Abstract
During the years after the conclusion of the Second World War, a new
Chancellor in Germany took up the responsibility to help lead his country out of the
smoke and ruins of Nazi Germany. It was during the years between 1949 and 1963,
that Konrad Adenauer was elected Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, a
period which spans most of the preliminary phase of the Cold War. During this
period of time, West Germany was politically separated from East Germany. As
Adenauer took office he was a co-founder of the Christian Democratic Union, a
successor to the Centre which hoped to embrace Protestants as well as Catholics in a
single confessional party. Adenauer's achievements include the establishment of a
stable democracy in defeated (West) Germany, a general political reorientation towards the West, recovering limited, but far-reaching sovereignty for West Germany
by firmly integrating it with the emerging Euro-Atlantic community also known as
NATO. It was Adenauer's primary focus as chancellor was to regain Germany’s
sovereignty and it was this desire that caused Adenauer to want a democratic West
German state firmly anchored in the West.
