The Way towards Reunification – A Revolution in Germany?
If you had asked a person on the street 16 years ago how reasonable he thought reunification of Western and Eastern Germany was, he would have probably laughed at you. However, only one year later, at the end of 1989, reunification was all of the sudden back on the agenda and discussed everywhere around the world. Within less than a year the GDR went through its most severe crisis from which it would never recover. Political scientists and historians would not have imagined that the GDR could dissolve so easily and so quickly. Thousands of citizens were fleeing to the West and literally hundreds of thousands were protesting in the streets of Leipzig and Berlin. The regime was internally divided and had no power to withstand the forces that were bringing its end. About a decade and a half later historians are still discussing the events that led to the dissolution of the GDR regime and are divided about the question whether it can be classified as a revolution or not. In my essay I will start out by looking at the weaknesses that the GDR regime had. There had to be a precondition that made the decline of East Germany possible and I will investigate that. Afterwards I will take a look at three different phases that the upheaval in 1989/90 had, namely the flight, the mass protests, and the Round Table talks. At the end of the paper I will discuss arguments in favour and against the notion that the GDR upheaval was a revolution and conclude with my own evaluation. Most of this essay is based on the book Dissolution by Charles S. Mayer (1997) and a chapter from the book The Rush to German Unity written by Konrad H. Jarausch (1994). Please note that I will most of the time refer to an “upheaval” when I describe the events in the GDR in 1989/90. I will try to avoid the term “revolution” in order to not take any position in favour of or against one historical camp or the other.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Economic Basis for the Upheaval
3. The Phases of the Upheaval
3.1. The Escape Period
3.2. The Mass Protests
3.3. The Round Table Talks
4. Evaluating the Upheaval as a Revolution
5. Conclusion
Objectives and Themes
This paper examines the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1989/90, investigating the economic and societal preconditions that led to the regime's downfall. It explores whether these events can be classified as a revolution by analyzing the transition through the lenses of mass flight, public protest, and the institutionalization of the political transformation.
- Analysis of systemic economic failures and the impact of the Comecon trade system.
- Investigation of the three societal phases: flight, mass protests, and the Round Table talks.
- Comparative discussion of the 1848, 1918, and 1989 events in Germany.
- Evaluation of theoretical definitions of "revolution" in a modern historical context.
- The influence of Western political integration on the transition of the GDR.
Excerpt from the Book
The second phase of the GDR upheaval were the mass protests.
They took place at the same time as the masses of East Germans were escaping via the West German embassies. The center for protest activity in the GDR was Leipzig. The question that comes up here is why it took place in Leipzig but not in the capital Berlin? Maier basically gives three reasons for this in his book. First, Leipzig was rather far away from the capital which meant that it was less directly controlled by the central government. Secondly, Leipzig was economically run down. There were numerous construction projects in Berlin because it was the capital and Leipzig citizens therefore felt treated unfair. The concept of relative deprivation comes in here which the people in Leipzig had developed over the years. Finally, Leipzig was big, to be exact, the second largest city in the GDR. It had around 600,000 inhabitants and therefore many people were available for protest activities. Even though Leipzig had a large university, it is worth to mention that the major source of protest was not coming from the university as it was the case in many uprisings in other countries, the 1989 incidence in China for example. In the GDR it was rather a heterogeneous segment of middle class citizens, young people, and angry workers that participated in the protest. It all started in Leipzig on the first Monday in March 1989. Fair time put Leipzig under the gaze of the international media. The fair took place regularly during the months of March and September. Several hundred protesters used the presence of the television cameras, came together, and carried posters for free travel rights.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter introduces the sudden collapse of the GDR in 1989 and outlines the research objective to analyze the transformation process and the appropriateness of the term "revolution".
2. The Economic Basis for the Upheaval: This section details how the GDR's unsustainable welfare state and its integration into the inefficient Comecon trading system led to a near-total economic collapse by 1989.
3. The Phases of the Upheaval: This chapter breaks down the breakdown of the SED regime into three distinct phases: mass flight to the West, widespread public demonstrations, and the formalization of political change via the Round Table talks.
4. Evaluating the Upheaval as a Revolution: This section compares the 1989 events to earlier German upheavals and discusses academic debates regarding whether popular mobilization without bloodshed constitutes a revolution.
5. Conclusion: The paper concludes that while the GDR transition shares characteristics with a revolution, the lack of a clear, universally accepted definition and the specific role of West German political intervention make it a complex historical subject requiring further study.
Keywords
GDR, German Reunification, Upheaval, Revolution, SED, Leipzig, Mass Protests, Economic Collapse, Comecon, Round Table, Helmut Kohl, Socialism, Political Transformation, 1989, German History.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this document?
The document investigates the collapse of the German Democratic Republic in 1989/90 and addresses the debate over whether this period of change should be historically classified as a revolution.
What are the primary themes addressed?
The text focuses on economic instability, the role of popular mobilization, the impact of international trade dependencies, and the political process of German reunification.
What is the central research question?
The central question is whether the systemic collapse and subsequent social transition of the GDR in 1989 can be accurately defined as a "revolution" in a scientific and historical sense.
Which scientific methods were employed?
The author utilizes a qualitative historical analysis based on primary scholarly literature (primarily Charles S. Maier and Konrad H. Jarausch) to evaluate historical events and theoretical concepts.
What does the main body cover?
The main body covers the economic failure of the socialist model, the three phases of the upheaval (flight, protests, and the Round Table), and a theoretical comparison of this event with earlier German historical precedents.
Which keywords characterize this study?
Key terms include German reunification, GDR, revolution, SED, Leipzig protests, and economic collapse.
How does the author define the role of the Round Table?
The author describes the Round Table as the "political phase" or "institutionalization of the uprising," acting as a quasi-parliament that facilitated the transition to democratic elections.
Why does the author argue that the Leipzig protests were critical?
The author argues that these protests provided the mass mobilization necessary to weaken the SED regime's resolve, eventually leading to a scenario where the leadership lacked the coherence to use force.
How does the author view the influence of the West?
The author notes that unlike other Eastern Bloc countries, the GDR's transition was heavily influenced and eventually carried out by West German politicians, which complicates the classification of the event as a pure "revolution."
What is the final verdict of the author?
The author concludes that a definitive judgment is currently difficult due to the lack of a universally accepted definition of "revolution" and suggests that further research is needed in the coming years.
- Citation du texte
- Frederik Boesch (Auteur), 2004, The Way towards Reunification - A Revolution in Germany?, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/50633
