The Political History of Germany

Germany is one of the European countries that have had a very illustrious political history. From its participation in the first world war, to the German revolution, the great depression, the rise of adolf Hitler, the holocaust, the defeat in the Second World War, the division into West and East Germany, the building of the Berlin war, the peaceful revolution, the reunification and the fall of Berlin, wall, the political history of Germany makes an interesting read. This paper will look at the political history of Germany from 1918 to date, looking at the contributions of various personalities including Hindenburg, Hitler, Brandt, Kohl, Schroeder and Merkel.

The Political History of Germany
Germany was one of the countries that were actively involved in the first world and the catastrophic results of the war to the people of Germany saw the beginning of the German revolution in 1918. In the same year, Germany was declared a socialist republic in the same year and the revolution was quelled by the Social Democratic Government in 1919. In 1919 the treaty of Versailles was signed and Germany was supposed to cede some of its provinces. All its colonies were taken over by Britain and France ( HYPERLINK httpen.wikipedia.orgwikiHagen_Schulze o Hagen Schulze Schulze, 2008). In 1919 still, the Weimar constitution was established and this seriously weakened the democratic government. The government was facing a lot of animosity from Britain and France and with the retreat of the Americans from Europe, the only friends of Germany that remained was the soviet Union and Germany became the first European country to establish diplomatic relations with the USSR .

In 1925, Field Marshall Hindenburg became the president after the 1924 elections. Under his watch, treaty of Locarno was signed which recognized German borders with France and Belgium. It is the same treaty that saw the admission of Germany to the League of Nations in 1926. The effects of the Wall Street crash that signaled the start of the Great Depression were felt in Germany. The Biggest bank in Germany collapsed and the economy went down to unprecedented levels. The problems that afflicted Germany after the collapse of the Wall Street piled pressure on the president and this forced him to appoint Adolf Hitler as the Chancellor.  Hitlers regime showed untold hostility to the Jews and under his watch, the Nuremberg race laws were established, making the Jews to lose their German citizenship ( HYPERLINK httpen.wikipedia.orgwikiHagen_Schulze o Hagen Schulze Schulze, 2008). They were also barred from marrying non Jewish Germans. This affected more than half a million people. Hitler standing in Germany was increasing especially after the successful match into the Rhineland in 1936. In 1938, Hitler managed to make Austria a part of the German confederate and he united all the German speaking areas under one Prussian leadership. This included Czechoslovakia.

Hitler oversaw the Holocaust during the start of the Second World War where the Jewish population was subjugated in an attempt to remove them out of Germany. The Holocaust also affected all other groups that were seen to be a threat to the purity of the Germans. Nazi Germany had an upper hand at the start of the Second World War and it was the most aggressive side in the war. However, it collapsed in 1945 when Berlin was taken by the soviet and polish forces.  The Second World War saw the total destruction of Germanys economic infrastructure.  The US, UK and the French formed the federal republic of Germany in the West and the Soviet Union formed the German Democratic Republic in the East. The eastern part of Germany became a communist state while the western one was a federal capitalistic state. Through the assistance of the Marshal Plan, West Germany experienced economic growth that eluded the East ( HYPERLINK httpen.wikipedia.orgwikiHagen_Schulze o Hagen Schulze Schulze, 2008).

The East had a soviet style administration and economy and the country stagnated economically. The Berlin wall was built in 1971 to stop the easterners from escaping to the West because of the harsh economic conditions in the East. This was one symbol of the cold war.  The relationship between the two countries remained icy until the seventies when Willy Brandt launched a rapprochement program to relieve the suffering of the east HYPERLINK httpen.wikipedia.orgwikiFileBundesarchiv_Bild_183-1990-0123-021,_Berlin,_Abriss_der_Mauer.jpg .

The relations between the two countries improved and they were admitted to the UN in 1973. The relationship grew over the eighties and in 1989, a peaceful revolution led to the fall of the Berlin wall and the reunification of the two countries in 1990. Helmut Kohl, the Chancellor of West Germany from 1982 was the chief architect of the reunification. In the first free fair and democratic elections of the unified Germany, Kohl won by a landslide.

Kohl was very successful in foreign policy especially after bringing the ECB to Frankfurt.  However, the late 90s were economically difficult for the Germans with rising unemployment leading to the unpopularity of Kohl ( HYPERLINK httpen.wikipedia.orgwikiHagen_Schulze o Hagen Schulze Schulze, 2008). In the 1998 federal election, Kohl was heavily defeated by Gerhard Schroeder who became the second chancellor of the reunified Germany. Schroeders first term was successful especially because of his abolition of nuclear power and funding of renewable energy. He also liberalized the naturalization laws that had been a problem since the Nazi Era. However, high unemployment rates affected his ratings and by the time for the 2002 elections, his popularity had dwindled, though he won a second term.

After the 2005 election his party lost to the CDU led by Angela Merkel. The election was disputed and after three weeks of negotiations, he stepped down as the chancellor of Germany, making Angela Merkel the first woman Chancellor of Germany and the third in the unified Germany. From 2005 to 2009, she led a coalition government of the Christian Democratic Union, Christian Social Union and the social democratic party. In 2009, her party obtained the most votes and formed a coalition with the CSU and the Free Democratic Party. Her second term as the Chancellor of Germany started in October 2009.

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