Table of Contents

1. Into the Abyss: Germany under Allied Occupation, 1945-46; 2. Germany is Set on a New Course: the Founding of Two States, 1947-1949; 3. The Federal Republic Orientates to the West: Western Integration and the Economic Miracle" in the Adenauer Era, 1949-1963; 4. Hegemony against the Will of the People: the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1949 to 1961; 5. From Stagnation to Take-Off, and from Ludwig Erhard to the Grand Coalition; 6. After the Building of the Wall: Stabilisation of the SED State by Means of Force under Walter Ulbricht, 1961-1971; 7. The Republic in Transition: the New Policy towards the East and Commitment to Reform in the Brandt Era, 1969-1974; 8. The Crisis Years: Political Strains and their Solutions during the Period of the Schmidt/Genscher Government, 1974 to 1982; 9. Dictatorship`s Deceptive Facade of Normality: the GDR under Honecker from the 1970`s onwards; 10: A Change of Government in Bonn: the Christian Democrat-Liberal Coalition under Helmut Kohl from 1982; 11. The Collapse of the SED Dictatorship and the Fall of the Wall in 1989; 12. The Unanticipated Reunification: the New Course for Germany and International Reaction to it, 1989-90; 13. In Retrospect Bibliography.

About the Author

Jurgen Weber is a German historian at the Academy for Political Education, Tutzing