the division of germany essay

• Sign in to the Digital Toolbox

Already registered?

Not yet registered, the cold war (1945–1989), the division of germany.

• Resources (91)

• Search Menu
• Browse content in Arts and Humanities
• Browse content in Archaeology
• Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Archaeology
• Archaeological Methodology and Techniques
• Archaeology by Region
• Archaeology of Religion
• Archaeology of Trade and Exchange
• Biblical Archaeology
• Contemporary and Public Archaeology
• Environmental Archaeology
• Historical Archaeology
• History and Theory of Archaeology
• Industrial Archaeology
• Landscape Archaeology
• Mortuary Archaeology
• Prehistoric Archaeology
• Underwater Archaeology
• Urban Archaeology
• Zooarchaeology
• Browse content in Architecture
• Architectural Structure and Design
• History of Architecture
• Residential and Domestic Buildings
• Theory of Architecture
• Browse content in Art
• Art Subjects and Themes
• History of Art
• Industrial and Commercial Art
• Theory of Art
• Biographical Studies
• Byzantine Studies
• Browse content in Classical Studies
• Classical History
• Classical Philosophy
• Classical Mythology
• Classical Literature
• Classical Reception
• Classical Art and Architecture
• Classical Oratory and Rhetoric
• Greek and Roman Papyrology
• Greek and Roman Epigraphy
• Greek and Roman Law
• Greek and Roman Archaeology
• Late Antiquity
• Religion in the Ancient World
• Digital Humanities
• Browse content in History
• Colonialism and Imperialism
• Diplomatic History
• Environmental History
• Genealogy, Heraldry, Names, and Honours
• Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing
• Historical Geography
• History by Period
• History of Emotions
• History of Agriculture
• History of Education
• History of Gender and Sexuality
• Industrial History
• Intellectual History
• International History
• Labour History
• Legal and Constitutional History
• Local and Family History
• Maritime History
• Military History
• National Liberation and Post-Colonialism
• Oral History
• Political History
• Public History
• Regional and National History
• Revolutions and Rebellions
• Slavery and Abolition of Slavery
• Social and Cultural History
• Theory, Methods, and Historiography
• Urban History
• World History
• Browse content in Language Teaching and Learning
• Language Learning (Specific Skills)
• Language Teaching Theory and Methods
• Browse content in Linguistics
• Applied Linguistics
• Cognitive Linguistics
• Computational Linguistics
• Forensic Linguistics
• Grammar, Syntax and Morphology
• Historical and Diachronic Linguistics
• History of English
• Language Evolution
• Language Reference
• Language Acquisition
• Language Variation
• Language Families
• Lexicography
• Linguistic Anthropology
• Linguistic Theories
• Linguistic Typology
• Phonetics and Phonology
• Psycholinguistics
• Sociolinguistics
• Translation and Interpretation
• Writing Systems
• Browse content in Literature
• Bibliography
• Children's Literature Studies
• Literary Studies (Romanticism)
• Literary Studies (American)
• Literary Studies (Asian)
• Literary Studies (European)
• Literary Studies (Eco-criticism)
• Literary Studies (Modernism)
• Literary Studies - World
• Literary Studies (1500 to 1800)
• Literary Studies (19th Century)
• Literary Studies (20th Century onwards)
• Literary Studies (African American Literature)
• Literary Studies (British and Irish)
• Literary Studies (Early and Medieval)
• Literary Studies (Fiction, Novelists, and Prose Writers)
• Literary Studies (Gender Studies)
• Literary Studies (Graphic Novels)
• Literary Studies (History of the Book)
• Literary Studies (Plays and Playwrights)
• Literary Studies (Poetry and Poets)
• Literary Studies (Postcolonial Literature)
• Literary Studies (Queer Studies)
• Literary Studies (Science Fiction)
• Literary Studies (Travel Literature)
• Literary Studies (War Literature)
• Literary Studies (Women's Writing)
• Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
• Mythology and Folklore
• Shakespeare Studies and Criticism
• Browse content in Media Studies
• Browse content in Music
• Applied Music
• Dance and Music
• Ethics in Music
• Ethnomusicology
• Gender and Sexuality in Music
• Medicine and Music
• Music Cultures
• Music and Media
• Music and Religion
• Music and Culture
• Music Education and Pedagogy
• Music Theory and Analysis
• Musical Scores, Lyrics, and Libretti
• Musical Structures, Styles, and Techniques
• Musicology and Music History
• Performance Practice and Studies
• Race and Ethnicity in Music
• Sound Studies
• Browse content in Performing Arts
• Browse content in Philosophy
• Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art
• Epistemology
• Feminist Philosophy
• History of Western Philosophy
• Metaphysics
• Moral Philosophy
• Non-Western Philosophy
• Philosophy of Language
• Philosophy of Mind
• Philosophy of Perception
• Philosophy of Science
• Philosophy of Action
• Philosophy of Law
• Philosophy of Religion
• Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic
• Practical Ethics
• Social and Political Philosophy
• Browse content in Religion
• Biblical Studies
• Christianity
• East Asian Religions
• History of Religion
• Judaism and Jewish Studies
• Qumran Studies
• Religion and Education
• Religion and Health
• Religion and Politics
• Religion and Science
• Religion and Law
• Religion and Art, Literature, and Music
• Religious Studies
• Browse content in Society and Culture
• Cookery, Food, and Drink
• Cultural Studies
• Customs and Traditions
• Ethical Issues and Debates
• Hobbies, Games, Arts and Crafts
• Lifestyle, Home, and Garden
• Natural world, Country Life, and Pets
• Popular Beliefs and Controversial Knowledge
• Sports and Outdoor Recreation
• Technology and Society
• Travel and Holiday
• Visual Culture
• Browse content in Law
• Arbitration
• Browse content in Company and Commercial Law
• Commercial Law
• Company Law
• Browse content in Comparative Law
• Systems of Law
• Competition Law
• Browse content in Constitutional and Administrative Law
• Government Powers
• Judicial Review
• Local Government Law
• Military and Defence Law
• Parliamentary and Legislative Practice
• Construction Law
• Contract Law
• Browse content in Criminal Law
• Criminal Procedure
• Criminal Evidence Law
• Sentencing and Punishment
• Employment and Labour Law
• Environment and Energy Law
• Browse content in Financial Law
• Banking Law
• Insolvency Law
• History of Law
• Human Rights and Immigration
• Intellectual Property Law
• Browse content in International Law
• Private International Law and Conflict of Laws
• Public International Law
• IT and Communications Law
• Jurisprudence and Philosophy of Law
• Law and Politics
• Law and Society
• Browse content in Legal System and Practice
