Reading and learning German geography

Please read the following pages for our next session:

• John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War: A New History (New York: Penguin Books, 2007), 32–36.
• Odd Arne Westad, The Cold War: A World History (New York: Basic Books, 2017), 99–115.

Please also review Kennan's "Long Telegram" (the scan distributed in our last session).

Map Exercise

Using a (historical) map, locate the following rivers and familiarize yourself with their geographic significance within the German Empire:

• The Vistula (Weichsel): Flowing through the empire's eastern territories (Prussia/West Prussia), it drained one of the largest river basins under German imperial control, running roughly 600 miles to the Baltic Sea.
• The Rhine (Rhein): The economic lifeline of western Germany, passing the industrial centers of the Ruhr Valley and Alsace-Lorraine on its way to the North Sea; its total length is generally estimated at 764–820 miles.
• The Elbe: Running 680 miles, it linked central Germany to the major port city of Hamburg before emptying into the North Sea.
• The Oder: A major eastern artery flowing north to the Baltic Sea, spanning roughly 531–538 miles.
• The Danube (Donau): Rising in the Black Forest, its upper course ran eastward through the southern German states, including Bavaria, toward the Black Sea.
• The Memel (Neman): Marked the empire's northeasternmost boundary, near East Prussia.

Reference map: Navigable Waterways in the German Reich (1903)

Looking Ahead

In our next session, we will continue our discussion of the Marshall Plan and begin examining the Berlin Blockade and Airlift.