The London Six-Power Conference in 1948 was held between the three
Western occupation forces in Germany after the World War II (
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
,
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
) and the
Benelux
The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a Political union, politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in ...
countries. The aim of the conference was to pave the way for Germany's participation in the international community through the creation of a democratic and federal government in the area of the U.S., British and French zones of the country. The conference was held in two sessions, the first from 23 February to 6 March, the second from 20 April to 2 June 1948.
The reason for summoning the conference was that the
Foreign Secretary Conference 15 December 1947 between the four victorious nations United States, Britain, France and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
had ended without result in the German question. The recent
Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia made it urgent for the western allies to help create a democratic (West) Germany. The Soviet Union was not invited to the London Conference.
The conference conclusions were later called London recommendations. The three western military governors in Germany were assigned to make recommendations to the Minister Presidents in western Germany about how the new state should be established.
The Minister Presidents should convene a constitutional Assembly (Parliamentary Council) to found a free and democratic state. The Military Governors recommendations were called the
Frankfurt Documents after the place where the German Minister Presidents met.
Conditions were made that Germany should not have weapons of mass destruction and other similar weapons, and that the country should not be able to invade the Soviet occupation zone.
France voted for the merger of the three western occupation zones on conditions that the
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and t ...
was financially merged with France and that the
Ruhr area became subject to international control.
USSR ended its efforts in the
Allied Control Council
The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority (german: Alliierter Kontrollrat) and also referred to as the Four Powers (), was the governing body of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany and Allied-occupied Austria after the end of ...
as a consequence of the London Conference.
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See also
*
Occupation statute
*
London and Paris Conferences
*
Bonn–Paris conventions
*
Berlin Blockade
*
Petersberg Agreement
*
Germany Treaty
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. ...
*
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland) is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came in ...
Further reading
* Gerd Wehner: ''Die Westalliierten und das Grundgesetz 1948–1949: Die Londoner Sechsmächtekonferenz.'' Rombach, Freiburg im Breisgau 1994, .
References
{{Reflist
Allied occupation of Germany
Conferences in London