German Reunification
East and West Germany were formally reunified after 45 years of division
October 03, 1990
One Nation, Divided for Forty Years
Germany was reunified on October 3, 1990, when the five states of the former German Democratic Republic officially joined the Federal Republic of Germany. Germany had been divided since the end of World War II, when the victorious Allied powers occupied the defeated country in four zones. The Western zones became West Germany, a democratic state aligned with NATO and the United States. The Soviet zone became East Germany, a communist state under Soviet influence. The city of Berlin, located deep inside East Germany, was similarly divided. The Berlin Wall, built in 1961 to prevent East Germans from fleeing to the West, became the most visible symbol of a country and a continent split between two competing systems.
The Wall Comes Down
The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, was the defining moment that made reunification possible. East Germany's communist government had been weakening for months as Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev made clear that the Soviet Union would not use force to maintain communist governments in Eastern Europe. Mass protests swept East German cities throughout the autumn of 1989. When a confused East German official announced that new travel regulations would take effect "immediately, without delay," crowds gathered at the Berlin checkpoints and border guards, overwhelmed, simply let people through. Germans on both sides celebrated by dancing on the Wall and beginning to tear it down with hammers and picks.
A Nation Rebuilt
West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl moved quickly to reunify the country, negotiating the terms of economic and political union with East Germany and gaining the agreement of the four World War II Allied powers through the "Two Plus Four" treaty. Reunification proceeded at remarkable speed, with East Germany adopting West Germany's currency, laws, and institutions. The economic integration was enormously costly, requiring massive transfers of wealth from west to east that continued for decades. Many East Germans felt their way of life was simply absorbed rather than merged. Nevertheless, reunification is widely regarded as one of the great diplomatic achievements of the 20th century's final decade, a peaceful conclusion to Europe's Cold War division.