| Description |
xvii, 250 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm. |
| Series |
Princeton studies in international history and politics |
|
Princeton studies in international history and politics.
|
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [233]-244) and index. |
| Summary |
Germany Divided is the first comprehensive scholarly interpretation of the forty-year relationship between East and West Germany and of the problems of contemporary German unity. When the Berlin Wall was opened on November 9, 1989, there was widespread surprise at the rush to unification: Germany was reuniting just when almost everyone, political participant and observer alike, had become accustomed to it being divided. In this politically controversial and analytically sophisticated account, A. James McAdams dissects the complex process by which East and West German leaders moved over the years from first pursuing the ideal of German unity, to accepting what they believed to be the inescapable reality of division, and then, finally, to meeting the challenges of an unanticipated reunification. In addition to relevant primary and secondary materials, including archival holdings in both German states, McAdams draws on an unprecedented series of interviews conducted throughout the 1980s and early 1990s with officials of the Federal Chancellery, the Foreign Office, and the Ministry of Intra-German Relations of the Federal Republic in Bonn, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the SED Central Committee of the German Democratic Republic in East Berlin. With this unique access to information on high-level decision making, he chronicles an era when the restoration of German unity appeared anything but assured. |
| Contents |
I. A Wall between the Germanys. Accepting Germany's Division. A German-German Consensus -- II. One Germany, Two Alliances. The Soviet Ultimatum. East German Uncertainties. The Persistence of West German Policy. The Evolution of East German Policy. Divergent Priorities. The Construction of the Wall -- III. Two Germanys: Confrontation or Accommodation? Changing Surroundings. West Germany's Awkward Adaptation. The Rigidity of East German Policy. Bonn's Breakthrough: The Ostpolitik. The End of the Ulbricht Era. Two States in Germany? -- IV. Two German States: New Relations, Bad Relations. The Inter-German Dilemma. The Benefits of Cooperation. Handling Questions of Principle. Whither Inter-German Ties: The View from Bonn. Whither Inter-German Ties: Retrenchment in the GDR. Toward a German-German Deadlock? Inter-German Ties in Question -- V. Accepting a Divided Germany. A Threat from the West. An East German Opportunity? The Meeting at Werbellin. The "Wende" A German "Coalition of Reason" A New Era between the Germanys. A Working Visit to Bonn -- VI. The Fall of East Germany. The Illusion of Success. A Path of Least Resistance. A New Political Force. The West German Response. Unity Despite the Germanys -- VII. Germany without a Wall. Inter-German Tensions of a New Type. A Liberal Democratic Germany. The New Germany and the New Europe -- App. A. Interview Locations, 1985-1990 -- App. B. GDR Oral History Project Interviews. |
| Subject |
Germany -- Politics and government -- 1945-1990.
|
|
Germany -- Politics and government -- 1990-
|
|
Germany (East) -- Foreign relations -- Germany (West)
|
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Germany (West) -- Foreign relations -- Germany (East)
|
| Chronological Term |
Geschichte 1945-1990
|
| ISBN |
0691078920 (cl : acid-free paper) : $29.95 |
|
9780691078922 (cl : acid-free paper) |
|
