Reconciliation Road

Reconciliation Road
Author: Benedikt Schoenborn
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2020-09-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1789207010

Among postwar political leaders, West German Chancellor Willy Brandt played one of the most significant roles in reconciling Germans with other Europeans and in creating the international framework that enabled peaceful reunification in 1990. Based on extensive archival research, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of Brandt’s Ostpolitik from its inception until the end of the Cold War through the lens of reconciliation. Here, Benedikt Schoenborn gives us a Brandt who passionately insisted on a gradual reduction of Cold War hostility and a lasting European peace, while remaining strategically and intellectually adaptable in a way that exemplified the ‘imaginativeness of history’.

The Foundations of Ostpolitik

The Foundations of Ostpolitik
Author: Julia von Dannenberg
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2008-01-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199228191

An analysis of the processes by which the West German government negotiated the Moscow Treaty with the Soviet Union in 1970 - the foundation of West German Ostpolitik.

Osthandel and Ostpolitik

Osthandel and Ostpolitik
Author: Robert Mark Spaulding
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 515
Release: 1997-06-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1800734948

Eclipsed by the scope of the Atlantic economy, obscured by Anglo-German rivalry, and nearly destroyed by the post-1945 division of Europe, the flow of goods across East Central Europe has been, nonetheless, an immensely significant pattern of European economic exchange. For Germany, the Osthandel (Eastern trade) was both a blessing and a curse; its bounty provided much of the raw material for the rise of German economic and political power in Europe, while its lure tantalized German ambitions to the point of madness. Despite the enduring importance of this commerce, no monograph has yet made this pattern of trade the centerpiece of its treatment of German-East European relations. This study puts this important pattern of German-East European trade into the center of discussion and views an extended period of German foreign policy toward Eastern Europe through this lens.

From Embargo to Ostpolitik

From Embargo to Ostpolitik
Author: Angela E. Stent
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2003-10-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521521376

Examines the development of Soviet-West German relations from both the Russian and German sides.

The Economic Diplomacy of Ostpolitik

The Economic Diplomacy of Ostpolitik
Author: Werner D. Lippert
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2010-12-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1845455746

Despite the consensus that economic diplomacy played a crucial role in ending the Cold War, very little research has been done on the economic diplomacy during the crucial decades of the 1970s and 1980s. This book fills the gap by exploring the complex interweaving of East–West political and economic diplomacies in the pursuit of détente. The focus on German chancellor Willy Brandt’s Ostpolitik reveals how its success was rooted in the usage of energy trade and high tech exchanges with the Soviet Union. His policies and visions are contrasted with those of U.S. President Richard Nixon and the Realpolitik of Henry Kissinger. The ultimate failure to coordinate these rivaling détente policies, and the resulting divide on how to deal with the Soviet Union, left NATO with an energy dilemma between American and European partners—one that has resurfaced in the 21st century with Russia’s politicization of energy trade. This book is essential for anyone interested in exploring the interface of international diplomacy, economic interest, and alliance cohesion.

From Ostpolitik to Reunification

From Ostpolitik to Reunification
Author: Avril Pittman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2002-05-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521893336

With the signing of the Moscow Treaty in 1970, West German-Soviet relations came to the forefront of world politics. Two decades later, the historic opening of the Berlin Wall and German reunification once again focused world attention on the Federal Republic's relations with the USSR. This book explores the development of this relationship from the perspective of West Germany. Dr Avril Pittman outlines the main events after the Second World War and then focuses on four issues central to this relationship in the 1970s and early 1980s. She explores family reunification and emigration rights for ethnic Germans living in the Soviet Union; the central role of Berlin and the reasons why the city persisted as a serious bilateral problem; the triangular relations between West Germany, the Soviet Union and East Germany; and the significance of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan which led to a sharp deterioration in East-West relations.

Dealing with the Devil

Dealing with the Devil
Author: M. E. Sarotte
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2003-04-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 0807860271

Using new archival sources--including previously secret documents of the East German secret police and Communist Party--M. E. Sarotte goes behind the scenes of Cold War Germany during the era of detente, as East and West tried negotiation instead of confrontation to settle their differences. In Dealing with the Devil, she explores the motives of the German Democratic Republic and its Soviet backers in responding to both the detente initiatives, or Ostpolitik, of West Germany and the foreign policy of the United States under President Nixon. Sarotte focuses on both public and secret contacts between the two halves of the German nation during Brandt's chancellorship, exposing the cynical artifices constructed by negotiators on both sides. Her analysis also details much of the superpower maneuvering in the era of detente, since German concerns were ever present in the minds of leaders in Washington and Moscow, and reveals the startling degree to which concern over China shaped European politics during this time. More generally, Dealing with the Devil presents an illuminating case study of how the relationship between center and periphery functioned in the Cold War Soviet empire.

Greece’s Ostpolitik

Greece’s Ostpolitik
Author: Andreas Stergiou
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2021-01-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030611299

The book examines the rapprochement between Greece and Eastern Europe during the Cold War. ''Ostpolitik'', which translates to ‘‘Opening to the East’’ is used to describe the policy of conducting affairs with the Soviet Bloc. Using primary sources from Greece, Eastern European States, Cyprus, NATO, the United States, Germany and United Kingdom, this book provides historical and foreign policy analysis of a tumultuous period in the Eastern Mediterranean. The book first illustrates Greece's position in the Cold War confrontation before moving to more detailed analysis of the Eastern Bloc's policies towards Greece and Cyprus with an emphasis in the harmonious relationship between the Greek military dictatorship and the Communist countries (1967-1974). It analyses the U-turn in Greek foreign and defence policy and the replacement of the Communist ''devil'' by a new one, an equally capitalist country and NATO-ally, Turkey. The book also covers Greece's efforts to elicit the Communist countries' support against a member of its own Western alliance, as well as the NATO response to this existential threat against its coherence. A comprehensive study of the East-West competition in South-Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean during the Cold War, this volume is ideal for researchers and students interested in the international relations of twentieth century Europe and the historical background of the still hot Greek-Turkish Conflict.

Germany and the Baltic Problem After the Cold War

Germany and the Baltic Problem After the Cold War
Author: Kristina Spohr Readman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2004-06-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135770220

Questions how a unified Germany will use its great power status Draws on numerous confidential interviews with key political actors and on unprecedented access to still classified material

Germany’s Role in European Russia Policy

Germany’s Role in European Russia Policy
Author: Liana Fix
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2021-04-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030682269

This book contributes to the debate about a new German power in Europe with an analysis of Germany’s role in European Russia policy. It provides an up-to-date account of Germany’s “Ostpolitik” and how Germany has influenced EU-Russia relations since the Eastern enlargement in 2004 - partly along, partly against the interests and preferences of new member states. The volume combines a rich empirical analysis of Russia policy with a theory-based perspective on Germany’s power and influence in the EU. The findings demonstrate that despite Germany’s central role, exercising power within the EU is dependent on legitimacy and acceptance by other member states.