on the first of september 1939 hitler gave the order for the invasion of poland in the preceding six years germany expanded its empire into numerous other countries but fast forward to the 8th of may 1945 and with hitler dead general alfred yodel signs the order for unconditional surrender to the allies but what next in this video we take a look at what happened to germany after world war ii during the course of the war allied bombers had decimated german cities all over the country once the push into the country took place in 1945 ground troops began fighting against the german forces holed up in these cities with hitler's strict policy of no surrender and fighting to the last man many bomb ravaged towns and cities were further flattened by these last ditch efforts as the soviets moved into berlin and the fighting became more desperate the capital became a vast wasteland of rubble burnt out vehicles and dead people it was a horrible place to be for not only the soldiers but for the civilians stuck there with nowhere to go many millions of german civilians were now homeless with a large portion of the male population annihilated this left many of the women and children in poverty as there was no source of income hundreds of thousands of german soldiers were held in pow camps all over europe and the soviet union a very detailed investigation took place where thousands of civilians and soldiers alike were interviewed in order to weed out those responsible for war crimes and the holocaust it took years for some of these soldiers to eventually be returned to their homes in a lot of cases in the soviet union soldiers weren't returned back to germany for more than 10 years most of the main perpetrators of these crimes were eventually captured and between 1945 and 1946 the nuremberg trials took place these offenders which included some of the highest ranking officials in the nazi party such as hermann goering and albert speer were prosecuted for their offences most received either life imprisonment or were executed in a meeting known as the yalta conference which had happened in early 1945 the leaders of britain the us and the soviet union had come together to determine germany's fate post-war it was decided that germany would give back all its newly occupied territories to the respective countries the german pre-war borders would then be divided into four main sectors france responsible for the south west britain for the north west soviet union to the northeast and united states to the south east berlin was also important but it was now in the soviet sector so it too was divided into four individual sections each country was therefore accountable for what took place in each of its sectors berlin in particular became a focal point with each of the superpowers coming to a head there over many issues germany was forced to pay reparations to britain france and the soviet union this was largely in the form of dismantled factories coal and forced labor but britain and the united states also obtained intellectual reparations such as scientific technology and patents created during the nazi rule the allies agreed that it was mostly up to the german people themselves to rebuild their country they were responsible for dismantling factories as it was the aim to return germany back to its industrial status prior to the war with tensions between the soviet union and western allies growing the cold war began and the soviets started to block off its german-held territories from the western allies by 1961 one thousand east germans including many skilled laborers professionals and intellectuals were leaving every day the berlin wall would be constructed to shield these unfortunate people stuck in east berlin from escaping germany wouldn't be militarized until many years later east germany looked for men who could act in its newly formed army the national people's army further to that border troops were required to stop civilians fleeing west the government recruited thousands of ex-wermach and waffen ss soldiers who were in soviet gulag prisons a similar thing happened in west germany where ex-wermach soldiers were recruited into the bundesberg army luckily there was plenty of weapons and equipment left over from the war to provide these armies ultimately it took many years for germany to rebuild this was hindered by the cold war and the soviet influence over its eastern sectors but by 1989 the soviet influence fell away and the berlin wall torn down a more modern and progressive germany rose up to the one we know today as always guys thanks for watching be sure to hit that subscribe button if you want to expand your knowledge and join the growing premier history community