Brandt's Ostpolitik

A discussion on whether the German Federal Republic derived more benefit than the German Democratic Republic from Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik.

2,346 words () | 8 sources | MLA | 2008 United Kingdom

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the unification and repair of post-war Germany with a focus on the expansion of the Soviet regime which eventually led to the building of the Berlin Wall. In particular, it looks at the new policy proposed by Willy Brandt, when he became chancellor, towards the communist states of Eastern Europe know as Ostpolitik which was an active approachment towards East Germany; to improve relations with the Soviet Union, Poland and many other Eastern Block countries. The paper examines how Brandt's Ostpolitik was conducted through skillful manipulation and contends that the German Federal Republic derived more benefit than the German Democratic Republic from the foundations that Brandt's Ostpolitik lay.

From the Paper:

"This new currency was to protect Germany from another wave of hyperinflation, and was initially distributed in the three western occupied zones outside Berlin. It angered the Soviet's who saw it as a threat, in retaliation they cut of all rail, roads and canal links between the three western zones and west Berlin - in hindsight it was the beginning of the Berlin blockade. In response to this the deutsche mark was introduced to the economy state of West Berlin itself. 'The Soviet regime immediately accused the western powers of bringing about the economic and therefore the political partition of Germany by the introduction of this divisive currency'.(10) "

Sample of Sources Used:

'Germany Since 1945' By: Pol O'Dochartaigh
'From Cold War to Ostpolitik. Germany and The New Europe.' By: Michael Freund.
' Time Magazine' (United States) 1970.
'Germany 1918 - 1990 : The Divided Nation' By: Mary Fulbrook.
' Willy Brandt People and Politics' By: Willy Brandt (translated by J.Maxwell Brownjohn).