Initially, both Germany and Austria were split into four zones, each occupied by one of the four Allied powers (America, Britain, France, and the USSR). They were both intended to be reunified; however, the Soviet Union blocked any negotiations toward uniting the German economy or government, resulting in the Western powers reunifying their zones only as West Germany. In Austria, however - because of its lower strategic import - the plan eventually (after Stalin's death) proceeded more or less as designed.