
Germany's Cold War
The Global Campaign to Isolate East Germany, 1949-1969
William Glenn Gray(Author)
The University of North Carolina Press
Published on 31. March 2003
Book
Hardback
368 pages
978-0-8078-2758-1 (ISBN)
Description
This volume explores West Germany's efforts to prevent international acceptance of East Germany as a legitimate state following World War II, using newly available material from both sides of the Iron Curtain. West German leaders were unwilling to accept the division of their country and regarded the German Democratic Republic (GDR) as an illegitimate upstart - a puppet of the occupying Soviet forces. Together with France, Britain and the United States, West Germany applied political and financial pressure to ensure that the GDR remained unrecognized by all countries outside the communist camp. While the GDR had some success in befriending countries such as Egypt, Ghana and Indonesia, West Germany's intimidation tactics and superior economic resources saw that it never had any decisive breakthrough. This book argues that Bonn's isolation campaign was dropped not due to failure but as a result of changes in West German priorities as the struggle against East Germany came to hamper efforts at reconciliation with Israel, Poland, and Yugoslavia - all countries of special relevance to Germany's recent past. Interest in morally grounded diplomacy, together with a growing conviction that the GDR could no longer be ignored, led to the abandonment of Bonn's effective but outdated efforts to hinder worldwide recognition of the East German regime.
Reviews / Votes
"A fascinating story about the reassertion of Germany's power after the disaster of World War II....It is an essential contribution to our understanding of the twentieth-century history of German foreign policy." - Thomas Schwartz, Vanderbilt UniversityMore details
Series
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Chapel Hill
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
677 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8078-2758-1 (9780807827581)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
11/2003
The University of North Carolina Press
€29.49
Available for download