• Courts and Procedure
• Legal Skills and Practice
• Primary Sources of Law
• Regulation of Legal Profession
• Medical and Healthcare Law
• Browse content in Policing
• Criminal Investigation and Detection
• Police and Security Services
• Police Procedure and Law
• Police Regional Planning
• Browse content in Property Law
• Personal Property Law
• Study and Revision
• Terrorism and National Security Law
• Browse content in Trusts Law
• Wills and Probate or Succession
• Browse content in Medicine and Health
• Browse content in Allied Health Professions
• Arts Therapies
• Clinical Science
• Dietetics and Nutrition
• Occupational Therapy
• Operating Department Practice
• Physiotherapy
• Radiography
• Speech and Language Therapy
• Browse content in Anaesthetics
• General Anaesthesia
• Neuroanaesthesia
• Clinical Neuroscience
• Browse content in Clinical Medicine
• Acute Medicine
• Cardiovascular Medicine
• Clinical Genetics
• Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics
• Dermatology
• Endocrinology and Diabetes
• Gastroenterology
• Genito-urinary Medicine
• Geriatric Medicine
• Infectious Diseases
• Medical Toxicology
• Medical Oncology
• Pain Medicine
• Palliative Medicine
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Respiratory Medicine and Pulmonology
• Rheumatology
• Sleep Medicine
• Sports and Exercise Medicine
• Community Medical Services
• Critical Care
• Emergency Medicine
• Forensic Medicine
• Haematology
• History of Medicine
• Browse content in Medical Skills
• Clinical Skills
• Communication Skills
• Nursing Skills
• Surgical Skills
• Browse content in Medical Dentistry
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
• Paediatric Dentistry
• Restorative Dentistry and Orthodontics
• Surgical Dentistry
• Medical Ethics
• Medical Statistics and Methodology
• Browse content in Neurology
• Clinical Neurophysiology
• Neuropathology
• Nursing Studies
• Browse content in Obstetrics and Gynaecology
• Gynaecology
• Occupational Medicine
• Ophthalmology
• Otolaryngology (ENT)
• Browse content in Paediatrics
• Neonatology
• Browse content in Pathology
• Chemical Pathology
• Clinical Cytogenetics and Molecular Genetics
• Histopathology
• Medical Microbiology and Virology
• Patient Education and Information
• Browse content in Pharmacology
• Psychopharmacology
• Browse content in Popular Health
• Caring for Others
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine
• Self-help and Personal Development
• Browse content in Preclinical Medicine
• Cell Biology
• Molecular Biology and Genetics
• Reproduction, Growth and Development
• Primary Care
• Professional Development in Medicine
• Browse content in Psychiatry
• Addiction Medicine
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Forensic Psychiatry
• Learning Disabilities
• Old Age Psychiatry
• Psychotherapy
• Browse content in Public Health and Epidemiology
• Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Browse content in Radiology
• Clinical Radiology
• Interventional Radiology
• Nuclear Medicine
• Radiation Oncology
• Reproductive Medicine
• Browse content in Surgery
• Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Gastro-intestinal and Colorectal Surgery
• General Surgery
• Neurosurgery
• Paediatric Surgery
• Peri-operative Care
• Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
• Surgical Oncology
• Transplant Surgery
• Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery
• Vascular Surgery
• Browse content in Science and Mathematics
• Browse content in Biological Sciences
• Aquatic Biology
• Biochemistry
• Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
• Developmental Biology
• Ecology and Conservation
• Evolutionary Biology
• Genetics and Genomics
• Microbiology
• Molecular and Cell Biology
• Natural History
• Plant Sciences and Forestry
• Research Methods in Life Sciences
• Structural Biology
• Systems Biology
• Zoology and Animal Sciences
• Browse content in Chemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Computational Chemistry
• Crystallography
• Environmental Chemistry
• Industrial Chemistry
• Inorganic Chemistry
• Materials Chemistry
• Medicinal Chemistry
• Mineralogy and Gems
• Organic Chemistry
• Physical Chemistry
• Polymer Chemistry
• Study and Communication Skills in Chemistry
• Theoretical Chemistry
• Browse content in Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Architecture and Logic Design
• Game Studies
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Mathematical Theory of Computation
• Programming Languages
• Software Engineering
• Systems Analysis and Design
• Virtual Reality
• Browse content in Computing
• Business Applications
• Computer Security
• Computer Games
• Computer Networking and Communications
• Digital Lifestyle
• Graphical and Digital Media Applications
• Operating Systems
• Browse content in Earth Sciences and Geography
• Atmospheric Sciences
• Environmental Geography
• Geology and the Lithosphere
• Maps and Map-making
• Meteorology and Climatology
• Oceanography and Hydrology
• Palaeontology
• Physical Geography and Topography
• Regional Geography
• Soil Science
• Urban Geography
• Browse content in Engineering and Technology
• Agriculture and Farming
• Biological Engineering
• Civil Engineering, Surveying, and Building
• Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Energy Technology
• Engineering (General)
• Environmental Science, Engineering, and Technology
• History of Engineering and Technology
• Mechanical Engineering and Materials
• Technology of Industrial Chemistry
• Transport Technology and Trades
• Browse content in Environmental Science
• Applied Ecology (Environmental Science)
• Conservation of the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Environmental Sustainability
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Environmental Science)
• Management of Land and Natural Resources (Environmental Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environmental Science)
• Nuclear Issues (Environmental Science)
• Pollution and Threats to the Environment (Environmental Science)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Environmental Science)
• History of Science and Technology
• Browse content in Materials Science
• Ceramics and Glasses
• Composite Materials
• Metals, Alloying, and Corrosion
• Nanotechnology
• Browse content in Mathematics
• Applied Mathematics
• Biomathematics and Statistics
• History of Mathematics
• Mathematical Education
• Mathematical Finance
• Mathematical Analysis
• Numerical and Computational Mathematics
• Probability and Statistics
• Pure Mathematics
• Browse content in Neuroscience
• Cognition and Behavioural Neuroscience
• Development of the Nervous System
• Disorders of the Nervous System
• History of Neuroscience
• Invertebrate Neurobiology
