Germany After World War II History Essay Sample

During and following the end of the World War II, allied and neutral countries made it their goal to make sure that after the second time Germany would finally learn their lesson, and any government would be prevented from following in the footsteps of the Nazi regime ever again. During the winddown of the war in 1944, United States Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr proposed a plan of attack to dismantle and destroy German infrastructure so that the German people could learn harshly from their mistake and prevent such happenings from ever happening again. His plan became known as the Morgenthau plan, although it was never adopted it was the precursor of its eventual competitor. Its competitor the Mashall Plan was eventually adopted in 1948, and this was a detailed plan on how to recover and help restore the German nation to a democratic society, at least on the West half. The plan split Germany into East and West Germany with the East being controlled by the Soviet Union and the West being controlled by France, Britian, and The United States. With implementation of the Marshall plan the United States sought to make a profit off the economy of the rebuilding nation and with that Germanys economy also experienced a massive growth, giving way for many Germans to forget their Nazi past and move on without a problem.  

In the closing years of the war the Allied nations knew that they had to produce a plan for the German territory for the eventual surrender. Given that this was the second time that Germany had instigated a world war many in the Allied nations felt that something harsh was necessary to prove to the German people that this can never happen again. In 1944 Henry Morgenthau Jr proposed his plan dubbed the Morgenthau plan, which was a proposal to eliminate all German industry that could produce or engineer any military or powerful economic prowess. After the war ended, however it was determined by research done by former president Herbert Hoover that the details of the Morgenthau plan would result in the death of over 25 million German citizens by starvation, and the United States and other allied nations wanted to focus on budling a productive and stabilized Germany thus implementing in 1948 what is known as the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan named after United States Secretary of State George C. Marshall, was a plan developed by the United States with an attempt to revitalize Germanys economy not only to benefit Europe but also to benefit the United States, while also “stopping the spread of communism.” The goal of the Marshall plan which it eventually succeeded with was to boost the German economy and obtain growth throughout Europe while removing trade restrictions and barriers all while benefiting the United States back home. The United States was highly successful in implementing this plan leading to what is known as the German Miracle which was an enormous unanticipated comeback of the Germany economy after the destruction of World War II, and the United States economy profited off this success as well. The funding that was given to help jumpstart Germanys economy was then turned around and spent back to the United States to ship things over to Germany, thus creating an economic boom for both participating parties.  

In regard to the denazification of Germany during this period looking back on the effects of the Marshall plan and the economic post-war boom of Germany historians note that the rapid bounce back of the economy gave way for some but not all Nazi sympathizers to push they had done or agreed with behind them and focus on the future of the country. After the wars end it was made clear that German citizens needed to be punished for aiding in the rise of Hitler but that mostly went to high-ranking government and military leaders, the rest of the country was left to “learn” about their past mistakes. In the textbook written by Fulbrook she articulates how the country planned to move on from the atrocities and compared it with how they did it, “denazification in the western zones was a case of cumbersome bureaucracy, relative inefficiency, and unintended consequences. . . It also led Germans to try to excuse and cover up their pasts, rather than genuinely confront their degrees of complicity in the Third Reich. . . by and large former Nazis were slowly reincorporated into West German life, with the exception of major war criminals, some of whom were dealt with at the Nuremberg trials”(Fulbrook). Here Fulbrook demonstrates that although some high-ranking officials were eventually put on the stand at the Nuremberg trials much of the German people were given the space to put their past behind them and focus on the economic boom of the post-war period, this is in some cases caused by the Marshall plan putting such an emphasis on the broadening of trade boarders and economic prosperity in Europe.  

As World War II was concluding there was a common consensus around world leaders that something must be done to Germany to prevent any sort of problem like this from happening again. At first the plan was forming through the Morgenthau plan to completely dismantle the German economy to punish the German population. However, the United States soon realized that they had an opportunity to economically benefit off the Germans situation, installing the Marshall Plan in 1948 the United States and Germany both experienced massive economic growths following the end of the war. After the war, the German people were instructed to make sure that they learn from their past mistakes and association with Hitler. Many prominent Nazis were put on trial, but the general population however was left to face their past on their own and coupled with the massive economic growth following the war many Germans were able to push away their Nazi path and focus on moving forward and building a new Germany rather than coming to terms with what they had done.