunification of Germany.
It had put a spotlight on the tensions between the East-West divide, yet had also led to
significant changes in the European political landscape when Germany was reunified.