World War II in Europe - Divergence of German States

Background

After the end of World War II in Europe, what territorially remained of pre-1945 Germany had been divided into four occupation zones (thanks to the Yalta Conference), each one controlled by one of the four occupying Allied powers: the Americans, British, French and Soviets. The old capital of of the Allied Control Council, was itself similarly subdivided into four zones. Although the intent was for the occupying powers to govern Germany together inside the 1947 borders, the advent of Cold War tension caused the French, British and American zones to be formed into the Federal Republic of Germany (and West Berlin) in 1949, excluding the Soviet zone which then formed the German Democratic Republic (including East Berlin) the same year.

Divergence of German states

From 1948 onwards, West Germany developed into a western capitalist country with a social market and a democratic parliamentary government. Prolonged economic growth starting in the 1950s fuelled a 30-year "economic miracle". Across