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Ostpolitik: Relations With the Federal Republic, 1969-87 » Ostpolitik and the Agreements of 1970-72

What you'll learn this session

Study time: 30 minutes

Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section A, Investigation A5, Key topic 4

What Ostpolitik was and why Willy Brandt began it
The agreements of 1970-72, from the Moscow Treaty to the Basic Treaty
How Ostpolitik changed relations between the two Germanys
How to answer a 6-mark 'Describe TWO features' question

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From cold war to Ostpolitik

After 1949 Germany was split into two states: the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, or West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany). For twenty years the FRG refused to deal with the GDR as a proper country. Its governments claimed to speak for all Germans and called the GDR an illegal, Soviet-made state.

In October 1969 Willy Brandt, a Social Democrat and the former mayor of West Berlin, became Chancellor of the FRG. He believed the old approach had failed. The Wall had been up since 1961 and Germany was no closer to being united. Brandt wanted to lower tension and make life easier for ordinary Germans. His policy was called Ostpolitik.

Key terms:

Ostpolitik: German for 'eastern policy'. Brandt's policy of talking and making agreements with the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and the GDR.
Hallstein Doctrine: the FRG's rule, from 1955, that it would cut off relations with any country (other than the USSR) that recognised the GDR.
Recognition: formally accepting that another state exists and is legitimate.
Basic Treaty: the 1972 agreement that set out relations between the FRG and the GDR.

🔄 The old policy

The Hallstein Doctrine tried to isolate the GDR. It kept the two Germanys apart and did nothing for families split by the Wall.

🤝 The new policy

Brandt accepted that Germany was divided for now. He hoped that contact and trust would slowly bring the two states closer, and ease the hardship caused by the border.

The agreements of 1970-72

Brandt talked to East Berlin and Moscow, because the Soviet Union held the key to the GDR. The main meetings and agreements came in quick order.

Erfurt and Kassel meetings (1970): Brandt met the GDR's prime minister, Willi Stoph, first in Erfurt in March and then in Kassel in May. These were the first top-level talks between the two German governments. In Erfurt, crowds gathered outside Brandt's hotel to cheer him, which worried the GDR's leaders.
Moscow Treaty (August 1970): the FRG and the USSR promised not to use force and accepted Europe's existing borders, including the border between the two Germanys, as borders that must not be changed by force.
Warsaw Treaty (December 1970): the FRG accepted the Oder-Neisse line as Poland's western border. Brandt knelt in silence at the memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, a gesture which was widely noticed.
Four Power Agreement on Berlin (September 1971): the USA, USSR, Britain and France agreed that West Berlin was not part of the FRG but could keep close ties with it. The USSR promised that traffic between West Germany and West Berlin could pass freely.
Transit Agreement (December 1971): the two Germanys worked out the detail of travel to and from West Berlin through the GDR.

Why the USSR agreed

Brezhnev's government wanted the FRG to accept the post-war borders in Eastern Europe, and wanted trade and technology from the West. A calmer Europe also helped the USSR.

The Basic Treaty, 1972

The Basic Treaty was signed in East Berlin in December 1972 and came into force in 1973. Its main points were:

The two states would treat each other as equals and develop 'normal good-neighbourly relations'.
Both would renounce the use of force and respect each other's borders.
Each would exchange 'permanent representatives', rather than ambassadors, in the other's capital.
They would work together on practical matters such as trade, transport and exchanges.

The two sides did not agree about everything. The GDR saw the treaty as full recognition of itself as a foreign country. The FRG still said that there was only one German nation, so it did not treat the GDR as 'foreign'. West German leaders also made clear that they still hoped for unity one day. This difference caused arguments for years.

Impact on the GDR

✅ Gains for the GDR

It was now accepted as a state by its larger neighbour. The border and the Wall were accepted, so Honecker, who replaced Ulbricht in 1971, could feel safer. The treaties also opened the door to trade and loans, which the next lessons cover.

🚧 Risks for the GDR

More contact meant more Western ideas reaching East Germans. In response, Honecker's government followed a policy of Abgrenzung (separation): it stressed the differences between the GDR and the FRG and watched its people more closely.

Brandt won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971. Not everyone in the FRG liked his policy. Critics in the opposition parties said that he was giving away too much for too little in return.

Common mistakes

Saying Ostpolitik took down the Wall. The Wall stayed until 1989.
Mixing up the Moscow Treaty, the Four Power Agreement and the Basic Treaty. Only the Basic Treaty was between the two Germanys alone.
Saying the FRG fully recognised the GDR in 1972. It accepted the GDR as a state, but still claimed there was one German nation.

Exam-style question

This is the style of Paper 2 Section A, question (a).

Describe TWO features of EITHER the Basic Treaty of 1972 OR the Moscow Treaty of 1970. [6 marks]

Model answer

(Basic Treaty chosen.) One feature of the Basic Treaty was that the two German states agreed to treat each other as equals. The FRG had refused to deal with the GDR as a proper state for over twenty years, but under the treaty each side promised to develop good-neighbourly relations and to respect the other's borders.

Another feature was that they exchanged 'permanent representatives' instead of ambassadors. This allowed regular official contact in East Berlin and Bonn, but it also showed the FRG's view that the two Germanys were not completely foreign to each other.

What lifts it to the top level: two separate features, each backed up with accurate detail rather than a general comment.

Exam tip

Pick the option you know best, then write two short paragraphs. Each one should name a feature and add two facts. One feature on its own can only score half marks.

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