The aftereffects of World War Two were what shaped Cold War Germany. The post-war state of Germany was grim: about 1/4 of housing had been destroyed, the economic infrastructure had largely collapsed, inflation was rampant, there was a shortage of food, and millions of homeless Germans from the east were returning. After its unconditional surrender, Germany was divided into four zones of Allied military occupation: American, French, British, and Soviet. The old capital of Berlin was also divided into four zones, but Berlin itself remained inside of the Soviet zone. In 1949, the French, British, and American zones merged and formed the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublic Deutschland), with its capital city Bonn. Also in 1949, the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) with the Soviet sector of Berlin as the capital. West Germany became a suprisingly stable western democracy. A new policy required a 5% vote for a political party to be represented in the Bundestag (the upper legislative house), in order to prevent any small extremist parties from gaining representation too easily. This was what brought the downfall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazi Party, after all. East Germany was established as a Stalin-style Socialist state. It became a member of the Warsaw Pact and came to have one of the most advanced economies and standard of living of the Soviet-bloc states (though that's not saying much, as it still lagged behind West Germany). The East German government was formed into a centralized and dictatorial regime. The State Security Police (Stasi) maintained the Soviet expectation of the people. Free speech and opinions against the regime were not tolerated, and artistic and intellectual programs were strongly controlled. The partition and division of Germany drove a block in between both United States to Russia relations and West German to East German relations. The Allies were at the same time trying to be forgiving to the Germans for World War Two while also insuring that the Germans could never again begin the expansionism that had led to the two previous wars. During the Cold War, Germany became the center for all the tensions between Democracy and Communism. The location of Germany as the gateway between East and West Europe made it the ideal place for these political struggles to occur. When Russia had tried to expand in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, they were checked by the rising power of the German state. Therefore, after Germany fell in World War Two, Russia attempted to begin its expansion across a now weakened Europe. The end of World War Two left Russia in possession of all of Germany up to 300 miles west of Berlin. This new annexation caused the powers in Europe to become unbalanced and Russia replaced Germany as the country that was getting too big. Contrary to their actions against rising powers in the past, England did not try to stop the Russian expansion. They did this because they thought it preferable to give Russia parts of Germany over giving them other territories that would allow Russia access to the Mediterranean. The Allies had many reasons for partitioning Germany. Overall, the purpose of dividing land up was to control Germany until a new government could be instated. France, America, England and Russia all had parts of Germany that were put temporarily under their control. While the Allies were still in occupation of the country, decisions were made by a council of the four powers. The representatives were then responsible for carrying out the decisions of the council in their allotted territory. There was a catch that the Russians exploited to thwart the other powers. According to the treaty, proposals to the council were only put into effect if there was a unanimous vote. The Russians could use this just like they used the U.N. Security Council. The Russians had annoyed the other powers by using their veto power in the Security Council to veto every proposition that came before them. By exercising their right to arbitrarily veto any decision made regarding Germany, they could prevent any actions that were against their best interest. The Soviets then would be able to run Eastern Germany as they wished, because no proposition stopping them from doing so could be passed.