Yuri V. Rodovich

Professor, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of the Department of the History and Archeology

Tula State Lev Tolstoy Pedagogical University

(Tula, Russia)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2022-1-66-74

Abstract. The purpose of this article is to show that the solution of the German problem was one of the prerequi-sites for the collapse of the Soviet Union. The article notes that the liquidation of the GDR in the process of German unification meant the loss of a significant part of the economic potential necessary for fur-ther development for the USSR. The "fallout" of the German Democratic Republic and its Armed Forces from the Warsaw Treaty Organization undermined the security of the Soviet state. The abolition of the rights of the four Powers, including the USSR, in relation to Germany as a whole in accordance with the Treaty of September 12, 1990 on the final settlement with respect to Germany, Mikhail Gorbachev's consent to the withdrawal of a combat-ready Western group of troops from East Germany and the deprivation of real estate in the region weakened the position of the Soviet Union as a great power. The inability of the federal Center to defend national interests both within the country and in the interna-tional are-na, and ensure the preservation of the sovereignty of its most important ally, the GDR, con-tributed to the orientation of the leadership of the Union republics of the USSR to gain independence and status within the framework of some new unification of the country. In the context of the creation of the Union of Sovereign States in November 1991, the leadership of the Federal Republic of Germany relied on national elites. This is evidenced by the establishment of direct bilateral contacts between Germany and the Russian Federation as a result of the meeting between the German Chancellor and the Russian President. This brought closer the registration of the collapse of the USSR in December 1991.
Keywords: USSR, GDR, FRG, German question, perestroika.

Full text of the article (PDF)

For citation: Rodovich, YuV 2022, ‘The solution of the German question as a prerequisite for the collapse of the USSR’, Tula Scientific Bulletin. History. Linguistics, issue 1 (9), pp. 66–74, http://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2022-1-66-74 (in Russ.)

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