Federal Republic of Germany—Often referred to as
“West Germany” during the Cold War, it was estab-
lished in 1949 as a Western-style democracy with a
market-based economy. The Federal Republic of
Germany still exists today and now includes East
Germany, which it absorbed during reunification in
the 1990s.
German Democratic Republic—Often referred to as
“East Germany” during the Cold War, it was estab-
lished as a hardline socialist state in the model of the
USSR. East Germany was home to a highly sophisti-
cated and repressive security force called the Stasi.
A “cold” war—The US and the USSR never en-
gaged in direct combat but competed for influence
across the world, thus the “cold” war. However, they
fought each other indirectly through proxy wars.
The Cold War
The Cold War was a period of heightened tension between the
communist world, led by the Soviet Union, and the capitalist
West, led by the United States. This period, which began soon
after World War II, brought with it the rise of nuclear weapons as
a global threat, the Space Race, and several proxy wars. The
Cold War ended in the late 1980s, when communist regimes in
Eastern Europe collapsed and the United States and the USSR
signed a series of arms reduction agreements.
During the Second World War, the Soviet Union entered into an alliance
with the Allied Powers. Together with the United States, Britain, and other
Western capitalist nations, the Soviet Union defeated Nazi Germany.
When the war ended in 1945, the Allied Powers occupied Germany. The
Soviet Union controlled Germany’s northeast, while the US, Britain, and
France divided the western and southern regions into zones of occupa-
tion. The capital, Berlin, was also divided between the three powers.
Disagreements between the three Western nations and the Soviet Union
over what to do with postwar Germany appeared almost immediately.
The Soviet Union, which suffered much greater casualties than the other
allies during the war, wanted to decide the fate of Berlin and feared West-
ern plans to reunite Germany—a country that had recently invaded and
devastated the USSR.
Negotiations broke down and in 1948 the USSR announced that the high-
way and rail lines connecting West Germany to Berlin would be closed.
West Berlin was effectively cut off from the rest of the world. In response,
the US began flying supplies into West Berlin, bypassing ground trans-
portation. This operation, known as the Berlin Airlift, helped force the So-
viet Union to relent and reopen supply routes.
The next year, the Western powers helped establish the Federal Republic
of Germany, which would come to be known as West Germany. The So-
viet Union responded by establishing the German Democratic Republic, a
socialist state based on the Soviet model. As east-west tensions rose in
the ensuing years, East Germany built a wall dividing East Berlin from
West Berlin. The Berlin Wall became one of the defining symbols of the
Cold War.
The Berlin Wall divided the city until 1989, the year communism began to
fall in Eastern Europe.
Updated: June 2017
C L A S S R O O M C O U N T R Y P R O F I L E S
The Berlin Wall was a symbol of the Cold War.
