The formation of the Trizone was a pivotal act of economic and political consolidation. Driven by the need for coordinated recovery under the Marshall Plan and alarm at Soviet actions in the East, the integration of the French zone in 1948 allowed for the critical introduction of a new stable currency, the Deutsche Mark. This move directly triggered the Soviet Berlin Blockade but solidified the Western alliance. The Trizone's structures became the basis for the Federal Republic of Germany, estab