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To What Extent Did Relations Between East and West Germany Improve in the Years 1969

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To What Extent Did Relations Between East and West Germany Improve in the Years 1969
To what extent did relations between East and West Germany improve in the years 1969-74?'

The relationship between the two states in Germany, FRG (West) and GDR (East) has improved drastically in recent times resulting in the restructuring of Germany. Though the basis of this reunification stems from the years between 1969-1974. These years where immensely important for the two Germanys and with the change of leaders for political parties, so to did the views change. Such as the introduction of Ostpolitik. There was also the continuation of control from the mother countries that these two nations represented. The two superpowers (USA and USSR) wanted improved relations in the late 1960’s to prevent an annihilation of an international scale – there where too many weapons the stakes where too high. Many people thought that the money used to develop these weapons could be put to better use, such as improving living conditions.

First it is necessary to talk about Willy Brandt, who was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic as General Secretary of The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1971 until 1989. He had created the policy of Ostpolitik, which was aimed at improving the relations with the East. This was the first time that either one of the nations had stated any realisation of each other. They’re where many aims of Ospolitik of which its main goal was to strengthen the relations within the entire Eastern Bloc. It was to develop relations with the East and reduce the negative effects of Germany’s division. It used a policy of ‘rapprochement’ rather than a policy of strength, which was only possible due to the serious confrontation in 1962 between the USA and USSR after nuclear bases were found to have been installed in Cuba. This policy allowed both nations to be admitted into the United Nations after the signing of the Treaty of Moscow in August 1970, in which the FRG recognised the western boarders of Poland as well as

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