Early History of West Germany

The history of West Germany began in 1945, when the Nazis were defeated at the end of the Second World War. Following this, the former Third Reich was divided in four by the victorious Allied Powers, with each nation controlling one of the four zones. In order to promote West German independence, the Western Allies—the United States, Great Britain, and France— began to shift more responsibility into German hands, establishing a West German assembly and a single economic council to serve all three zones of occupation. In May of 1948, the new West German state drafted a constitution, the Grundgesetz, or “Basic Law,” that would become the foundation of the new Federal Republic of Germany. Elections were held, the French, British, and American zones of occupation were joined as one, and the first Bundestag was formed on September 23, 1949, a landmark date in the history of West Germany. The Federal Republic of Germany was granted full sovereignty from the occupying powers on May 5, 1955.

The elected chancellor of the new government was a man named Konrad Adenauer, chairman of the CDU, and Bonn was chosen as the new capital of the federal republic. During the 1950s, the history of West Germany records a number of important treaties and agreements that helped to bring the Federal Republic of Germany into its own as a separate and sovereign state. West Germany joined the European Coal and Steel Community, a predecessor of today’s European Union, in 1951, along with Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Another important event in the history of West Germany was its incorporation into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1955, which allied the West German government to other Western powers, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, and Italy.

A focal point of the Cold War, the Federal Republic of Germany found itself in a tenuous position of constant conflict with its sister nation of East Germany. While West Germany was a capitalist state allied with the West, East Germany remained firmly behind the iron curtain, under Soviet influence. For a significant portion of the history of West Germany, the Soviets kept the Western-controlled half of the city of Berlin walled off and under heavy guard, in order to keep East Germans from being corrupted by Western culture. The Western powers even allowed Germany to rearm itself after the Korean War broke out in 1950, fearing that it would be vulnerable to the Soviet Union. However, a clause in the Federal Republic’s constitution states that military action is forbidden, except under circumstances where Germany or one of its allies is attacked. NATO allies were also permitted to station troops within West Germany’s borders.