WI North Germany/South Germany

So in the original draughts of what to do with Germany post-WW2 a far more logical division was favoured- that of N.Germany/S.Germany.

350px-GermanyMorgenthau.PNG


Of course there were a lot of other weird parts to the plan intended to cripple Germany but we can assume those would go away as time moved on.

So, WI the borders were arranged like this?
For the international zone we can assume it would eventually attain full autonomy as a third nation.
To get rid of the potential trouble of a communist North Germany (a bit asb considering how far west it goes) assume that all these nations are like Austria- capitalist but neutral.
 
It's hard to say. It could be assumed that the International Zone would eventually be released as a pro-West nation; there's little Stalin could do about it.

You would imagine that Germany would then act as a buffer zone for both blocs (although, as I said, it'd be pro-West if anything), which may help diffuse things in the Cold War. There's no Berlin Airlift, no Berlin Wall, which may well make peaceful co-existence a lot easier. Western Europe might be much less concerned by the Soviet threat as well.

On the other hand, you're still going to have the East/West Germany refugee problem, except it'll be the border between North Germany and Poland. This may lead to the sealing of the border between the two blocs, and you'd be back to square one.
 
Geographically, that's not really much different to the historical division. The only big difference is the splitting off of the 'International Zone' and Schleswig-Holstein.
 

Xen

Banned
I would be more in favor of creating an independent Rhineland and Bavaria, instead of a South Germany. North Germany could be "Austriaized" by the Super Powers.
 

ninebucks

Banned
If both South Germany and the International Zone are in the pro-Western camp, then I think its likely that the two will unite. German nationalism may have been defanged after 1945, but it wasn't destroyed, the same popular opinion towards German Unification in 1990, will be here in TTL.

On the other hand, one interesting possibility could be if the experience of the unification of South Germany and the IZ experienced even greater difficulties than the OTL union of East and West, making the Southerners in TTL hesitant, and even unwilling to unite with the *North?
 
The 'international zone' is a load of balls. Nobody is going to foot the bill to keep anything that big 'international'. It would inevitably join with the southern sector, although frankly, I can't see what the rationale would be for it's creation in the first place. It would be very hard to sell to the Germans and the Allies generally.
 
^ Assuming of course, that the 'International Zone' is in the Western camp and isn't some sort of Berlin/Austria-esque clusterfuck between the West and the Soviets.
 
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