German Reunification

The reunification of Germany was in conjunction with and made possible by the waning hold the Soviet Union had over Eastern Europe during the late 1980s. East Germany was becoming increasingly politically unstable and many of the citizens of East Germany either wished to join Western Europe or at the least curtail Soviet influence in East Germany and Eastern Europe as a whole.

Instabilities in East Germany included the removal of the border fence between Hungary and Austria in May of 1989, which was a result of the “Autumn of Nations,” a series of revolutionary movements through Eastern Europe. This was the first major breach in the “Iron Curtain,” and as a result large numbers of Eastern Europeans in Hungary, including East German citizens, fled to Austria and some subsequently to West Germany.

Hungary begins dismantling the border fence with Austria, May 2, 1989

Another cause for the reunification of Germany was the Peaceful Revolution, which took place during late 1989 and early 1990. The Revolution was a Series of nonviolent protests and demonstrations throughout East Germany. It led to the German Democratic Republic (East Germany)’s first free parliamentary elections in early 1990. The Establishment of a parliamentary democracy in East Germany set the stage for German reunification. The election also ousted the Socialist Unity Party of East Germany, allowing new and willing GDR politicians to negotiate unification terms with West Germany for the first time.

Peaceful Revolution gathering, 1990

Negotiations between East and West led to the Unification Treaty and the “Two Plus Four Treaty,” referring to the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union plus the two German states. These treaties granted a unified Germany full sovereignty, which would be a continuation and expansion of the Federal Republic of Germany, former West Germany. The FRG decided to retain membership of NATO and of the European Community and abandoned former agreements of the GDR such as the Warsaw Pact. The merging of the two states’ constitutions and economies followed.

German Unity Day is celebrated on the third of October throughout Germany to celebrate the formal end of German unification negotiations on October 3, 1990.

Brandenburg Gate
symbol of modern German patriotism

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/The-reunification-of-Germany

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Unity_Day