Editing Konrad Adenauer (section)

=== Second government ===
==== Interior affairs ====
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F004214-0033, Konrad Adenauer und Ludwig Erhard.jpg|thumb|Konrad Adenauer with minister of economics [[Ludwig Erhard]], 1956]]
When the [[East German uprising of 1953]] was harshly suppressed by the Red Army in June 1953, Adenauer took political advantage of the situation and was handily re-elected to a second term as Chancellor.{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=406}} The CDU/CSU came up one seat short of an outright majority. Adenauer could thus have governed in a coalition with only one other party, but retained/gained the support of nearly all of the parties in the Bundestag that were to the right of the SPD.

The [[German Restitution Laws]] ({{lang|de|Bundesentschädigungsgesetz}}) were passed in 1953 that allowed some victims of Nazi prosecution to claim restitution.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/beg/index.html |title=''Bundesgesetz zur Entschädigung für Opfer der nationalsozialistischen Verfolgung'' |access-date=30 September 2011 |archive-date=14 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014001635/http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/beg/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Under the 1953 restitution law, those who had suffered for "racial, religious or political reasons" could collect compensation, which were defined in such a way as to sharply limit the number of people entitled to collect compensation.<ref>Ludtke, Alf "'Coming to Terms with the Past': Illusions of Remembering, Ways of Forgetting Nazism in West Germany" pages 542–572 from ''The Journal of Modern History'', Volume 65, 1993 pages 564.</ref>

In November 1954, Adenauer's lobbying efforts on behalf of the "Spandau Seven" finally bore fruit with the release of [[Konstantin von Neurath]].{{sfn|Goda|2007|pp=129–131}} Adenauer congratulated Neurath on his release, sparking controversy all over the world.{{sfn|Goda|2007|pp=130–131}} At the same time, Adenauer's efforts to win freedom for Admiral [[Karl Dönitz]] ran into staunch opposition from the British Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office, [[Ivone Kirkpatrick]], who argued Dönitz would be an active danger to German democracy.{{sfn|Goda|2007|pp=149–151}} Adenauer then traded with Kirkpatrick no early release for Admiral Dönitz with an early release for Admiral [[Erich Raeder]] on medical grounds.{{sfn|Goda|2007|pp=152–155}}

Adenauer is closely linked to the implementation of an enhanced [[pension]] system, which ensured unparalleled prosperity for retired people. Along with his Minister for Economic Affairs and successor [[Ludwig Erhard]], the West German model of a "[[social market economy]]" (a [[mixed economy]] with [[capitalism]] moderated by elements of [[social welfare]] and [[Catholic social teaching]]) allowed for the boom period known as the {{lang|de|[[Wirtschaftswunder]]}} ('economic miracle') that produced broad prosperity, but Adenauer acted more leniently towards the trade unions and employers' associations than Erhard. The Adenauer era witnessed a dramatic rise in the standard of living of average Germans, with real wages doubling between 1950 and 1963. This rising affluence was accompanied by a 20% fall in working hours during that same period, together with a fall in the unemployment rate from 8% in 1950 to 0.4% in 1965.<ref>''Contemporary World History'' by William J. Duiker</ref> in addition, an advanced welfare state was established.<ref>''The Emergence of the Welfare State in Britain and Germany'', edited by [[Wolfgang Mommsen]]</ref>

==== Military affairs ====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-27146-0001, Paris, NATO-Vertrag, Unterzeichnung Adenauer.jpg|thumb|Signing the [[North Atlantic Treaty]] in Paris, 1954 (Adenauer at the left)]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1998-006-34, Andernach, Adenauer besucht Bundeswehr.jpg|thumb|Minister [[Theodor Blank|Blank]] and Adenauer with General [[Hans Speidel|Speidel]] inspect formations of the newly created {{lang|de|Bundeswehr}} on 20 January 1955.]]
In the spring of 1954, opposition to the [[Pleven plan]] grew within the French [[National Assembly (France)|National Assembly]].,{{sfn|Large|1996|p=209}} and in August 1954, it died when an alliance of conservatives and Communists in the National Assembly joined forces to reject the EDC treaty under the grounds that West German rearmament in any form was an unacceptable danger to France.{{sfn|Gaddis|1998|p=134}}