• Molecular and Cellular Systems
• Neuroendocrinology and Autonomic Nervous System
• Neuroscientific Techniques
• Sensory and Motor Systems
• Browse content in Physics
• Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
• Biological and Medical Physics
• Classical Mechanics
• Computational Physics
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Electromagnetism, Optics, and Acoustics
• History of Physics
• Mathematical and Statistical Physics
• Measurement Science
• Nuclear Physics
• Particles and Fields
• Plasma Physics
• Quantum Physics
• Relativity and Gravitation
• Semiconductor and Mesoscopic Physics
• Browse content in Psychology
• Affective Sciences
• Clinical Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Criminal and Forensic Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology
• Evolutionary Psychology
• Health Psychology
• History and Systems in Psychology
• Music Psychology
• Neuropsychology
• Organizational Psychology
• Psychological Assessment and Testing
• Psychology of Human-Technology Interaction
• Psychology Professional Development and Training
• Research Methods in Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Browse content in Social Sciences
• Browse content in Anthropology
• Anthropology of Religion
• Human Evolution
• Medical Anthropology
• Physical Anthropology
• Regional Anthropology
• Social and Cultural Anthropology
• Theory and Practice of Anthropology
• Browse content in Business and Management
• Business Ethics
• Business Strategy
• Business History
• Business and Technology
• Business and Government
• Business and the Environment
• Comparative Management
• Corporate Governance
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Entrepreneurship
• Health Management
• Human Resource Management
• Industrial and Employment Relations
• Industry Studies
• Information and Communication Technologies
• International Business
• Knowledge Management
• Management and Management Techniques
• Operations Management
• Organizational Theory and Behaviour
• Pensions and Pension Management
• Public and Nonprofit Management
• Strategic Management
• Supply Chain Management
• Browse content in Criminology and Criminal Justice
• Criminal Justice
• Criminology
• Forms of Crime
• International and Comparative Criminology
• Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice
• Development Studies
• Browse content in Economics
• Agricultural, Environmental, and Natural Resource Economics
• Asian Economics
• Behavioural Finance
• Behavioural Economics and Neuroeconomics
• Econometrics and Mathematical Economics
• Economic History
• Economic Systems
• Economic Methodology
• Economic Development and Growth
• Financial Markets
• Financial Institutions and Services
• General Economics and Teaching
• Health, Education, and Welfare
• History of Economic Thought
• International Economics
• Labour and Demographic Economics
• Law and Economics
• Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics
• Microeconomics
• Public Economics
• Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
• Welfare Economics
• Browse content in Education
• Adult Education and Continuous Learning
• Care and Counselling of Students
• Early Childhood and Elementary Education
• Educational Equipment and Technology
• Educational Strategies and Policy
• Higher and Further Education
• Organization and Management of Education
• Philosophy and Theory of Education
• Schools Studies
• Secondary Education
• Teaching of a Specific Subject
• Teaching of Specific Groups and Special Educational Needs
• Teaching Skills and Techniques
• Browse content in Environment
• Applied Ecology (Social Science)
• Climate Change
• Conservation of the Environment (Social Science)
• Environmentalist Thought and Ideology (Social Science)
• Natural Disasters (Environment)
• Social Impact of Environmental Issues (Social Science)
• Browse content in Human Geography
• Cultural Geography
• Economic Geography
• Political Geography
• Browse content in Interdisciplinary Studies
• Communication Studies
• Museums, Libraries, and Information Sciences
• Browse content in Politics
• African Politics
• Asian Politics
• Chinese Politics
• Comparative Politics
• Conflict Politics
• Elections and Electoral Studies
• Environmental Politics
• European Union
• Foreign Policy
• Gender and Politics
• Human Rights and Politics
• Indian Politics
• International Relations
• International Organization (Politics)
• International Political Economy
• Irish Politics
• Latin American Politics
• Middle Eastern Politics
• Political Behaviour
• Political Economy
• Political Institutions
• Political Methodology
• Political Communication
• Political Philosophy
• Political Sociology
• Political Theory
• Politics and Law
• Public Policy
• Public Administration
• Quantitative Political Methodology
• Regional Political Studies
• Russian Politics
• Security Studies
• State and Local Government
• UK Politics
• US Politics
• Browse content in Regional and Area Studies
• African Studies
• Asian Studies
• East Asian Studies
• Japanese Studies
• Latin American Studies
• Middle Eastern Studies
• Native American Studies
• Scottish Studies
• Browse content in Research and Information
• Research Methods
• Browse content in Social Work
• Addictions and Substance Misuse
• Adoption and Fostering
• Care of the Elderly
• Child and Adolescent Social Work
• Couple and Family Social Work
• Developmental and Physical Disabilities Social Work
• Direct Practice and Clinical Social Work
• Emergency Services
• Human Behaviour and the Social Environment
• International and Global Issues in Social Work
• Mental and Behavioural Health
• Social Justice and Human Rights
• Social Policy and Advocacy
• Social Work and Crime and Justice
• Social Work Macro Practice
• Social Work Practice Settings
• Social Work Research and Evidence-based Practice
• Welfare and Benefit Systems
• Browse content in Sociology
• Childhood Studies
• Community Development
• Comparative and Historical Sociology
• Economic Sociology
• Gender and Sexuality
• Gerontology and Ageing
• Health, Illness, and Medicine
• Marriage and the Family
• Migration Studies
• Occupations, Professions, and Work
• Organizations
• Population and Demography
• Race and Ethnicity
• Social Theory
• Social Movements and Social Change
• Social Research and Statistics
• Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility
• Sociology of Religion
• Sociology of Education
• Sport and Leisure
• Urban and Rural Studies
• Browse content in Warfare and Defence
• Defence Strategy, Planning, and Research
• Land Forces and Warfare
• Military Administration
• Military Life and Institutions
• Naval Forces and Warfare
• Other Warfare and Defence Issues
• Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
• Weapons and Equipment

