After World War II, two main spheres of influence emerged across Europe: the Soviet one in Eastern Europe and the Anglo-French-American one in Western Europe. The main points of confrontation between these two opposing blocs were located in the south, on the border between the newly formed Italian Republic and Tito's Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and in the north, on the ashes of the German Third Reich. For obvious historical and political reasons, the latter was the most heated and problematic border, where countless opportunities for conflict arose between the two opposing blocs.

The difference between the German regions occupied by the Western powers and those occupied by the Soviets can be seen in the way the occupying troops and their governments treated the newly defeated Germans. While the Red Army pursued highly repressive policies that curtailed the freedoms of the German people, Western troops and Churchill's British government were beginning to pave the way for a revival of internal political debate within Germany, thereby financing political factions that espoused anti-Soviet views.

The first real economic rift between the two main occupation zones, however, occurred on June 20, 1948, when the first banknotes of the newly minted Deutsche Mark arrived in German territory directly from American printers overseas. This currency symbolised the post-World War II German economic miracle, which was hastily imitated by the Soviet occupation authorities in just over three days by issuing a new currency for the eastern occupation zone, literally fabricated by sticking a sticker over the old German banknotes in circulation.

These took the emblematic name of Klebemark—literally "glued mark"—and concisely and practically demonstrated the bitter atmosphere of constant competition between the Western and Eastern camps. The situation was exacerbated by Stalin's decision on June 24—just a few days after the issuance of the two newly created currencies—to implement a complete blockade of all land transport routes between the Western occupation zones and West Berlin. This period, known as the Berlin Blockade, lasted almost a year, until May 12, 1949, and demonstrated the profound impact Western monetary reform had on the affairs of occupied Germany at the beginning of the Cold War.