ABSTRACT
In contrast to developments in other countries within the Soviet area of influence, the formation of a post-war state in eastern Germany followed the shaping of internal power structures and emergence of the mechanisms of communist rule in institutional form. The consolidation of Soviet power in Central Europe was clearly signalled by the establishment of the Cominform. The communist takeover in Central Europe was not, therefore, a smooth or uncontentious process. The Soviet Union and its newly promoted communist allies in Central Europe faced fewer territorial uncertainties over the treatment of Germany's defeated allies. Relations between the war-time allies continued to deteriorate during 1946 and 1947 and exerted a strong influence on the attitudes of the different powers in occupied Germany. Towards the end of the year the United States initiated measures to advance the economic integration of occupied Germany, and the British and American zones were merged at the beginning of 1947.
