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Entry Seven: The Treaty of Frankfurt
View attachment 563057
Entry Seven: The Treaty of Frankfurt
Germany in 1945 sat in utter ruin. In the Allied Zones, signs of strategic bombing and destruction were common throughout major cities. The industry was devastated, manufacturing was non-existent, homelessness, poverty and every other known economic problem were ever more present. In the Soviet Zone much was the same, Nazis were purged from all levels of bureaucracy and the Red Army was ever more present. A low-level ineffectual resistance by “Wehrwolfs” was still active in some regions, assassinating mayors and other Allied officials. The French even established a “Saar Protectorate” in an attempt to peel it from Germany away and integrate the region into France proper. Germany did not exist as a state and as a region, it was in dire straits.
In order to counteract this, the United States established the Marshall Plan to repair Europe but Germany specifically. With the Soviet refusal of the Marshall Plan, only the Western Allied Zones saw this economic support. The Soviets instead with the COMECON program to rebuild their new allies and their own country. This drew a line in Europe but a hard border had yet to be established in Germany. Negotiations didn’t pick up until the Soviets in 1948 sat down with the Allies to discuss the future of Central Europe. This conference was held with the UN Security Council between the Soviets, Americans, British and French.
The Soviets had made the first move towards this decision passing the “Stalin Note” to the Western Powers. It called for a free, democratic, independent, reunited neutral German state. It was an ambitious proposal but the US President Henry Wallace seemed receptive to the plan. Britain was more hesitant due to the recent events in Greece and France was very hostile to emergence to any form of a reunited German state. It would be a hotly debated item within the Allied Control Council. After months of negotiation, debate, and stalling from the French and other factors, an agreement was finally reached. The occupied territories of Germany would be reorganized into states within a German confederation. The terms of independence were made in the “Treaty of Frankfurt”.
The Treaty of Frankfurt:
I: The Allied Powers Occupation Zones will be reorganized into independent states united into a German Confederation for common foreign policy and defense.
II: Within a year after the formation of the German Confederation all military forces of foreign powers will be withdrawn.
III: The German Confederation will be established within the territories of the Potsdam Treaty
IV: Neither the German Confederation nor any of its member states, can enter in an alliance with any foreign power.
V: The Saar Protectorate will be annexed into France
VI: Each of the independent states within the Confederation will have the autonomy to establish their own respective laws, taxes, and regulations.
VII: The governmental structures of each state may vary but they all shall elect a single representative to a Supreme Council of the German Confederation which will represent their respective state within the Confederation.
VIII: A Chancellor of the Confederation shall be elected by popular vote and shall represent the German Confederation and will be the Commander in Chief of the German Self Defense Force.
IX: A German Self Defense Force shall be established to defend the German Confederation with a limit of 150,000 men. It shall exist only for the purpose of defense and shall not engage in offensive conflict.
X: The German Confederation shall not develop Nuclear Weapons.
XI: The German Confederation will have open borders between member states, a single currency, and a decentralized police forces.
XII: Political parties shall remain legal in all states along with democratic elections.
XII: The NSDAP and all successor political parties are outlawed in every single member state of the German Confederation.
XIII: The German Confederation’s member states shall be open to both the Marshall Plan and COMECON dependent on the economic decisions of each member state.
XIV: The German Confederation shall drop all claims on territories formerly held before the Potsdam Conference including the Saarland.
XV: The sovereignty of the German Confederation is guaranteed by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council
Map of the German Confederation:
View attachment 563058
With the establishment of the German Confederation soon elections were held. The participating parties were the Communist Party of German, Social Democratic Party, The Union Parties, the Free Democratic Party, and the Bavarian Party. The election results varied per region but resulted in the election of Kurt Schumacher a Social Democrat to the chancellorship. The KPD won a vast majority of the seats in the region of Saxony and reorganized it into the Democratic Republic of Saxony. In Bavaria, the monarchists and Bavarian nationalists won and established the Kingdom of Bavaria within the German Confederation. In Hanover, Hesse, Rhineland, Baden-Wurttemberg, and Brandenburg the Social Democrats, Free Democrats, and Union Party divided the seats in-between them, establishing the subsequent Republics within the Confederation. The German Confederation soon established it’s capital in Berlin and the Reichstag was soon rebuilt to hold the Supreme Council of the German Confederation. Kurt Schumacher soon passed a series of laws to repair the German economy and living standards. Various former companies were nationalized, using Marshall Plan loans the German healthcare system was reinforced along with a government-funded low-cost housing program and various other social safety nets. Out from the ashes of the Third Reich, the German Confederation a democratic, free, neutral, and decentralized society held the hopes of many across the world that Europe finally would be calm. Unfortunately for these optimists, the future would prove to be a far more complex reality.
