Editing Ostpolitik (section)

== Intention ==
Following the end of [[World War II]] in 1945, [[Allied-occupied Germany]] was split into two states: the [[West Germany|Federal Republic of Germany]] (FRG, or West Germany) and the [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]] (GDR, or East Germany). Initially, both governments claimed that they represented the entire German nation. However, the Federal Republic saw itself as the only German government with democratic legitimacy. Later, at the end of the 1960s, the communist government of the GDR claimed that there was no longer a common German nation as the GDR had established a socialist nation.

The [[Christian Democratic Union (Germany)|Christian Democratic Union]] (CDU) political party dominated West German governments from 1949 to 1969. These governments refused to have any contact with the GDR government due to its undemocratic character, and the [[Hallstein Doctrine]] stipulated that the FRG would withdraw diplomatic contact from any country that established diplomatic relations with the GDR. The first application of the Hallstein Doctrine was in 1957, when the FRG withdrew recognition of [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] after it accepted a GDR ambassador. In the 1960s it became obvious that this policy would not work forever. When the Federal Republic established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1965, the Arab states countered by breaking off relations with the Federal Republic and establishing relations with the GDR.

Even before his election as [[Chancellor of Germany|Chancellor]], Willy Brandt, the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic]] mayor of [[West Berlin]], argued for and pursued policies that would ease tensions between the two German states, generally in the interest of cross-border commerce. His proposed new ''Ostpolitik'' held that the Hallstein Doctrine did not help to undermine the communist government or even lighten the situation of the Germans in the GDR. Brandt believed that collaboration with the communists would foster German-German encounters and trade that would undermine the communist government over the long term.

Nonetheless, he stressed that his new ''Ostpolitik'' did not neglect the close ties of the Federal Republic with Western Europe and the United States or its membership in [[NATO]]. Indeed, by the late 1960s, the unwavering stance of the Hallstein Doctrine was actually considered{{by whom|date=September 2013}} detrimental to US interests; numerous American advisors and policymakers, most notably [[Henry Kissinger]], urged Bonn to be more flexible. At the same time, other West European countries entered a period of more daring policy directed to the East.<ref>Helga Haftendorn: ''Deutsche Außenpolitik zwischen Selbstbeschränkung und Selbstbehauptung 1945–2000''. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt: Stuttgart / München 2001, p. 173–174.
</ref> When Brandt became Chancellor in 1969, the same politicians now feared a more independent German ''Ostpolitik'', a new "[[Treaty of Rapallo (1922)|Rapallo]]". France feared that West Germany would become more powerful after [[détente]]; Brandt ultimately resorted to pressuring the French government into endorsing his policy by holding out German financial contributions to the European [[Common Agricultural Policy]].<ref>
Helga Haftendorn: ''Deutsche Außenpolitik zwischen Selbstbeschränkung und Selbstbehauptung 1945–2000''. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt: Stuttgart / München 2001, p. 181.</ref>