• < Previous chapter
• Next chapter >

3 The Division of Germany

• Published: August 2003
• Cite Icon Cite
• Permissions Icon Permissions

The future of Germany was undoubtedly the most contentious issue in post-war Europe. After the surrender of Germany in the spring of 1945, the dashes between the four occupying powers—Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States-over such issues as as the redrawing of the German-Polish border, reparations, and political power became endemic. By 1949 the differences between the former allies had helped to create the basis of the four-decade-long division of Germany and the bizarre division of Berlin into eastern and western zones.

Signed in as

Institutional accounts.

• Google Scholar Indexing
• GoogleCrawler [DO NOT DELETE]

Personal account

• Sign in with email/username & password
• Get email alerts
• Save searches
• Purchase content
• Activate your purchase/trial code

Institutional access

• Sign in with a library card Sign in with username/password Recommend to your librarian
• Institutional account management
• Get help with access

Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:

IP based access

Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.

Sign in through your institution

Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.

• Click Sign in through your institution.
• Select your institution from the list provided, which will take you to your institution's website to sign in.
• When on the institution site, please use the credentials provided by your institution. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
• Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.

Sign in with a library card

Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.

Society Members

Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:

Sign in through society site

Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:

• Click Sign in through society site.
• When on the society site, please use the credentials provided by that society. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.

If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.

Sign in using a personal account

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.

A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.

Viewing your signed in accounts

Click the account icon in the top right to:

• View your signed in personal account and access account management features.
• View the institutional accounts that are providing access.

Signed in but can't access content

Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.

For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.

Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.

• About Oxford Academic
• Publish journals with us
• University press partners
• What we publish
• New features  
• Open access
• Rights and permissions
• Accessibility
• Advertising
• Media enquiries
• Oxford University Press
• Oxford Languages
• University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

• Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
• Cookie settings
• Cookie policy
• Privacy policy
• Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

The End of WWII and the Division of Europe

Despite their wartime alliance, tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States and Great Britain intensified rapidly as the war came to a close and the leaders discussed what to do with Germany.  Post-war negotiations took place at two conferences in 1945, one before the official end of the war, and one after. These conferences set the stage for the beginning of the Cold War and of a divided Europe.

The Yalta Conference

In February 1945, when they were confident of an Allied victory, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Stalin met near Yalta, Crimea, to discuss the reorganization of post-WWII Europe. Each country’s leader had his own set of ideas for rebuilding and re-establishing order in the war-torn continent. Roosevelt wanted Soviet participation in the newly formed United Nations and immediate support from the Soviets in fighting the ongoing war in the Pacific against Japan. Churchill argued for free and fair elections leading to democratic regimes in Central and Eastern Europe, especially Poland. Stalin, on the other hand, wanted Soviet “sphere of influence” in Central and Eastern Europe, starting with Poland, in order to provide the Soviet Union with a geopolitical buffer zone between it and the western capitalist world. Clearly there were some key conflicting interests that needed to be addressed.

After much negotiation, the following outcomes of the Yalta Conference emerged :

• Unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, the division of Germany and Berlin into four occupational zones controlled by the United States, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union.
• Germans, civilians and prisoners of wars, would be punished for the war (reparations) partially through forced labor to repair the damage they caused to their country and to others.
• Poland was reorganized under the communist Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland, and Stalin promised to allow free elections there (but failed to ever follow through on it).
• The Soviet Union agreed to participate in the United Nations with a guaranteed position as a permanent member of the Security Council.
• Stalin agreed to enter the Pacific War against Japan three months after the defeat of Germany.

The Potsdam Conference

Soon after the conference it became clear that Stalin had no intension of holding up his end of negotiations. He eventually allowed for elections in Poland, but not before sending in Soviet troops to eliminate any and all opposition to the communist party in control of the provisional government. The 1947 “elections” solidified communist rule in Poland and its place as one of the first Soviet satellite states.

A second conference was held from July 17 to August 2, 1945, in Potsdam, Germany. Roosevelt had died in April, so his successor,  President Harry Truman , represented the United States. Churchill returned to represent Great Britain, but his government was defeated midway through the conference and newly elected Prime Minister Clement Attlee took over. Stalin returned as well. Stalin’s actions in Poland, and other parts of Eastern Europe were well known by this time, and it was clear that he was not to be trusted to hold his end of the bargain. In light of this, the new representatives from the United States and Great Britain were much more careful with their negotiations with Stalin. Truman in particular believed Roosevelt had been too trusting of Stalin, and became extremely suspicious of Soviet actions and Stalin’s true intensions. The final agreements at Potsdam concerned:

• The decentralization, demilitarization, denazification and democratization of Germany
• The division of Germany and Berlin, and Austria and Vienna into the four occupations zones outlined at Yalta
• Prosecution of Nazi war criminals
• Return of all Nazi annexations to their pre-war borders
• Shifting Germany’s eastern border west to reduce its size, and expulsion of German populations living outside this new border in Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary
• Transformation Germany’s pre-war heavy-industry economy (which had been extremely important for the Nazi military build-up) into a combination of agriculture and light domestic industry
• Recognition of the Soviet-controlled Polish government
• Announcement of the Potsdam Declaration by Truman, Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-sheck outlining the terms of surrender for Japan: to surrender or face “prompt and utter destruction”

Annexation:  Soviet Socialist Republics

As per its Yalta agreement, the Soviet Union was set to invade Japan on August 15. While the Potsdam declaration did not specifically mention the newly developed atomic bomb, Truman had mentioned a new powerful weapon to Stalin during the conference. The timing of the bombings, on August 6 and 9 suggest that Truman preferred to keep the Soviet Union out of the Pacific War and out of post-war dealings with Japan. Moreover, this show of nuclear prowess on the part of the United States was also a warning to the Soviet Union, and effectively ended either side’s desire to continue working together, and marked the start of the nuclear arms race that underscored geopolitical considerations of both the United States and the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War.

The Soviets annexed their first territories in eastern Poland on September 17, 1939, under the terms of the Non-Aggression Pact made with Nazi Germany. Soon after, the Red Army went to war with Finland in order to secure a buffer zone of protection for Leningrad (St. Petersburg). When the war was over, Finland ceded the territories demanded by the Soviets plus Karelia. The Soviet Union subsequently annexed the Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Moldova in 1940. Several other territories (modern-day Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Armenia) had been annexed prior to 1939.