The British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] told Adenauer that Britain would ensure that West German rearmament would happen, regardless if the National Assembly ratified the EDC treaty or not,{{sfn|Large|1996|p=211}} and Foreign Secretary [[Anthony Eden]] used the failure of the EDC to argue for independent West German rearmament and West German NATO membership.{{sfn|Gaddis|1998|p=134}} Thanks in part to Adenauer's success in rebuilding West Germany's image, the British proposal met with considerable approval.{{sfn|Gaddis|1998|p=134}} In the ensuing [[London and Paris Conferences|London conference]], Eden assisted Adenauer by promising the French that Britain would always maintain at least four divisions in the [[British Army of the Rhine]] as long as there was a Soviet threat, with the strengthened British forces also aimed implicitly against any German revanchism.{{sfn|Large|1996|p=217}} Adenauer then promised that Germany would never seek to have nuclear, chemical and biological weapons as well as capital ships, strategic bombers, long-range artillery, and guided missiles, although these promises were non-binding.{{sfn|Large|1996|p=217}} The French had been assuaged that West German rearmament would be no threat to France. Additionally, Adenauer promised that the West German military would be under the operational control of NATO general staff, though ultimate control would rest with the West German government; and that above all he would never violate the strictly defensive NATO charter and invade East Germany to achieve German reunification.{{sfn|Large|1996|p=220}}

In May 1955, West Germany joined NATO and in November a West German military, the {{lang|de|[[Bundeswehr]]}}, was founded.{{sfn|Gaddis|1998|p=134}} Though Adenauer made use of a number of former {{lang|de|[[Wehrmacht]]}} generals and admirals in the {{lang|de|Bundeswehr}}, he saw the {{lang|de|Bundeswehr}} as a new force with no links to the past, and wanted it to be kept under [[civilian control of the military|civilian control]] at all times.<ref>Fritz Erler, 'Politik und nicht Prestige,' in Erler and Jaeger, Sicherheit und Rustung, 1962, p.82-3, cited in Julian Lider, ''Origins and Development of West German Military Thought'', Vol. I, 1949–1966, Gower Publishing Company Ltd, Aldershot/Brookfield VT, 1986, p.125</ref> To achieve these aims, Adenauer gave a great deal of power to the military reformer [[Wolf Graf von Baudissin]].{{sfn|Large|1996|pp=177–178}}

Adenauer reached an agreement for his "nuclear ambitions" with a NATO Military Committee in December 1956 that stipulated West German forces were to be "equipped for [[nuclear warfare]]".{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=442}} Concluding that the United States would eventually pull out of Western Europe, Adenauer pursued nuclear cooperation with other countries. The French government then proposed that France, West Germany and Italy jointly develop and produce [[nuclear weapon]]s and [[nuclear weapons delivery|delivery systems]], and an agreement was signed in April 1958. With the ascendancy of [[Charles de Gaulle]], the agreement for joint production and control was shelved indefinitely.{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=458}} President [[John F. Kennedy]], an ardent foe of [[nuclear proliferation]], considered sales of such weapons moot since "in the event of war the United States would, from the outset, be prepared to defend the Federal Republic."{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=490}} The physicists of the [[Max Planck Society|Max Planck Institute]] for Theoretical Physics at [[Göttingen]] and other renowned universities would have had the scientific capability for in-house development, but the will was absent,{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=444}} nor was there public support. With Adenauer's fourth-term election in November 1961 and the end of his chancellorship in sight, his "nuclear ambitions" began to taper off.

