In 1917, Germany and the United States faced each other across the Atlantic as enemies. A century later German and American soldiers stand side by side in the war and they are one of the biggest trading partners currently. How did enemies in war become allies over the course of a hundred years? Let’s beginning breaking it down with the basics
To understand how all of that happened, we must first understand and look at the past relationships between Germany and the United States that consequently build up into today’s stats.
In the 1917s, the USA was neutral during World War 1, because it was more of an european conflict and President Wilson being for peace, which changed due to Germany attacking boats with US citizens on board, like the Lusitania. Another reason for the US being involved in World War 1 was Germany trying to defeat the USA by trying to become allies with Mexico.The US found out due to the British help, who helped intercepting the message. This led to the two countries, U.S. and Germany, becoming rivals during World War 1.
Between World War 1 and World War 2 was neutrality amongst America and Germany. The US helped the Germany economy, by giving Germany credits, but Germany was still suspicious of the US. Germany’s politics were not stable during that time.
The neutrality changed again when Nazi Germany declared war on the US during World War 2 in 1941. World War 2 was brutal for the whole of Europe getting destroyed and the US played a big role by helping defeat Nazi Germany. World War 2 led to over 60 million casualties and Germany being split into East and West, with the West being ruled by the US.
The friendship really began in 1945 with the “Marshall Plan” to help rebuild West Germany and get democracy to Germany. The US and Germany had similar opinions: freedom, democracy and a better economy. Germany helped the US fight the Soviet Union during the Cold War, while also having US troops stationed in Germany.
Between 1945 and 1990, Germany and the US kept on developing their relationship into friends, especially with the US helping to rebuild Germany and Germany helping the US in the Cold War. This was an important time, where they grew into allies.
After Germany got reunited in 1990 they even got closer, especially with military, economy and safety, with both countries being in NATO. Even though they had many different opinions when it came to different conflicts over the world, like the Iraq Conflict, they still stayed close and weren’t enemies anymore.
Today no one would imagine that after a century of fighting each other in war, Germany and the US would stand side by side as allies, which proves that even big enemies with a lot of conflicts in the past can become good allies. They have one of the biggest trade partnerships between each other today and are also really close when it comes to protecting each other.