In addition to the Republics, several countries in Eastern Europe operated as Soviet satellite states. These countries were not officially part of the USSR, but their governments were loyal Stalinists, and therefore looked to and aligned themselves with the Soviet Union politically and militarily via the Warsaw Pact.

A Divided Germany

After the Potsdam conference, Germany was divided into four occupied zones: Great Britain in the northwest, France in the southwest, the United States in the south and the Soviet Union in the east. Berlin, the capital city situated in Soviet territory, was also divided into four occupied zones. Germany also lost territory east of the Oder and Neisse rivers, which fell under Polish control. About 15 million ethnic Germans living in this territory were forced to leave, suffering terrible conditions during their expulsion. Many froze or starved to death on over-crowded trains, while others were subject to forced labor camps under Polish and Czechoslovakian governments.

West Germany, or the Federal Republic of Germany, was officially established in May 1949. East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic, was established in October 1949. Under their occupying governments, the two Germanys followed very different paths. West Germany was allied with the U.S., the U.K. and France and became a western capitalist country with a market economy. In contrast, East Germany was allied by the Soviet Union and fell under highly centralized communist rule. More information about the socioeconomic paths of the two Germanys, as well as those of Western and Eastern European countries can be found in later sections.

Video: Germany After WWII

Credits: This page was curated by CES .

The division of Germany, 1945–1949

Citation Count

Bridge to nowhere : Kaliningrad on geopolitical map between Russia and Europe

Witness to history, 1929-1969, die gruppe zero: working through wartime trauma, helmut schmidt and british-german relations: a european misunderstanding, raymond aron, the united states, and the early cold war, 1945-1953, memoirs, 1925-1950, witness to history, 1929-1969, ernest bevin: foreign secretary 1945-1951, public opinion in occupied germany: the omgus surveys, 1945-1949, related papers (5), the united states and germany in the era of the cold war, 1945–1990: the marshall plan and the origins of the cold war, 'had we known how bad things were in germany, we might have got stiffer terms': great britain and the german armistice, before bizonia: britain's economic dilemma in germany, 1945-46, britain, the cold war and the economics of german rearmament, 1949–51, east versus west in the defeat of nazi germany.

How Germany Was Divided: A History of Partition Plans

The Allies looked at various options before settling on the east-west split that defined the Cold War.

• Post date November 18, 2018
• By Nick Ottens

The way Germany was divided into Western- and Soviet-aligned republics after the Second World War was hardly a straightforward process. The Allies started thinking about whether and how to dismember Germany in the middle of the war and considered several options.

Some, like the Dutch request for territorial compensation, were ignored. Others, like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s suggestion of a north-south split, would morph into the east-west divide of the Cold War.

Monnet Plan

Much of the planning during the war assumed that Germany should be denied the capacity to ever wage war again. Hence proposals to internationalize its heavy industries in the Ruhr — or, in the case of the French, to seize them outright.

Jean Monnet, a French civil servant who would later play a major role in the creation of what is now the European Union, drafted a plan that involved taking the Ruhr area and the Saar from Germany. The rationale being not only to keep Germany weak, but also that the coal and steel industries there could speed up France’s postwar recovery.

French wartime leader Charles de Gaulle endorsed the plan, but it was never fully implemented. The Ruhr was placed under an international administration for a few years — the International Authority for the Ruhr — until the European Coal and Steel Community made it redundant.

The French got the Saar, in a way. From 1947 to 1957, it was a French protectorate. The population voted against independence in a referendum that year, which the Western powers interpreted as a desire to rejoin Germany. But France would retain the right to mine coal from the Saar until 1981.

Dutch revenge

Dutch requests for territorial compensation went largely unheeded. Frits Bakker Schut, a civil engineer, drafted several proposals on behalf of the Dutch authorities immediately after the war which would have added between 30 and 50 percent to the country’s size. The most ambitious involved the annexation of Aachen, Cologne and Münster, all major German cities, as well as the deportation of many of the Germans living there.

The plan was controversial in the Netherlands. Labor Party leader and later prime minister Willem Drees opposed it outright. Liberal and Protestant parties were wary. Only the Catholics supported it. The fact that the to-be-annexed territories were predominantly Catholic and would thus have helped them expand their share of the vote played a role.

The Catholic faction had a powerful ally in Queen Wilhelmina, who embraced the plan, but an even more powerful opponent in the United States.

In the end, the Netherlands got only a few border towns from the Germans, nearly all of which were returned in 1963 after what was then West Germany had paid reparations.

Morgenthau Plan

The Americans shared the French belief that Germany’s industrial capacity should be diminished in order to prevent another war.

Henry Morgenthau, President Roosevelt’s treasury secretary, suggested that both the Ruhr and the Saar should be either annexed by Germany’s neighbors or placed under international supervision. Heavy industries elsewhere in Germany would be dismantled, even if this meant hampering the postwar recovery.

Beyond depriving the Germans of the means to wage war, there was an express American desire to punish them collectively.

Roosevelt had no patience for those who argued that ordinary Germans shouldn’t be blamed for the crimes of the Nazi regime. “The German people must have it driven home to them that the whole nation has been engaged in a lawless conspiracy against the decencies of modern civilization,” he argued.

The British, the State Department and the Republican opposition in the United States all had their doubts about treating the Germans so harshly. They anyway worried that publicizing such plans during the war would only strengthen the Nazis in their resolve to fight to the bitter end.

Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels hoped so. When Morgenthau’s plans leaked, he used them to try to persuade the Germans they had no hope but to seek an increasingly elusive Endsieg .

Like Monnet’s plan, Morgenthau’s was never implemented in its original form. It must not be confused — as some neo-Nazis do up to this day — with Theodore Kaufman’s virulent anti-German plan, self-published in 1941, to wipe Austria and Germany off the map completely.

Three Germanys

Around the time Morgenthau developed his plan, Sumner Welles, Roosevelt’s former undersecretary of state, published his own proposal in Life magazine which called for the creation of three states: a Western Germany, including Hamburg, Hannover, Saxony and Westphalia; a Southern Germany, including the Rhineland and predominantly Catholic Bavaria and Württemberg; and an Eastern Germany, composed of the predominantly Protestant Brandenburg, Pomerania and Silesia.

