Western Civilization - History Of European Society

628Chapter 31

education; the Barange Law (1951) gave state aid to
Catholic schools. When Charles de Gaulle founded the
Fifth Republic in 1958, the conservative coalition in
France—known as Gaullism—won a solid majority of
electoral support and retained power throughout the
1960s and 1970s. Gaullist conservatives, however, did
not try to reprivatize the nationalized sectors of the
economy, to abandon the state direction of a mixed
economy, or to dismantle the growing welfare state.
Gaullists extended French welfare benefits several times,
especially in the 1970s when they expanded a state-run
system of old age pensions for the entire nation.

The Federal Republic of Germany:

Konrad Adenauer and the

Economic Miracle

The rebirth of German democracy followed a more dif-
ficult course. The four-power occupation of Germany
created conflicting administrations. In the Soviet zone,
the revived German Communist Party, led by survivors
from the Weimar Republic such as Walter Ulbricht,

failed to win a majority in the elections of 1946 but

took control of the government with Soviet approval.

By 1948 the Soviet zone was a one-party state at the

center of the cold war, and millions of East Germans

were emigrating to the West. The flood of refugees go-

ing west became so embarrassing that in 1961 Ulbricht

closed the border. He erected a dramatic barrier in

Berlin: the Berlin Wall—a brick, concrete, barbed wire,

and machine gun impediment to travel—which became

the most vivid symbol of the Iron Curtain (see illustra-

tion 31.4).

The Western powers slowly united their zones.

Britain and the United States began the economic

merger of their zones in 1946; when the French ac-

cepted German unity, the allies created the German

Federal Republic (West Germany) in May 1949. The

allies required that the Federal Republic’s constitution

(known as the Grundgesetz,or basic law) protect regional

rights, create authority without authoritarianism, and

include a liberal bill of rights.

The leading founder of the Federal Republic of

Germany was Konrad Adenauer, a lawyer who had

served as mayor of Cologne and a deputy during the

Weimar Republic. Adenauer had survived the Nazi era

Illustration 31.4

The Berlin Wall.Berlin remained at
the center of the cold war in Europe and
was the issue in a heated East-West dis-
pute of 1960–61. This Berlin crisis saw
renewed Soviet claims to the city and
threats to close access to it. When Presi-
dent Kennedy and other Western lead-
ers stood firm, the Soviet response was
to close the border between East and
West Germany. A wall was constructed
through the center of Berlin in August

1961. In this photo, the wall curves
      around the historic Brandenburg Gate
      with winged victory riding in a chariot
      atop it. The gate was in the Soviet zone,
      where the “shoot-to-kill” area near the
      wall is clearly visible.