Entry Seven: The Treaty of Frankfurt
Germany in 1945 sat in utter ruin. In the Allied Zones, signs of strategic bombing and destruction were common throughout major cities. The industry was devastated, manufacturing was non-existent, homelessness, poverty and every other known economic problem were ever more present. In the Soviet Zone much was the same, Nazis were purged from all levels of bureaucracy and the Red Army was ever more present. A low-level ineffectual resistance by “Wehrwolfs” was still active in some regions, assassinating mayors and other Allied officials. The French even established a “Saar Protectorate” in an attempt to peel it from Germany away and integrate the region into France proper. Germany did not exist as a state and as a region, it was in dire straits.
In order to counteract this, the United States established the Marshall Plan to repair Europe but Germany specifically. With the Soviet refusal of the Marshall Plan, only the Western Allied Zones saw this economic support. The Soviets instead with the COMECON program to rebuild their new allies and their own country. This drew a line in Europe but a hard border had yet to be established in Germany. Negotiations didn’t pick up until the Soviets in 1948 sat down with the Allies to discuss the future of Central Europe. This conference was held with the UN Security Council between the Soviets, Americans, British and French.
The Soviets had made the first move towards this decision passing the “Stalin Note” to the Western Powers. It called for a free, democratic, independent, reunited neutral German state. It was an ambitious proposal but the US President Henry Wallace seemed receptive to the plan. Britain was more hesitant due to the recent events in Greece and France was very hostile to emergence to any form of a reunited German state. It would be a hotly debated item within the Allied Control Council. After months of negotiation, debate, and stalling from the French and other factors, an agreement was finally reached. The occupied territories of Germany would be reorganized into states within a German confederation. The terms of independence were made in the “Treaty of Frankfurt”.
The Treaty of Frankfurt:
I: The Allied Powers Occupation Zones will be reorganized into independent states united into a German Confederation for common foreign policy and defense.
II: Within a year after the formation of the German Confederation all military forces of foreign powers will be withdrawn.
III: The German Confederation will be established within the territories of the Potsdam Treaty
IV: Neither the German Confederation nor any of its member states, can enter in an alliance with any foreign power.
V: The Saar Protectorate will be annexed into France
VI: Each of the independent states within the Confederation will have the autonomy to establish their own respective laws, taxes, and regulations.
VII: The governmental structures of each state may vary but they all shall elect a single representative to a Supreme Council of the German Confederation which will represent their respective state within the Confederation.
VIII: A Chancellor of the Confederation shall be elected by popular vote and shall represent the German Confederation and will be the Commander in Chief of the German Self Defense Force.
IX: A German Self Defense Force shall be established to defend the German Confederation with a limit of 150,000 men. It shall exist only for the purpose of defense and shall not engage in offensive conflict.
X: The German Confederation shall not develop Nuclear Weapons.
XI: The German Confederation will have open borders between member states, a single currency, and a decentralized police forces.
XII: Political parties shall remain legal in all states along with democratic elections.
XII: The NSDAP and all successor political parties are outlawed in every single member state of the German Confederation.
XIII: The German Confederation’s member states shall be open to both the Marshall Plan and COMECON dependent on the economic decisions of each member state.
XIV: The German Confederation shall drop all claims on territories formerly held before the Potsdam Conference including the Saarland.
XV: The sovereignty of the German Confederation is guaranteed by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council
Map of the German Confederation:
View attachment 563058
With the establishment of the German Confederation soon elections were held. The participating parties were the Communist Party of German, Social Democratic Party, The Union Parties, the Free Democratic Party, and the Bavarian Party. The election results varied per region but resulted in the election of Kurt Schumacher a Social Democrat to the chancellorship. The KPD won a vast majority of the seats in the region of Saxony and reorganized it into the Democratic Republic of Saxony. In Bavaria, the monarchists and Bavarian nationalists won and established the Kingdom of Bavaria within the German Confederation. In Hanover, Hesse, Rhineland, Baden-Wurttemberg, and Brandenburg the Social Democrats, Free Democrats, and Union Party divided the seats in-between them, establishing the subsequent Republics within the Confederation. The German Confederation soon established it’s capital in Berlin and the Reichstag was soon rebuilt to hold the Supreme Council of the German Confederation. Kurt Schumacher soon passed a series of laws to repair the German economy and living standards. Various former companies were nationalized, using Marshall Plan loans the German healthcare system was reinforced along with a government-funded low-cost housing program and various other social safety nets. Out from the ashes of the Third Reich, the German Confederation a democratic, free, neutral, and decentralized society held the hopes of many across the world that Europe finally would be calm. Unfortunately for these optimists, the future would prove to be a far more complex reality.
- RedHistorian1917
- Word Count: 950