The Re-Unification Of Germany

Contents

  • Introduction
  • Ostpolitik – Its Origins and Aims
  • Towards Unity
  • The Fall of the Wall
  • Unification
  • Attitudes and Strategies of the Four Powers

-The USA

-The USSR

-Great Britain

-France

  • Alternatives to Unification
  • The Legacy of Division

Introduction

        The German Democratic Republic commemorated the fortieth anniversary of its formation on October 7th 1989 amid a mass of military parades and fanfare salutes. Whilst it was intended to be a joyous occasion, it was, for many, a day of great sorrow. Forty years of the GDR represented forty years of living in poverty and fear rather than forty years of successful socialism. The division of Germany, a temporary measure taken by the victorious allies in the aftermath of World War II, appeared to take on a new permanency in the wake of these celebrations. Few East Germans would have believed that in just over a month the Berlin Wall, a symbol of division which had split Europe since 1961, would have collapsed and with it the sprawling Communist empire that was the USSR. Less than a year later the GDR would also cease to exist, its people and territory becoming part of a united Germany few believed they would live to see.

The re-unification of Germany came as a shock not just to the people of East Germany but also to the wider global community. From the rumblings of discontent that began early in the year culminating in mass public demonstrations in Leipzig, Dresden and Berlin, events quickly gained a momentum of their own. Unlike the German unification of 1871, which was achieved through ‘blood and iron’ the East German revolution of 1989 and the process of re-unification which ensued was almost entirely free of any bloodshed. Political unity was quickly followed by economic and monetary union, leading some outsiders to comment upon the relative ease with which unity was achieved. However, Germany is still a country suffering from division, all be it internal. For all the talk of a unified country and of a unified people, there are still some considerable differences between the lives of those living in the East and in the West, just as before unification took place. Although such disparity is far less pronounced than it was during the days of the Cold War, it cannot be overlooked. Nor can the fact that there exists a consensus of people living in the Former Eastern republic who look upon the days of the now defunct GDR with a certain nostalgia.

        It is all too easy to examine the events of 1989 with the benefit of hindsight. All too often the collapse of the GDR is explained with a distinct tone of inevitability. Communism is viewed by many today as unsustainable and unrealistic, and states that operate under a socialist system are often believed to be doomed to fail. Certainly history does provide some evidence to support this, however it must be remembered that Communism survived in the USSR for over seventy years and continues to prevail in other countries around the world, perhaps most notably in China, but also in North Korea, Vietnam and Cuba.

Ostpolitik - Its Origins and Aims

        Relations between the two Germanies had stagnated since the establishment of the Hallstein Doctrine in 1955 by the Federal Republic. The doctrine forbade the FRG from maintaining diplomatic relations with any state, other than the USSR, which recognised the legitimacy of the GDR. The appointment of Willy Brandt as Chancellor of the Federal Republic in 1969 would later be seen as a turning point in both the history of Germany and of the Cold War. The Chancellor and his Minister for Foreign Affairs, Walter Scheel agreed to negotiate with the GDR and the rest of the Communist bloc for the first time in the history of the Federal Republic. The move towards a new Ostpolitik (or eastern policy) was a slow one and was not entirely unique, for it can be seen as indicative of a wider global trend. The US President Richard Nixon was also beginning to adopt a new attitude in his dealings with the East, although he was primarily concerned with Asia. Pulzer succinctly states that ‘…Ostpolitik operated within the framework of détente of which the FRG was both an initiator and the chief beneficiary…’

It has been argued by some historians that Ostpolitik was abandoned during the 1980s in favour of re-unification. However, this is not strictly true. Although the new Ostpolitik was seen by some as evidence of the FRG accepting the status quo and resigning itself to the fact that Germany would never be reunited, in reality this was never the case. Rather Ostpolitik was a pragmatic decision based on events. Whilst the FRG still desired a united Germany, it was prepared to work around that aim. The poor state of relations between East and West Germany had a detrimental effect on both states, as well as on Europe and the world, it was in an attempt to overcome this that a new Ostpolitik was adopted.

Although initially the problem of recognising each others legitimacy remained, the lines of communication were re-opened, leading the way for a series of agreements, such as the Treaty of Moscow, signed in August 1970, and the Treaty of Warsaw signed in December of that year. In addition, the Four Powers were engaged in concurrent negotiations regarding the status of Berlin, which resulted in the Four Power Agreement (also known as the Quadripartite Agreement) of September 1971. Building on the agreements success, talks began for a more comprehensive treaty, the Basic Treaty of December 1972. Although Brandt encountered some criticism for the policies he and his government adopted, it was widely accepted that policies adopted after 1969 were necessary ones. Twenty years of refusing to enter any negotiations with the GDR had only resulted in the two states moving further apart.

        

The nature of Ostpolitik began to change during the 1980s. This was due to several causal factors;

  1. the revival of Cold War tendencies in the late 1970s and early 1980s
  2.  the change in leadership in the FRG
  3. the crisis in the USSR and its satellite states at this time

The Cold War entered a new phase after 1977, and as was so often the case, Germany was a microcosm for the tensions elsewhere in the globe. The relationship between East and West Germany was again somewhat strained, as the world’s nations retreated into their Cold War camps.

Ostpolitik had been the creation of Brandt and the SPDs, and, as such, reflected the views and beliefs of the left. This was set to change with their replacement in office by the more conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The CDU had been responsible for the establishment of the Hallstein Doctrine in the 1950s, and continued to be opposed to any dealings with the GDR. They had witnessed events during the early 1970s with dismay, especially the signing of the Basic Treaty in December 1972, which they saw as dealing the final blow to any hopes for reunification. Whilst the new Chancellor, Helmut Kohl acknowledged that the FRG could not renege on any treaties agreed by the previous government, the government under his leadership became much more vocal about its hopes for the creation of a unified German state. It became clear that any opportunity for unification would be rapidly seized upon by the Federal Republic, to the alarm not only of the GDR and the Soviet Union, but also the FRGs diplomatic allies, Britain and France.

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Ostpolitik was also affected and the idea of German unification revived by Gorbachev’s policies of ‘glasnost (openness)  and ‘perestroika’ (restructuring). Many interpreted theses policies as evidence of a change of heart on the part of the Soviet Union and a willingness to perhaps release its grip on some of satellite states, however this was not Gorbachev’s intention. His policies were intended to strengthen the USSR, not to weaken it, however they had, in reality, the opposite effect. Those who favoured the idea of unification were also encouraged by the attempts of independence movements in other Soviet states, such as Poland and Czechoslovakia.

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