German Reunification
German Reunification marks the momentous process by which the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) united to form a single German state on October 3, 1990. This historic transformation began with the peaceful revolution in East Germany, symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, which represented the physical and symbolic collapse of the Iron Curtain that had divided Germany and Europe for nearly three decades. Over the following months, East Germans voted overwhelmingly for political parties supporting swift reunification in the country's first free elections, and the two German states engaged in intense negotiations resulting in the Unification Treaty. The international aspects of reunification were resolved through the Two Plus Four Agreement between the two German states and the four occupying powers (United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and France), which granted full sovereignty to a united Germany. While reunification represented a triumphant moment in German history and the end of the Cold War division of Europe, it also initiated a challenging process of economic, social, and psychological integration between the vastly different societies that had developed on either side of the Iron Curtain—a process that in many ways continues to this day.
Timeline and Overview
German Reunification marks the momentous process by which the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) united to form a single German state on October 3, 1990. This historic transformation began with the peaceful revolution in East Germany, symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, which represented the physical and symbolic collapse of the Iron Curtain that had divided Germany and Europe for nearly three decades. Over the following months, East Germans voted overwhelmingly for political parties supporting swift reunification in the country's first free elections, and the two German states engaged in intense negotiations resulting in the Unification Treaty. The international aspects of reunification were resolved through the Two Plus Four Agreement between the two German states and the four occupying powers (United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and France), which granted full sovereignty to a united Germany. While reunification represented a triumphant moment in German history and the end of the Cold War division of Europe, it also initiated a challenging process of economic, social, and psychological integration between the vastly different societies that had developed on either side of the Iron Curtain—a process that in many ways continues to this day.