Which major domestic and international factors made German unification possible?

Whereas previously President Khrushchev wasn’t a keen gambler with regards to his country and the way in which change wasn’t something he was too keen on, it is evident that Gorbachev was bold without knowing how dangerous it was. With policies such as perestroika, known as restructuring and, glasnost, or openness Gorbachev seemingly paved the way for German unification to occur at long last. His main aim was to reform the government of the USSR, but in doing so he relaxed the grip, which the Soviets had on Eastern Europe. As a direct result of these policies and reforms, the Soviet bloc in Eastern Europe began to demand greater independence, and the Warsaw pact also began to crumble, however the most alarming effect which the new system had was the effect which it had on the GDR.

Eastern European countries, particularly Hungary began to relax their border controls, and suddenly Germans were able to move through Eastern Europe and into the FRG, something they hadn’t been able to do for many years. The eventual result of this was a mass exodus and a general weakening of the GDR. An example of this can been seen in the fact that between 10th of September, when Hungary opened its Western borders, and the end of the month when the GDR stopped issuing travel permits to those wishing to enter Hungary, 25,000 people had already left East Germany.

With Gorbachev’s new reformed policies, people believe that the USSR encountered somewhat of a revolution. German unification would not have been possible without this, and the implementation of perestroika was a large contributing factor to what probably started the wheels falling off the wagon of the GDR. With perestroika being implemented, which saw the USSR seemingly moving away from communism, they were unwilling to use Soviet forces to support the ailing socialist regimes of Eastern Europe. This led to mass protests occurring against the GDR, leaving the people on the streets only having to fight their own government and the repressive forces, but nothing from outside. This is a major international point, due to the fact that if the USSR hadn’t decided not to give help to the GDR, then the collapse of the GDR may not have occurred and unification may have either been along time after it finally occurred, or not at all. The reforms, which Gorbachev introduced, struck at the hearts of the SED government, and their reaction was all-important in the reunification process.

The raison d’etre of the GDR was monolithic socialism. Without the single party, Stalinist political system, there was no justification for the existence of a separate East Germany, and if the GDR were to move, following Gorbachev away from this system, “there could be no realistic alternative to unification with West Germany”. The SED were quick to realise this and therefore refused to tread the path of perestroika however they did make some concessions to reform. Cultural ties with the FRG were strengthened, and more and more people were allowed to visit the west, 1,000,000 in 1987 as opposed to 50,000 in 1985. However these reforms were not good enough and many believe that the failure to recognise the need for drastic reforms essentially led to the downfall of the SED.

The failure of Honecker to recognise the need for change earned him a rebuke from Gorbachev who could see that the SED would have to become a reforming party if it was to retain control. It also lost him the party chairmanship as his colleagues ousted him. However although Honecker had been removed from office it was still not enough to recover the people’s confidence in the SED. Between September 1989 and February 1990, membership fell from 2,300,000 to just 890,000.

The SEDs unwillingness and inability to contemplate reform, coupled with inept and incompetent leadership led to its fall. One of the major problems which the SED party faced were the people of the GDR who were now becoming increasingly impatient and dissatisfied by the governments running of the country. This is evident with the problems, which were occurring with the Chinese and SED party coalition in which many people took to the streets to voice their opinion. The SED did not use force to quell the unhappiness of the people, thus meaning that the people were starting to have more of an influence on current situations hence undermining the authorities, which were in place at the time.

Another problem, which was evident within the SED, was the enormous pressure it was under to reform. “Encouraged by examples set in Hungary, Poland and even the Soviet Union, alternatives to the Stalinist central control were being articulated in the GDR”, however the fact of the matter is that the SED government was aging and utterly incapable of dealing with the demands of reform and even when it tried to reform certain issues domestically, such as the areas of travel and political pluralism, it only seemed to accelerate its demise.  Furthermore the limited reforms the SED had made along with the speeches made from Gorbachev, encouraged the reform movement in Easter Germany, and led to the formation of numerous opposition groups, which eventually led to the end of the GDR.

The internal collapse of the GDR was a vastly important factor in the unification of Germany. The GDR had been affected by so many different problems. The fact that the Eastern countries like Hungary had relaxed their borders meaning that Germans were able to move through Eastern Europe and into the FRG caused the GDR to become a weakened party. This was due to the fact that the people who moved into the FRG realised how badly the state was being run inside the GDR and hence turned against it. It was now becoming increasingly evident that “most GDR citizens wanted German unity; a clear majority wanted it right away” 

Along with the problems, which were occurring due to international circumstances, from within the GDR it was evident that they couldn’t cope with everything that was going on within its state. They were unable to get external support in the quest of quelling growing dissent, China wouldn’t help and although usually other communist regimes would help in certain circumstances, with the Gorbachev era of glasnost and perestroika occurring, their help was not available. The GDR were being left to there own devices and they were not good enough to deal with the problems of the ‘revolution’ occurring. This was certainly the case when Mittag took over from Honecker and many would say that his inability to cope paralysed the GDR government at a critical time in September.

