Germany, Cold War

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Following World War II, disagreement among the wartime Allies over the future of Germany became one of the first flashpoints of the Cold War. On the one hand the USSR sought to weaken Germany in order to avoid future war, and promote communism; on the other, the Western Allies (the USA, UK, and France) wanted to reassert democracy and rebuild German industry as a bulwark against communist ideology. After 1947 Germany was divided into East and West sectors, the division being formalized following the Berlin blockade 1948–49 and the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961. Rapid militarization ensued on both sides of the East–West border as Germany became the front line in the Cold War. With the collapse of Soviet power 1989–91, East Germany disintegrated and the reunification of East and West Germany took place in 1990.

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