European Relations With Germany After World War 2

by jad4400

Hello, I just wanted to start off by saying how much I love this subreddit, as a person studying history, this place is an absolute treat to visit.

I wanted to ask, what were the thoughts and opinions of European leaders on Germany after World War 2. I know many were obviously not happy with them (understatement I know), but at the same time, Germany, in remarkably short order joined organizations like the ECSC and NATO.

So I guess my question is a bit bifercated:

Was there opposition by European (western) leaders to Germany joining these organizations?

How were these processes handled?

Thank you!

Darth_Odan

I won't be able to give you a complete answer, but European relations with Germany took decades to recover. To the point that Margaret Thatcher and François Mitterand were both against the reunification of Germany in 1990, a full 45 years after the war. Most of Europe was either against Reunification or wanted it delayed. Gorbachev, like most European leaders had their concerns about German reunification but he took a hands off approach, saying that Germans should decide for themselves. George Bush was the only major Western Leader in favor of reunification. How was this process handled? The US wanted Germany to remain in NATO and once France realized that Reunification was inevitable they demanded that Germany stay in the EU and commit to the future common currency.

I know that at least France was opposed to rearming Germany and including it in NATO. I'm not entirely sure about Britain, but the USSR was quite furious at this. The USSR had offered several times to unite Germany into a single, neutral state but Western Europe was against this. But once Germany entered NATO the USSR formed the Warsaw Pact. THE ECSC arose from neccessity, personal opinions didn't have much room in it and a good portion of the population was in favor of it (besides the economic benefits, the idea of unifying Europe in peaceful economic development was quite attractive). Relations with the Soviet side of Europe were somewhat strained for a long time. Many were opposed to having relations with Eastern countries because of the loss of German territory, plus many hated the Germans for the war (Poland chief among them). Relations began to normalize with Willy Brant and his Ostpolitik. Although West German's hated his guts for signing the Treaty of Warsaw, this basically signaled a change in relations and healing of wounds caused by the war (Poland asked that this treaty be respected as their condition for Reunification). I would say European relations with Germany went from outright hatred to somewhat normal-mistrust (which ended after Reunifcation) after Willy Brants Warsaw Genuflection.

Sources:

Frederick Taylor: The Berlin wall Martin Kitchen: A history of modern Germany 1800-2000