Welles proposed ceding the whole of East Prussia to Poland.

Unlike Morgenthau, Welles did not seek to strangle the German economy. He hoped that dividing Germany’s agricultural and industrial resources more or less equally between three states would prevent any one from being able to lord over the others and subsequently Europe.

His thinking was that centralization had enabled German militarism, which Welles — like many Americans at the time — took for granted and blamed for both world wars.

“If Hitler had not abolished all the remaining barriers between the former German states,” he wrote, “German militarism could never have carried out its policies so successfully in the years between 1933 and 1939.”

That’s what-if history, but there is something to be said for powerful state governments that can act as a check on a wrongheaded center. That’s why the Allies made West Germany a federation after the war. To this day, education, job training, infrastructure and transportation all either fall under the purview of the Länder or responsibility is shared between them and the federal government in Berlin.

Roosevelt’s north-south split

The idea of splitting Germany into a northern and a southern half may not have originated with Welles. On his way to the Cairo and Tehran Conferences of 1943, President Roosevelt himself sketched out a similar proposal. He put predominantly Catholic Baden, Bavaria and Württemberg in one state and divided the mostly Protestant north along a line running from Stettin to Berlin to Leipzig to Bayreuth.

Roosevelt’s thinking, wrote British prime minister Winston Churchill in his memoirs, was that Prussia needed to be detached from the rest and treated “sternly”. By this point, the American leader apparently did not blame western and southern Germans for the war anymore. “I should like to see them live tolerably,” he said at Tehran, “and in a generation they would feel differently.”

The United States, Roosevelt believed, should take responsibility for the northwestern zone, including Bremen and Hamburg, as well as Berlin. The British would take the south; the Soviets the remaining territory in the east.

The American and British zones ended up the other way around, because planning for the invasion of Europe was already underway by the middle of 1943. This called for British and Commonwealth troops to attack from the north, through the Low Countries, and for the Americans to invade Germany from the south.

The British were keen on this division of labor, because it meant they would be in a position to oversee the dismantling of the German fleet.

Roosevelt, for his part, wasn’t fixated on the south for any other reason than he feared it would imply taking on responsibility for postwar France and possibly Italy as well, given supply lines and their proximity. When Churchill assured him this wouldn’t be the case, he was persuaded.

Anglo-Soviet stitch-up

Churchill generally followed Roosevelt’s thinking and said the idea of a “Danubian Confederation”, comprised of the southern German states, Austria and Hungary, had “always been attractive” to him. But when he met with Joseph Stalin in Moscow the following year, the Soviet leader insisted on keeping Hungary separate.

“Uncle Joe wants Poland, Czecho and Hungary to form a realm of independent anti-Nazi, pro-Russian states,” he reported.

Churchill came up with a proposal similar to Roosevelt’s, except it put the border between the two northern zones much farther to the west.

He was also inclined to respect the historical boundaries of the German states. Whereas Roosevelt had drawn a straight line through the Rhineland, Hesse and north of Bavaria, Churchill sensibly stuck with the borders the Germans already knew.

The Soviets approved; the Americans were appalled. Churchill had not only taken the division of Germany out of Anglo-American hands and brought the Soviets into the equation; he had promised the Russians far more territory than Roosevelt. That would prove impossible to take back.

Four-way split

The decision to split Germany into four occupational zones (including one for the French) was made at Yalta in February 1945. But the Allied leaders didn’t decide then and there what the borders of those zones would be, nor if they should be permanent.

It wasn’t until the Potsdam Conference five months later, when the war in Europe had ended, that the powers agreed on the division that would persist throughout the Cold War.

France got the Saar and part of the Rhineland. The British took the north, with the ports of Bremen and Hamburg. (Although rather than scuttle the German fleet, most ships were divided among the victors.) Large parts of Prussia were ceded to Poland, which would for all intents and purposes be a Soviet puppet state. The Russians took part of East Prussia for themselves and called it Kaliningrad.

The Potsdam agreement called for an “orderly” expulsion of Germans from the eastern territories (which made millions homeless) and the dismantling of heavy industries. It didn’t take the Western Allies more than a few years to realize this had been a terrible mistake. By keeping the West Germans down, they were not only breeding German resentment; they were holding back the economic recovery of the whole of Western Europe.

When this policy was reversed in the late 1940s, and West Germany given Marshall aid from the United States, it paved the way for the famed Wirtschaftswunder that lifted all of free Europe’s spirits.

The Soviets, by contrast, kept sucking reparations out of their Germany, which would set its recovery back by years, if not decades.

• Tags Cold War History Maps

Fascinating as usual! As a kid I spent hours poring over atlases and redrawing the world’s borders to my heart’s content. Maybe I did a better job than the politicians and other professionals who drew the real borders! How many of today’s wars and massacres and other evils originate with badly-drawn borders?

It sounds like Churchill was seriously thinking of re-establishing the Austro-Hungarian Empire! His softness towards Stalin is strange, given his strident anti-Communism before and after WW2. His Branson, Missouri ‘Iron Curtain’ speech is rightly famous, but he never admitted his own role in erecting that Curtain.

It seems both he and Roosevelt somewhat underestimated Stalin’s intentions.

If you’re interested in drawing borders, you may also be interested in this story on one of my other websites. I wrote it on the centennial of the Sykes-Picot Agreement.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

The Art of James Nichols

The Art of Alex Varanese

Palast der Republik

De Gaulle’s Cold War

Economics CAGE Research Centre

Reshaping infrastructure: evidence from the division of germany.

456/2020 Marta Santamaria

Can governments adjust transportation infrastructure to unexpected economic changes? This paper studies the importance of flexibility in the development of a transport network exploiting the division of Germany. To understand the incentives behind infrastructure construction, I develop a multi-region quantitative trade model with endogenous infrastructure choice and calibrate it to the pre-war German economy. I exploit the division of Germany, an exogenous change in borders, to test the ability of the model to predict highway development before and after the division. Using newly collected data, I document that the West German government considerably reshaped the highway network after the division shock. The reshaping of the network increased aggregate welfare by 1.24% to 2.13%. However, this reshaping was constrained by the part of the network developed before the division. I quantify the cost of path-dependence from these pre-division highway links. The ability to reshape the full network could have increased aggregate welfare by an additional 1.86%.

