Positive and Negative Effects of Cold War on Germany

When looking at the Cold War most everyone begins to think about the United States and the Soviet Union. Even though these were the major countries that brought it up there are also other countries that people sometimes leave out of the picture. Take Germany for example during the Cold War period Germany was dealing with positive and negative effects that it was producing. The negative effects can be seen in the division of Germany itself and the construction of the Berlin Wall. However there were some positive things that came from it too like capitalism and democracy and just western influence in general.

The negative effects of the Cold War on Germany had a real hard impact on the country. After WWII and the fall of Hitler Germany was broken up into four different sections. They were divided among the British, French, Americans, and Russians. With this division of the country families were separated and Germany’s materials were used up by each sector. Depending on where the families lived some would have been put on one side or another and would have not been able to communicate with one another. By this happening Germany began to fall apart even more.

Germany’s economy also suffered by the division because they were having to pay reparations to the four other countries for the cost of war. There factories and raw materials were also being used for the use of the other countries also to help them produce more goods. In later years of the Cold War the western powers (U.S., France, and British) decided to emerge their sections with each other to form one major section that would be called West Germany, and East Germany would belong to the communist Soviet Union. When the sections became divided into east and west, the western powers tried to airlift things they needed to help the people living in those areas and bring in goods that they need to survive. The Soviet Union tried to put a blockade up to prevent this from happening. When the Soviet Union started preventing the aid from getting to the west side people began to move over to the west section of Germany.

This angered the Soviet Union and they constructed a wall, called the Berlin Wall, which separated east and west Germany. This wall had a negative effect on Germany throughout the war because it prevented families from uniting and it also prevented aid from getting into the western section. Many German people tried to scale the wall and cross over, some made it and most were killed by the Soviets. The division of Germany first had a negative affect just by dividing up the country, but then the Berlin Wall came into the picture and really hurt the German people.

The positive effects that the Cold War brought to Germany were mostly western influenced originated. The new idea for a switch of government from a dictatorship to a more of a democracy was one of the major positive effects that Germany faced. There is no doubt that Germany picked up the democratic government from western influence because the majority of the countries that occupied it were democratic. These democratic ideas helped turned a corrupt and struggling dictatorship into a prospering and rebuilding capitalist nation. With the influence of capitalism Germany’s economy began to rise up again and help the nation begin to rebuild for the future. When the government begins to change so does the way that people live their lives.

With all of the western influence Germany began to experience such things as new types of music, different foods, and other items. Germany began to become more westernized when things such as rock and roll music brought in inspiring messages for young people to motivate them to take a role in society. These western things that were being brought into Germany helped to change Germany’s government and helped them begin to get back up on their feet and become an independent nation once again.

The Cold War was a tough time on several nations around the world in more ways than one. Each nation also had positive and negative effects that the Cold War brought along with and for Germany some of the negative effects eventually lead to positive effects that later on would help the country prosper under a different government and new ideas for the future.