==== Foreign policy ====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1989-101-01A, Moskau, Besuch Konrad Adenauer.jpg|thumb|[[Nikolai Bulganin|Bulganin]], [[Georgy Malenkov|Malenkov]], [[Khrushchev]] greeting Adenauer in [[Moscow]] in September 1955]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-107546, Köln-Bonn, Adenauer, Mutter eines Kriegsgefangenen.jpg|thumb|Adenauer with the mother of a German [[POW]] brought home in 1955 from the [[Soviet Union]], due to Adenauer's visit to Moscow]]
In return for the release of the last German prisoners of war in 1955, the Federal Republic established diplomatic relations with the [[Soviet Union|USSR]], but refused to recognize East Germany and broke off diplomatic relations with countries (e.g., [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]) that established relations with the East German régime.{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=450|loc=this principle became known as the [[Hallstein Doctrine]]}} Adenauer was also ready to consider the [[Oder–Neisse line]] as the German border in order to pursue a more flexible policy with Poland but he did not command sufficient domestic support for this, and opposition to the Oder–Neisse line continued, causing considerable disappointment among Adenauer's Western allies.{{sfn|Ahonen|1998|pp=44–46}}

In 1956, during the [[Suez Crisis]], Adenauer fully supported the Anglo-French-Israeli attack on Egypt, arguing to his Cabinet that Egyptian President [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] was a pro-Soviet force that needed to be cut down to size.{{sfn|Schwarz|1997|pp=241–242}} Adenauer was appalled that the Americans had come out against the attack on Egypt alongside the Soviets, which led Adenauer to fear that the United States and Soviet Union would "carve up the world" with no thought for European interests.{{sfn|Schwarz|1997|p=242}}

At the height of the Suez crisis, Adenauer visited Paris to meet the French Premier [[Guy Mollet]] in a show of moral support for France.{{sfn|Schwarz|1997|p=243}} The day before Adenauer arrived in Paris, the Soviet Premier [[Nikolai Bulganin]] sent the so-called "Bulganin letters" to the leaders of Britain, France, and Israel threatening nuclear strikes if they did not end the war against Egypt.{{sfn|Schwarz|1997|p=243}} The news of the "Bulganin letters" reached Adenauer mid-way on the train trip to Paris. The threat of a Soviet nuclear strike that could destroy Paris at any moment added considerably to the tension of the summit.{{sfn|Schwarz|1997|p=244}} The Paris summit helped to strengthen the bond between Adenauer and the French, who saw themselves as fellow European powers living in a world dominated by Washington and Moscow.{{sfn|Schwarz|1997|p=245}}

Adenauer was deeply shocked by the Soviet threat of nuclear strikes against Britain and France, and even more so by the apparent quiescent American response to the Soviet threat of nuclear annihilation against two of NATO's key members.<ref>Dietl, Ralph "Suez 1956: A European Intervention?" pp. 259–273 from ''Journal of Contemporary History'', Volume 43, Issue # 2, April 2008 p. 273</ref> As a result, Adenauer became more interested in the French idea of a European "Third Force" in the Cold War as an alternative security policy.<ref>Dietl, Ralph "Suez 1956: A European Intervention?" pp. 259–273 from ''Journal of Contemporary History'', Volume 43, Issue # 2, April 2008, pp. 273–274.</ref> This helped to lead to the formation of the [[European Economic Community]] in 1957, which was intended to be the foundation stone of the European "Third Force".<ref>Dietl, Ralph "Suez 1956: A European Intervention?" pp. 259–273 from ''Journal of Contemporary History'', Volume 43, Issue # 2, April 2008, p. 274.</ref>

Adenauer's achievements include the establishment of a stable democracy in West Germany and a lasting reconciliation with [[France]], culminating in the [[Élysée Treaty]]. His political commitment to the Western powers achieved full sovereignty for West Germany, which was formally laid down in the [[General Treaty]], although there remained Allied restrictions concerning the status of a potentially reunited Germany and the state of emergency in West Germany. Adenauer firmly integrated the country with the emerging Euro-Atlantic community ([[NATO]] and the [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|Organisation for European Economic Cooperation]]).