so we had two nations that were mortal enemies.
Not always the people, but the nations
were at war with each other.
So we have, from 1941 to 1945
we have total adversaries, they're the legal enemies
of the United States.
1945 the war ends, the Allies
Great Britain, Soviet Union, France, the United States
and many others, are victorious.
So then we have the Allies, to include the United States
being the victors, and the Germans are the vanquished.
And so this is a war-devastated country.
There were cities basically leveled, devastated.
The economy was a total wreck made worse by the fact
that as a result of the Yalta Conference
the victorious Allies, the four major Allies
divided the vanquished Germany into zones of occupation.
There was a Soviet zone of occupation
and a British, French, and America zone of occupation.
And the same was true of Berlin.
That was also divided into four zones of occupation.
The Soviet zone became East Germany
the French, British, and American zones became West Germany.
So we have a relationship
of the US and the Allies occupying Germany.