Economic History

Share Publication

This website works best with JavaScript switched on. Please enable JavaScript

• Centre Services
• Associate Extranet
• All About Maths

AS and A-level History

• Specification
• Planning resources
• Teaching resources
• Assessment resources
• Introduction
• Specification at a glance
• 1A The Age of the Crusades, c1071–1204
• 1B Spain in the Age of Discovery, 1469–1598 (A-level only)
• 1C The Tudors: England, 1485–1603
• 1D Stuart Britain and the Crisis of Monarchy, 1603–1702
• 1E Russia in the Age of Absolutism and Enlightenment, 1682–1796 (A-level only)
• 1F Industrialisation and the people: Britain, c1783–1885
• 1G Challenge and transformation: Britain, c1851–1964
• 1H Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855–1964
• 1J The British Empire, c1857–1967
• 1K The making of a Superpower: USA, 1865–1975
• 1L The quest for political stability: Germany, 1871–1991
• 2A Royal Authority and the Angevin Kings, 1154–1216
• 2B The Wars of the Roses, 1450–1499
• 2C The Reformation in Europe, c1500–1564 (A-level only)
• 2D Religious conflict and the Church in England, c1529–c1570
• 2E The English Revolution, 1625–1660
• 2F The Sun King: Louis XIV, France and Europe, 1643–1715 (A-level only)
• 2G The Birth of the USA, 1760–1801
• 2H France in Revolution, 1774–1815 (A-level only)
• 2J America: A Nation Divided, c1845–1877
• 2K International Relations and Global Conflict, c1890–1941 (A-level only)
• 2L Italy and Fascism, c1900–1945
• 2M Wars and Welfare: Britain in Transition, 1906–1957
• 2N Revolution and dictatorship: Russia, 1917–1953

2O Democracy and Nazism: Germany, 1918–1945

• 2P The Transformation of China, 1936–1997
• 2Q The American Dream: reality and illusion, 1945–1980
• 2R The Cold War, c1945–1991
• 2S The Making of Modern Britain, 1951–2007
• 2T The Crisis of Communism: The USSR and the Soviet Empire, 1953–2000 (A-level only)
• Component 3: Historical investigation (non-exam assessment) (A-level only)
• Scheme of assessment
• Non-exam assessment administration
• General administration

This option provides for the study in depth of a period of German history during which a newly developed democratic form of government gave way to a dictatorial Nazi regime. It explores political concepts such as 'right' and 'left', nationalism and liberalism as well as ideological concepts such as racialism, anti-Semitism and Social Darwinism. It also encourages reflection on how governments work and the problems of democratic states as well as consideration of what creates and sustains a dictatorship.

Part one: the Weimar Republic, 1918–1933

The establishment and early years of weimar, 1918–1924.

• The impact of war and the political crises of October to November 1918; the context for the establishment of the Weimar Constitution; terms, strengths and weaknesses
• The Peace Settlement: expectations and reality; terms and problems; attitudes within Germany and abroad
• Economic and social issues: post-war legacy and the state of the German economy and society; reparations, inflation and hyperinflation; the invasion of the Ruhr and its economic impact; social welfare and the social impact of hyperinflation
• Political instability and extremism; risings on the left and right, including the Kapp Putsch; the political impact of the invasion of the Ruhr; the Munich Putsch; problems of coalition government and the state of the Republic by 1924

The 'Golden Age' of the Weimar Republic, 1924–1928

• Economic developments: Stresemann; the Dawes Plan; industry, agriculture and the extent of recovery; the reparations issue and the Young Plan
• Social developments: social welfare reforms; the development of Weimar culture; art, architecture, music, theatre, literature and film; living standards and lifestyles
• Political developments and the workings of democracy: President Hindenburg; parties ; elections and attitudes to the Republic from the elites and other social groups; the position of the extremists, including the Nazis and Communists; the extent of political stability
• Germany’s international position; Stresemann's foreign policy aims and achievements including: Locarno; the League of Nations; the Treaty of Berlin; the end of allied occupation and the pursuit of disarmament

The Collapse of Democracy, 1928–1933

• The economic, social and political impact of the Depression: elections; governments and policies
• The appeal of Nazism and Communism; the tactics and fortunes of the extremist parties, including the role of propaganda
• Hindenburg, Papen, Schleicher and the 'backstairs intrigue' leading to Hitler’s appointment as chancellor
• Political developments: the Reichstag Fire; parties and elections; the Enabling Act and the end of democracy; the state of Germany by March 1933

Part two: Nazi Germany, 1933–1945 (A-level only)

The nazi dictatorship, 1933–1939 (a-level only).

• Hitler’s consolidation of power, March 1933–1934: governmental and administrative change and the establishment of the one-party state; the Night of the Long Knives and the impact of the death of President Hindenburg
• The 'Terror State': the police, including the SS and Gestapo; the courts; extent, effectiveness and limitations of opposition and non-conformity; propaganda: aims, methods and impact; extent of totalitarianism
• Economic policies and the degree of economic recovery; Schacht; Goering; the industrial elites
• Social policies: young people; women; workers; the churches; the degree of Volksgemeinschaft; benefits and drawbacks of Nazi rule

The Racial State, 1933–1941 (A-level only)

• The radicalisation of the state: Nazi racial ideology; policies towards the mentally ill, asocials, homosexuals, members of religious sects, the Roma and Sinti
• Anti-Semitism: policies and actions towards the Jews, including the boycott of Jewish shops and the Nuremberg Laws
• The development of anti-Semitic policies and actions; the effect of the Anschluss; Reichkristallnacht; emigration; the impact of the war against Poland
• The treatment of Jews in the early years of war: the Einsatzgruppen; ghettos and deportations

The impact of War, 1939–1945 (A-level only)

• Rationing, indoctrination, propaganda and morale; the changing impact of war on different sections of society including the elites, workers, women and youth
• The wartime economy and the work of Speer; the impact of bombing; the mobilisation of the labour force and prisoners of war
• Policies towards the Jews and the ‘untermenschen’ during wartime; the Wannsee Conference and the 'Final Solution'
• Opposition and resistance in wartime including students, churchmen, the army and civilian critics; assassination attempts and the July Bomb Plot; overview of the Nazi state by 1945

