· The new government structures and political developments under Adenauer; reasons for Adenauer’s longevity as Chancellor

· Economic recovery; Erhard and the social market economy; the impact of social and economic developments

· Foreign policy, NATO, the EEC, and West Germany’s rehabilitation as a sovereign state in Europe; the Hallstein doctrine and attitudes to reunification

Key texts:

· Waller – chapter 3

· Turner – chapter 4

· Fulbrook p142-153

· Handouts in class (OCR p168-176)

And, remember A2 students read widely!

Big news!

August 1949 – the first free national elections in Germany since 1932. AND Germany had had only 14 years of democracy before 1949!

· Draw yourself a pie chart of the composition of the Bundestag in 1949.

· Which groups of people tended to support the 1) CDU/CSU, 2) SDP and 3) FDP – and why?

· Why did a CDU/CSU and FDP coalition form with Adenauer as Chancellor?

Everywhere you make a note of Adenauer either underline his name, or design a symbol that makes him stand out in your notes.

· Write a short CV for Adenauer up to August 1945.

· Underline the experiences that will have had a particular impact on his politics and annotate the CV with brief explanation of these.

· What did everyone expect in 1945? What actually happened?

· Why did “der Alte” appeal to most West Germans?

· Why were Adenauer and the CDU/CSU able to dominate in the 1950s?

Inauguration of Konrad Adenauer as the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (September 15, 1949)

Political policies to 1957

Make a short set of notes to explain how Adenauer’s government tackled:

· Reconstruction

· Compensation

· Setting up the Bundeswehr

· Rehabilitation of some Nazis

NB: For each point, make sure you can provide a firm piece of evidence that it was successful.

Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Defense Minister Theodor Blank Visit the First Bundeswehr Training Battalion (January 20, 1956)

Seine Kameraden - unsere Verbündeten
Werbeplakat für die in die NATO integrierte Bundeswehr.
Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung Bundesrepublik Deutschland, um 1956 Druck

· What did Ludwig Erhard become?

· Describe his economic and social beliefs. (make sure you can define soziale Marktwirtschaft)

· What steps did the government take to promote free enterprise?

· Describe the welfare state that was set up at the same time.

Das Wirtschaftswunder

(economic miracle)

What was it? Why did it happen? The consequences?

· Categorise the causes and consequences thematically.

· Write notes for a speech by a member of the SPD criticising the government’s economic policy.

· Write a brief profile of the German Trade Union League

· What were the contents and the significance of the 1951 Codetermination Law? (It may help to draw diagrams here.)

· How did the 1952 Factory Constitution Law show that the business community had lobbied Adenauer effectively? How was it nevertheless effective?

· What role did the Marshall Plan play in stimulating the FRG economy?

· Why did the West German economy grow so rapidly in the 1950s?

Thomas Mann

Günter Eich

· What two sides of the same movement do these two men represent?

· What were the aims and influence of Group 47?

List some key members:

· What 2 remarkable things had happened to West Germany and West Germans by the mid-1950s?

Think: How far did the West Germans facilitate their own economic and political recovery?

· What additional role did Adenauer hold until 1955?

· What was he anxious to see removed?

· What was Adenauer’s attitude to reunification and why?

· What did he opt for?

· How did his personality and background help him to adopt this position?

· Why could he not state his position publically?

· What was the ‘policy of strength’ and how did it make reunification less likely in the short term?

· Why was Schumacher so opposed to Adenauer’s policy of not prioritising reunification?

· What did Schumacher mean when he denounced Adenauer as ‘The Chancellor of the Allies’?

Foreign policy advances

Why are these dates key?

· October 1949

· End of 1949

· June 1950

· March 1951

· April 1951

· May 1951

· How did the war in Korea accelerate the Western integration and expansion of the Bonn government’s authority?

· What was the EDC plan?

· How did Adenauer use the situation to build the power of West Germany?

· What had the western Allies conceded by July 1951?

· What was worked out by May 1952?

· How did it change the status of foreign troops in West Germany?

· What was agreed in draft (excluding Berlin)?

· Why did it never come into effect?

· What was Eden’s plan of 1954? What extra restrictions did it place on the FRG? (Need detail here)

· What did the FRG gain when the Paris Treaties came into effect in May 1955?

Think: what had the FRG achieved within 12 years of total defeat?

· List the careful steps taken in the formation of the Bundeswehr to avoid a culture of militarism and aggression.

· What was the Bundeswehr by 1961?

Meanwhile, back in the USSR!

· What did Stalin suggest in 1952? What were his conditions? Why had the proposal lost credibility by 1955?

· To what extent was 1952 a lost chance for reunification?

· What was the contrast between the public and private positions of the USSR towards the FRG in 1955?

· What did Adenauer do and achieve in September 1955? What did it seem to justify?

After consultations with the Western allies, Adenauer accepted this invitation to visit Moscow between September 8 and September 14. In nerve-racking talks and negotiations, during which the Soviet negotiators oscillated abruptly between jovial/friendly and offensive/accusatory tones, an agreement was finally reached: diplomatic relations would be established, and in return the Soviets gave a verbal promise that all German prisoners of war and interned civilians still held in the Soviet Union would be released.

· Describe FRG actions in the 1950s to atone for the Nazi past.

· What was the position of ex-Nazis in the FRG in the 1950s?

· Trace the history of the Saarland from 1945 to 1957.

· Draw two pie-charts for the 1953 and 1957 Bundestag elections.

· Account for the CDU/CSU success.

· How had the Bundestag changed by 1957?

· What had the Constitutional Court done?

· Why did the SPD adopt the Godesberg Program in 1959?

· How did the SPD change at this time and as a result of the Program?

· Put together a short biography of Willy Brandt up to September 1961?

· What was the result of the 1961 election?

The Hallstein Doctrine

Kettenacker: “Right from the point of departure in 1955, (West) German foreign policy got stuck.”

· What was it?

· How effective was it?

· What were its limitations?