German Reunification

East Germany joined the Federal Republic, reuniting Germany after 41 years.

After the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, the East German communist regime rapidly lost its grip. In March 1990, East Germany’s first free elections were won by an alliance promising swift unification, and in July monetary, economic and social union brought the West German mark to the East.

Unification required the consent of the Second World War victors. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl steered the "Two Plus Four" talks of the two German states with the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France to a treaty signed in Moscow in September. A united Germany would stay in NATO but reduce its armed forces and accept the Oder–Neisse line as its eastern border. On 3 October the eastern states joined the Federal Republic under the West German Basic Law.

Unification left challenges such as income gaps between East and West, unemployment and enormous costs. Still, a peaceful unification achieved by agreement became a symbol of the end of the Cold War, and divided Korea has often looked to the German experience in debating its own unification policy.