Primary Sources: Germany: East & West Germany

• Medieval & Renaissance
• German Empire
• Weimar Republic
• Third Reich
• The Holocaust This link opens in a new window
• Post-WW II, 1945-1949
• East & West Germany
• Fall of the Berlin Wall
• Reunification
• Foreign Relations
• Visual & Fine Arts
• Personal Narratives
• Notable People This link opens in a new window

Online Sources: East & West Germany

• Berlin Wall Falls (1989)
• A Different October Revolution: Dismantling the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe
• Germany under Reconstruction more... less... "This digital collection provides a varied selection of publications in both English and German from the period immediately following World War II. Many are publications of the U.S. occupying forces, including reports and descriptions of efforts to introduce U.S.-style democracy to Germany. Some of the other books and documents describe conditions in a country devastated by years of war, efforts at political, economic and cultural development, and the differing perspectives coming from the U.S. and British zones and the Russian zone of occupation. At the same time, the Germans themselves and the occupying forces look back at the National Socialist period and try to come to terms with what had happened."
• Let Us Live! more... less... "This film tells the story of refugees entering West Berlin to escape Soviet-controlled East Germany. It describes the immigration process followed by asylum-seekers and depicts life in the refugee camps of West Berlin. We hear several refugees tell why they chose to leave the Soviet zone." U.S. National Archives YouTube
• Making the History of 1989 - The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe more... less... "Over 300 primary sources, including government documents, images, videos, and artifacts with introductory notes." George Mason University
• Remarks on East-West Relations at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin (a.k.a. tear down this wall)

Book Sources: East & West Germany

• A selection of books/e-books available in Trible Library.
• Click the title for location and availability information.

Search for More

• Suggested terms to look for include - diary, diaries, letters, papers, documents, documentary or correspondence.
• Combine these these terms with the event or person you are researching. (example: civil war diary)
• Also search by subject for specific people and events, then scan the titles for those keywords or others such as memoirs, autobiography, report, or personal narratives.
• << Previous: Post-WW II, 1945-1949
• Next: Fall of the Berlin Wall >>
• Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024 2:25 PM
• URL: https://cnu.libguides.com/psgermany

Bruce Drysdale 5th-grade student advances to national finals in DAR's essay contest

Bruce Drysdale fifth grader Lia Martinonis has advanced to the national finals in the Daughters of the American Revolution 2024 Essay Contest, and each time her essay has advanced, her family has celebrated with a cake.

She is anxiously hoping for more cake. Martinonis is one of eight fifth-grade finalists in the nation, and so far, she's won three awards for her essay — one at the local level, one at the state level and the latest for the Southeastern Division.

"I am unbelievably proud. I have felt both shocked and pleased each time I learned that I had won," she said.

And there's prize money involved: $1,000 for first place, $500 for second place and $250 for third place. The winners will be recognized at the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Continental Congress, which is being held June 26-30 in Washington, D.C.

The topic for the contest was “Stars and Stripes Forever.” Essay writers were asked to imagine they were a newspaper reporter for The Philadelphia Times on May 14, 1897, and the newspaper's editor asked them to attend and report on the first public performance of John Philip Sousa’s new march, “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” The students were to tell about Sousa’s life and the story behind the song.

Lia was with her family on April 20 in Durham to receive the state award, her mother, Andrea, said.

"This essay contest has been an incredible experience for Lia. My daughter aspires to be a writer when she grows up," Andrea Martinonis said. "This opportunity has given her the confidence to pursue that dream. Lia researched the essay subject, learned about American history, honed her writing skills, and read her speech to a large audience at the initial award ceremony. 

"As an educator, I couldn't be more pleased that DAR sponsors this contest, encouraging students to write essays and learn about our nation's past. As a parent, I am thrilled that my daughter chooses to spend her free time reading and writing and that her interests and skills are being recognized."

More: North Henderson student one of four grand prize winners in national essay contest

Lia said her teacher, April Summey, assigned the essay contest to her class.

"I remember being frustrated when drafting my essay, but now I am so glad my hard work paid off. I still cannot believe this is all happening," Lia Martinonis said.  

This part of her essay describes Sousa talking about composing his new march:

"...Sousa said that he composed the song in his head on his return to America as he grieved the death of his beloved band manager, David Blakely. Sousa said, “In a kind of dreamy way, I used to think over old days at Washington when I was leader of the Marine Band…when we played at all public functions, and I could see the Stars and Stripes flying from the flagstaff.” He also stated, “And that flag of ours became glorified… And to my imagination it seemed to be the biggest, grandest flag in the world, and I could not get back under it quick enough.”

More: Apple Valley Middle student one of four grand prize winners in national contest

Summey called Lia a phenomenal, gifted student who "always goes above and beyond."

"She thrives on a challenge and is an avid learner. Her contagious curiosity shines brightly as she lights up upon acquiring new knowledge," Summey said. "Every year, my fifth grade students work on the DAR essay. They are given a prompt and required to read multiple primary and secondary sources about the topic in order to prepare. I am very passionate about the contest, because it helps students learn history and get excited about it." 

Dean Hensley is the news editor for the Hendersonville Times-News. Email him with tips, questions and comments at [email protected]. Please help support this kind of local journalism with a subscription to the Hendersonville Times-News.

Mercedes-Benz to launch luxury electric van for Chinese market

• Medium Text

• Company Mercedes-Benz Group AG Follow

Sign up here.

Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Kirsten Donovan

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

Business Chevron

2024 Ageing Report. Economic and Budgetary Projections for the EU Member States (2022-2070)

Description.

This report presents the projections showing the economic and budgetary impact of an ageing population over the long term.

Information and identifiers

Institutional Paper 279. April 2024. Brussels. PDF. 358pp. Tab. Graph. Bibliogr. Free.

KC-BC-24-006-EN-N ISBN 978-92-68-13780-2 (online) ISSN 2443-8014 (online) doi:10.2765/022983 (online)

JEL classification : J10, J11, J18, J21, J26, I0, O4, H55

European Economy Institutional Papers are important reports analysing the economic situation and economic developments prepared by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, which serve to underpin economic policy-making by the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament. Views expressed in unofficial documents do not necessarily represent the views of the European Commission.

Related links

Share this page