The bringing down of the Berlin Wall is one of the most vivid images and historic events of the late twentieth century. The reunification of Germany has transformed the face of Europe. In one stunning year, two separate states with clashing ideologies, hostile armies, competing economies, and incompatible social systems merged into one. The speed and extent of the reunification was so great that many people are still trying to understand the events. Initial elation has given way to the realities and problems posed in reuniting two such different systems. The Rush to German Unity presents a clear historical reconstruction of the confusing events. It focuses on the dramatic experiences of the East German people but also explores the decisions of the West German elite. Konrad H. Jarausch draws on the rich sources produced by the collapse of the GDR and on the public debate in the FRG. Beginning with vivid media images, the text probes the background of a problem, traces its treatment and resolution and then reflects on its implications. Combining an insider's insights with an outsider's detachment, the interpretation balances the celebratory and the catastrophic views. The unification process was democratic, peaceful and negotiated. But the merger was also bureaucratic, capitalistic and one-sided. Popular pressures and political manipulation combined to create a rush to unity that threatened to escape control. The revolution moved from a civic rising to a national movement and ended up as reconstruction from the outside. An ideal source for general readers and students, The Rush to German Unity explores whether solving the old German problem has merely created new difficulties.

An historical event of the first magnitude, German unification has transformed the face of Europe. This historical reconstruction of the momentous event provides informed analyses for both students of German history and historians requiring more information on the reunification process.

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject History of Europe - Newer History, European Unification, grade: 1,3, International University Bremen, course: Social German History, language: English, abstract: 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. [...]

An ideal source for general readers and students, "The Rush to German Unity" explores whether solving the old German problem (by bringing down the Berlin Wall) has merely created new difficulties for Germany and challenges to overcome.

The unification of Germany is the most important change in Central Europe in the last four decades. Understanding this rapid and unforeseen development has raised old fears as well as inspired new hopes. In order to make sense out of the bewildering process and to help both expert and lay readers understand the changes and consequences, an American historian and a German social scientist put together this collection of central texts on German unification, the first of its kind. An invaluable reference tool.

The unification of Germany is the most important change in Central Europe in the last four decades. Understanding this rapid and unforeseen development has raised old fears as well as inspired new hopes. In order to make sense out of the bewildering process and to help both expert and lay readers understand the changes and consequences, an American historian and a German social scientist put together this collection of central texts on German unification, the first of its kind. An invaluable reference tool.

Germany Divided remains one of the most thought-provoking and comprehensive interpretations of the forty-year relationship between East and West Germany and of the problems of contemporary German unity. In this politically controversial and analytically sophisticated account, A. James McAdams dissects the complex process by which East and West German leaders moved over the years from first pursuing the ideal of German unity, to accepting what they believed to be the inescapable reality of division, and then, finally, to meeting the challenges of an unanticipated reunification. This new edition contains an epilogue in which McAdams considers some of the political and economic problems faced by eastern and western Germans as they entered their fourth year of living together.