Gorbachev was seen as a hero as he had calmed East West conflicts and was allowing democracy into Eastern Europe. “The Soviets Unions rapid loss of hegemony under Gorbachevs leadership played an important role both in the demise of communist rule in East Germany but also in clearing the way to unification”, however the expense that occurred with it was enormous as internally within Russia the communist regime ended and it brought about the collapse of the USSR, which wasn’t what Gorbachev wanted to do. His reform ideas led to people voicing there opinions against his regime and with many other factors an eventual coup occurred against Gorbachev in August 1991, and then in December 1991 the USSR ceases to exist and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) comes into being.

With domestic issues occurring within Russia, they were also happening in Germany and with vast consequences aswell. As a result of the Russians attitude of “laissez – faire towards Eastern Europe” the GDR had no means of help with regards to mass demonstrations and the violence which was occurring throughout the GDR. This problem was one which was escalating into something so big that many people believe that it was one of the main reasons for the GDR being overthrown, it was the people of the GDR itself rebelling.

There can be no doubt that the ordinary people of the GDR played a highly significant role in making the unification process possible. It was large-scale demonstration by the East Germans during October 1989, and especially the November rally, which drew over a million people, which then led to the resignation of the Politburo in November. Demonstrators wanted to “throw the rascals out and to renew the GDR as a Socialist state”. Once the Berlin Wall had been opened, the crowds were demanding unification, which was not something that had always been on the agenda. It was the people of the GDR who brought down the communists, which was a necessary precondition for unification.

At first the people and the opposition groups representing them wanted to see either a new completely reformed SED party, or to just get them out of government completely, but after managing this they did not stop there, they were now striving for unification. In late November 1989, the first rallies were held demonstrating not just for a reform of the GDR but also for unification with the FRG. This change in goal was due to the fact that, people were now seeing democratisation and socialism occurring throughout the rest of Europe. Also the fact that so many people had seen the way in which the FRG ran East Germany and could now see how backward the GDR was played a part in peoples thinking aswell. The people of the GDR who fought for unification played a major part in the process itself because, if they hadn’t fought to bring down the communism regime in West Germany, then unification may not have occurred at all.  

The free election, which occurred in March 1990 as a result of all the protests, can perhaps be seen as the most important factor in preparing the way for unification, since at least some of the parties running for office were not committed to unification but were purely running to maintain status quo. Within in the polls right from the beginning the newly named SED party, who were now called Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) were ahead of reform groups such as the New Forum. It is highly likely that the PDS would have won a vast majority of seats in this election for two reasons. Firstly because the reformers were so divided and also because groups such as New Forum were so small in size. However the intervention of the FRG becomes essential in making sure that the PDS do not once again come into power.

If a serious challenge were to be mounted to the dominance of the PDS in East Germany, it would be necessary to have organised parties in the elections. The East German Social Democratic Party (SDP) had already reformed, having been banned in the 1940’s and was soon cooperating with the SPD in West Germany, until they became one party. This therefore meant that there was a strong opposition to the PDS in running for the election, however it is not clear that the SPD would have been in favour of rapid unification. Although the leadership of the Eastern branch of the party was certainly looking to join the FRG at the soonest possible opportunity, Oskar Lafontaine, the SPD chancellor candidate in the West, favoured a different scheme which would see the two Germanys slowly grow together. He campaigned in “East and West Germany focusing on the negative financial and social effects of unification” thus meaning that, an SPD victory could potentially have set back unification two years.

Fortunately for Germany, a third alternative was offered in the face of the CDU. The old leadership had been destroyed and the eastern and western CDU parties united. Helmut Kohl organised the alliance of democratic parties, including the CDU and the free democrats, to stand in the eastern elections, and in the end this alliance won enough votes to be able to form the first democratically elected government of the GDR. In this it was the unification issue which was most important and a main reason for why the CDU won this election was due to the fact that the voters knew that Kohl stood for rapid unification under a capitalist economic system, and this was the way people wanted to go.

In Conclusion, there are many things, which were needed in order to make unification a possibility. Firstly the relaxation of the Soviet control, which was granted by Gorbachev, perhaps by accident with this programmes of perestroika and glasnost were extremely important because once the USSR were moving away from communist elements, it made things a lot harder for the GDR. Secondly, the overthrow of the SED in East Germany, which was achieved by a combination of the party leaderships own ineptitude and the demonstrations of the people of the GDR. Thirdly it was essential that there be a pro–unification government and chancellor in Bonn, with the vision to undertake the unification process. Such a man was provided in the form of Helmut Kohl as he took the risk of allowing economic union to precede political union. Kohl recognised that economic union was needed immediately to attempt to turn around the economic crisis that was occurring in the GDR. Therefore the vision and courage of Kohl were essential to the unification process.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

German Unification, Process and Outcomes; M. Donald and Helga A. Welsh

The globalisation of World Politics 2nd edition; John Baylis and Steve Smith

Gorbachev and German unification; revision of thinking, realignment of power

The German Polity; David Conradt 6th edition

Surge to Freedom; J.F. Brown

Europe and German Unification; Renata Fritsch-Bournazel

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