Title: Drawing the line : the American decision to divide Germany, 1944-1949 /
Authors: Eisenberg, Carolyn.; Vidal, Gore, 1925-2012,
Publisher: Cambridge University Press,
Year: 1996
Subjects: Military government Germany History; Reconstruction (1939-1951) Germany; Denazification.; United States Foreign relations Germany.; Germany Foreign relations United States.; Germany Politics and government; Germany Economic conditions
Abstract: In this fresh and challenging study of the origins of the Cold War, Professor Eisenberg traces the American role in dividing postwar Germany. Drawing on many original documentary sources, she examines the Allied meeting on the Elbe, follows the Great Powers through their confrontation in Berlin, and ends with the creation of the West German state in the fall of 1949. Unlike many works in the field, this book argues that the partition of Germany was fundamentally an American decision. U.S. policy makers chose partition, mobilized reluctant West Europeans behind that approach, and, by excluding the Soviets from West Germany, contributed to the isolation of East Germany and the emergence of the post-World War II U.S.-Soviet rivalry. The volume casts new light on the Berlin blockade, demonstrating that the United States rejected United Nations mediation and relied on its nuclear monopoly as the means of protecting its German agenda.
Contents: Plans -- Making peace -- The limits of reform: the US zone -- A fragile friendship -- The Russian challenge -- Bizonal beginnings -- The doctors deliberate -- Marshall's medicine -- A separate state -- Cold War Germany -- Winning -- Conclusion: the American decision to divide Germany.