Timeline of German History - 1945 - 1989

1989

• 1945-89 - Germans is divided during the Cold War into West Germany and East Germany, as is Berlin
• 1945 Potsdam Conference, Allies settle German boundaries
• 1945 - millions of refugees flee from eastern European and many are raped or killed
• 1946 First of The industrial plans for Germany is signed
  • U.S. Restatement of Policy on Germany
  • Party of Democratic Socialism formed
• 1948 Deutsche Mark introduced
  • Free Democratic Party (FDP) formed by businessmen
• 1948 - 1949 - Berlin Blockade, a Soviet attempt to shut down West Berlin; defeated by the Berlin Airlift of American and British supplies
• 1949 German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of Germany formed (see History of East Germany, Constitution of the German Democratic Republic and Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany)
  • Christian Democratic Union of Germany founded
• Konrad Adenauer becomes first post-war Chancellor of Germany
• 1950s German economic miracle in West Germany
• 1951 - West Germany becomes one of the six founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community, later known as the European Union
• 1952 Inner German border is fortified, except around Berlin
  • General Treaty Deutschlandvertrag
• 1953 Uprising of 1953 in East Germany
• 1954 West Germany wins Football World Cup - The Miracle of Bern
• 1955 Federal Republic joins NATO; GDR joins Warsaw Pact controlled by Moscow
• 1961 Berlin Wall is built to stop East Germans fleeing to the West
• 1963-66 - CDU/CSU economist Ludwig Erhard is Chancellor
• 1964 National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) formed
• 1966-69 - CDU/CSU Kurt Georg Kiesinger becomes Chancellor in Grand Coalition
• 1967 - 1968 German student movement
• 1969 Willy Brandt becomes Chancellor
• 1970 Voting age lowered from 21 to 18
  • Treaty of Moscow
  • Treaty of Warsaw
• 1970s - 1998 Red Army Faction operates
• 1971 Four Power Agreement on Berlin
• 1972 Basic Treaty between West and East Germany
  • West Germany hosts the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Palestinian terrorists cause Munich Massacre
• 1973 East and West Germany join United Nations
• 1974 West Germany hosts and wins Football World Cup
  • Helmut Schmidt becomes Chancellor
• 1982 Helmut Kohl becomes Chancellor
• 1987 First ever official visit by Erich Honecker to the Federal Republic of Germany
• 1989 Monday demonstrations in Leipzig
  • - Berlin Wall falls