FRG Politics Flashcards
What was Adenauer’s rule like?
(7)
Konrad Adenauer;
- Chancellor of the FRG from 1949 to 1963; first and longest serving Chancellor
- until 1955, Adenauer both Chancellor and foreign minister
- appointed weak ministers who he treated as advisers, not equals
- tried to exclude the SPD from the government; never included SPD in coalition
- = gave stability to coalition governments (until 1957 when CDU/CSU won majority) BUT made Adenauer very powerful; called his rule a ‘chancellor democracy’
- restrictions on small parties created a 3 party Bundestag
- 1951, Article 131 added to the Basic Law; allowed ex-Nazis to work in the civil service –> Adenauer had many ex-Nazis in his cabinet, eg. Waldemar Kraft, ex-SS = Stunde Null approach
What were Adenauer’s main political aims?
+ why were they criticised? (5)
20th Sept 1949, Adenauer set out his main aims in the Bundestag;
- focus on domestic economy and foreign policy
- aimed to unite Germany
- work towards European integration
- –> criticised as closer ties to the west would delay German unification
- –> SPD criticised his focus on the west
Why did Adenauer’s rule end?
(5)
- Jan 1961, Andenauer tried to set up a government controlled TV station to help upcoming election campaigns –> ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court
- Oct 1962, magazine ‘Der Spiegel’ criticised the performance of West German troops in NATO exercises
- –> Adenauer supported the arrest of journalists involved on account of treason = challenged freedom of press
- –> FDP ministers resigned in protest
- 1963, Adenauer promised to resign to make way for an SPD coalition
What important political developments occured during Adenauer’s rule?
(5)
- 1951, Basic Law amended to allow ex-Nazis to join the civil service
- 1952, extreme right-wing ‘Socialist Reich Party’ banned
- 1953, 5% rule introduced
- 1956, KPD banned; attitude towards the democratic government was declared unconstitutional
–> stabilised 3 party bundestag with slightly shifting coalitions that upheld the status quo - 1959, SPD met at Bad Godesberg to revise its policies; supported a free market economy etc. = very popular
What was Adenauer’s foreign policy like?
(4)
increasingly pro-western;
- 1951, FRG joined the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) = precurser of EU (France, Itlay, Benelux countries)
- 1955, FRG joined NATO; allowed to rearm
- 1955, Hallstein Doctrine refused to recognise the legality of the GDR; stated that FRG respresented the whole of Germany and would refuse to have diplomatic relations with countries that recognised GDR as a country
- –> moves west criticised by the SPD
What happened in international politics as a result of Adenauer’s foreign policy?
(2)
- 1955, Warsaw Pact set up to counter NATO; GDR as a member
- Aug 1961, GDR erected the Berlin Wall; Willy Brandt (SPD) protested the next day while it took Adenauer 9 days to respond
What happened to the CDU/CSU after Adenauer resigned?
(2)
- two more CDU chancellors BUT in coalition with SPD (less radical); Ludwig Erhard (1963-1966) and Kurt Kiesinger (1966-1969)
- party split between atlanticists (wanted to work with USA+Britian) and Gaullists (would work with France, but mainly wanted to cooperate with the GDR)
What was Erhard’s rule like?
(4)
1963-1966;
- had been prominent and successful Finance Minister
- continued with Adenauer’s atlantacist policies
- tried to introduce an emergency law; government to be able to tap people’s phones, emails, search homes and open mail during times of ‘serious political tension’ –> SPD refused to support this
- 1966, economic problems caused Erhard to try and increase taxation –> FDP ministers resigned in protest –> Erhard could no longer form a coalition and resigned too
What was Kiesenger’s rule like?
(6)
1966-1969;
- formed the Grand Coalition; CSU, CDU, SPD
- SPD had an increased role in government; Willy Brandt (leader) was Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister
- Grand Coalition formed during period of economic downturn = growing hostility towards government (Neo-Nazi National Democratic Party & German Federation of Trade Unions)
- 28th June 1968, emergency law introduced; increased government repression
- shifted to östpolitik; rejected Hallstein Doctrine and worked with the GDR –> period of detente during the Cold War
- Kiesenger’s Nazi past exposed; slapped in public and forced to step down as Chancellor
What was Brandt’s rule like?
(6)
1969-1974, Willy Brandt as the first SPD Chancellor of the FRG;
- coalition government between SPD + FDP (1969-1982); SPD had moved slightly right + FDP had moved slightly left
- Brandt’s past was untainted; had fled from the Nazi regime to Norway during WWII
- criticised, especially by CSU; not fought in war, östpolitik, liberal policies (decriminalised of homosexuality, reduced voting age to 18, legalised abortion)
- Oct 1970, many right-wing FDP and some SPD members joined the CDU; tried to force a ‘constructive vote of no confidence’ and name Rainer Barzel (CDU) as replacement chancellor –> vote failed by 2
- Brandt wanted to reassert his authority; called an election in Nov 1972 –> highest turn out ever, SPD won most seats = Brandt stayed
- May 1974, Brandt resigned; revealed that Gunter Guillame (one of his closest advisers) was a GDR spy
What was Schmidt’s rule like?
(5)
Helmut Schmidt (SPD), 1974-1982;
- won elections of 1976 + 1980 as no viable CDU candidates + no outright majority = another SPD/FDP coalition formed
- unpopular on left; high taxation, welfare cuts, social market approach (period of economic upheaval; first oil crisis 1973 + second oil crisis 1978)
- unpopular on right; extended codetermination (trade union representatives placed on board of companies so equal number of workers and managers)
- opposed by the Greens; new political party (1.5% of vote in 1980)
- Oct 1982, ‘constructive vote of no confidence’ in Bundestag; FDP withdrew support for SPD, gave it to CDU –> Schmidt forced to resign + replaced by Kohl
What was Kohl’s rule like?
(6)
Helmut Kohl (CDU), 1982-1998;
- unelected chancellor; called early elections 6th March 1983 –> CDU/CSU won 48.8% of vote
- continued foreign policy; östpolitik
- largely continued economic policy; some cuts in spending
- sustained outbreaks of terrorism; 1985, Frankfurt Airport and US airbase in Rein-Main bombed
- Reagan wanted to place US nuclear bombs in FRG; disagreed with Kohl, feared FRG would become frontline of a Soviet attack
- Kohl wished to ‘emerge from the shadow of Hitler’ and invited Reagan to visit a war cemetary at Bitburg; journalists found SS graves in cemetary = disaster
What events preceeded the fall of the Berlin Wall?
(7)
- unification widely hoped for in Germany but seemed very unlikely to most
- Gorbachov’s ‘glasnost’ + ‘peristroika’ (openness + reform) not enacted in GDR; Honecker was a hard-line communist
- 1989, Hungary opened its western border and lifted travel restrictions
- Aug 1989, Austria abolished visa requirements for Hungarian & GDR citizens
- = defeated point of Berlin Wall; by end of month, 3,000 east Germans had fled through Hungary
- Oct 1989, Gorbachov visited GDR; undermined Honnecker as his speeches encouraged Germans to seek freedom
- Kremlin replaced Honnecker with Krenz to introduce reform; ineffective as also hard-line communist
What triggered the fall of the Berlin Wall?
(2)
- night of 9th Nov 1989, government radio announcement stated that border restrictions would be lifted; vague + unclear, mentioned wall being in place temporarily
- -> thousands of people turned up at the wall and guards moved aside = fall of wall; symbolic end to the cold war
What followed the fall of the Berlin Wall?
(3)
- assumption that Germany would reunite
- 18 days later, 10-point plan made for German reunification
- 1990, full German reunification
