The
Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was created in 1949 from
the British, French
and American zones of occupation in Germany.
At the same time the German
Democratic Republic (East Germany) was
established from the territory occupied by the Soviet
Union.
Konrad
Adenauer
became the
first Chancellor of the Federal
Republic of Germany (West Germany).
He
held power for the next fourteen years and during that time played
an important role in restoring good relations with France
and the United States. However, he refused to
recognize the legal existence of the
German
Democratic Republic.
The Federal Republic of
Germany joined the European
Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1952. It was agreed that the
six countries that signed the Treaty of Paris (West Germany, Belgium,
France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands), would pool its coal and
steel resources.
In 1955
the Federal Republic of Germany became a sovereign state and joined
the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In
response the
government of German
Democratic Republic
signed
the Warsaw Treaty of Friendship Cooperation
and Mutual Assistance with Albania,
Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Poland,
Romania and the Soviet
Union.
The Federal Republic of
Germany joined the European Economic Community
(EEC) in 1958. Under the ECC attempts were made to achieve harmonization.
This included measures in areas such as indirect taxation, industrial
regulation, agriculture, fisheries and monetary policies.
Willy
Brandt
became Foreign Minister in
the Federal Republic of Germany
in 1966. He developed the policy of Ostpolitik
(reconciliation between eastern and western Europe). In
1969 Brandt became Chancellor of West Germany. He continued with his
policy of Ostpolitik and in 1970 negotiated an agreement with the
Soviet
Union accepting
the frontiers of Berlin. He also signed the Basic Treaty with the
German Democratic Republic.
With the collapse
of communism in 1989 the two German republics were united.
(1)
Konrad Adenauer,
speech on 31st January, 1951.
The Federal Republic is
threatened by the aggressive imperialism of Soviet Russia as is proved
by the systematic expansion of Soviet power in all parts of the world
since 1945. The increasingly active policies of the Russian zone government
in the last few months lead to the inescapable conclusion that we
cannot expect this Soviet imperialist expansionism to stop at the
Elbe. If Soviet Russia succeeds in forcing the Federal Republic of
Germany, with a minimum of damage, into the Soviet sphere of influence,
Russian war potential would be equal to that of the United States.
At the same time Russia would prevent the unification of Western Europe
for the defence of the Western world. In all probability Soviet policy
would thereby also succeed in increasing American isolationism sufficiently
to make the United States withdraw from the continent of Europe.
(2)
Konrad Adenauer,
Memoirs 1945-53 (12th July, 1952)
Disagreement between Soviet
Russia and the free peoples was, I felt, bound to grow. America too
had a vital interest in the creation of a strong Western Europe. For
this Germany was indispensable. A country in shackles is not a real,
full partner. I therefore thought that our fetters would gradually
fall away.
As John Foster Dulles
once put it: America was not pursuing a German or a French policy
in Europe, but an American policy. That was a very true saying. The
foreign policy of a country is always inspired by its own real or
imagined interests. It was in the interest of the United States that
Germany should become strong once more. Therefore the many examples
of discrimination, such as the Ruhr Statute, the Occupation Statute
and the provisions regarding the rearming of Germany, could only be
of a transitory nature. In the long run the German people could not
be a perfect partner of the peoples whose interests were parallel
to ours unless there was equality. These were the guiding principles
of my policy toward the Western powers during all the years when,
as Federal Chancellor, I had to determine the guidelines of our policy.
(3)
George Brown, In My Way (1971)
Brandt has done things
which require physical, mental and moral courage to an extent which
few men could sustain. He inherited a German Social Democratic Party
with very outdated traditional thinking, and requiring super-human
energy and understanding to reform and revive. Like others, he had
little in the way of natural advantages with which to do it. He was,
of course, lucky in his colleagues but even so it was Brandt who saw
the way through, not only to leading the Social Democratic Party to
victory but towards uniting Europe. He is a man of shining courage
- doing things which to everybody else it seemed impossible to ask
a German politician to undertake. Thanks to Willy's courage and imagination,
Germany may yet bring about the beginnings of a genuine détente
between East and West.
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