This monetary reform enabled the shops to be filled once again with goods that had, until then, only been obtainable on the black market. The German mark, the Deutsche Mark (DM), was introduced in all the Western zones and replaced the Reichsmark. On 20 June 1948, the Western Allies introduced a new unit of account. On 3 June 1948, the French occupation zone joined the Bizone, which then became the Trizone. Faced with the refusal of France and the Soviet Union, the British and Americans decided to unite their zones economically and created the Bizone. In July 1946, the United States proposed a plan for economic unification of the occupied zones. During 1945, the Allies began organising their respective occupation zones.
Germany rapidly became a sparring ground for the Cold War.
