After World War II, there were about 100,000 troops in Europe and the United States (USAREUR), of which 73,000 were in Germany, and the headquarters of the US military in Europe was located in Stuttgart, Germany. The main combat unit of the U.S. Military in Germany is the U.S. Fifth Army, headquartered in Heidelberg.
In 1975, the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States signed a "management agreement" involving the construction rights of U.S. troops on German soil. Under the agreement, the United States could build small buildings in Germany if needed. But the United States must reimburse the federal government for the resulting costs.
However, in the actual operation process, the United States did not bear the cost of stationing troops in accordance with the above regulations. The German Finance Ministry released a breakdown of fiscal expenditures showing that between 2003 and 2010, German taxpayers paid 1 billion euros to the U.S. military garrison.
After the end of World War II, the Soviet-American, British, and French divisions occupied Germany, and Berlin was jointly administered by four countries. In May 1949, the occupied areas of the United States, Britain and France merged to form the Federal Republic of Germany, and in October of the same year, the Soviet occupation zone announced the establishment of the German Democratic Republic, and Germany was divided into two countries.
In 1961, in order to prevent East Germans from fleeing to West Germany, the GDR built the Berlin Wall on its own side of the East-West Berlin border and cut off traffic between West Germany and West Berlin, and the Cold War reached its peak. The United States supported West Berlin by airdropping supplies, that is, the air bridge.
After the war, the economy of the Federal Republic of Germany was relatively fast. In the 1970s, there was an "economic miracle" in Germany. By the time of reunification, the Federal Republic of Germany had become the fourth largest country in the world economy and the third largest in trade.
The GDR has the healthiest and fastest economy among the Eastern European countries, and before reunification, both East and West Germany were listed by the World Bank as one of the world's top ten economies.
West Berlin covers an area of 480 square kilometers, or 54% of the entire Berlin. West Berlin was located in the GDR and became an "island city"; East Berlin was the capital of the German Democratic Republic.
West Germany represented the interests of West Berlin in international organizations and conferences, but was not part of West Germany; although it had also established a municipal government, it was still under the military occupation of the three Western countries, and the United States, Britain, and France were the supreme authorities in West Berlin. Berlin, West Germany, 1961. Photograph by René Brie