In 1990, East Germany was incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), and Germany has been reunified ever since. Previously, the Soviet Union (Russia) had more than 300,000 troops in East Germany, why did Russia talk so well and obediently withdraw its troops?
Before World War I, the German Empire itself covered an area of about 540,900 square kilometers, second only to Russia in Europe. After World War I, Germany lost all its overseas colonies and leases, and its native area shrank from 540,900 square kilometers to 468,800 square kilometers.
After World War II, Germany's territory was only 357,600 square kilometers, and the victorious powers were eager to eat germany dry and squeeze it out, disintegrating it into East Germany (GDR) and West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany), East Germany covered an area of about 108,000 square kilometers, West Germany covered an area of about 249,000 square kilometers, the Soviet Union occupied East Germany, the United States, Britain and France occupied West Germany, Berlin was divided into two Berlins, East Berlin was occupied by the Soviet Union, and West Berlin was occupied by the United States, Britain and France.
During the Cold War, the military, technological, cultural, and educational rivalry between East and West Germany was often seen as a yardstick for evaluating the merits of the two systems.
West Germany did win the later comparison, and if we pushed it down according to the trend, the Soviet Union should jump out against "West Germany and East Germany" the most, but Britain and France did not want Germany to be unified more than the Soviet Union. At the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union was in jeopardy, and West Germany aimed at the opportunity and was determined to complete the great cause of reunification. As the two Germans interacted closely, britain took the lead in catching the signs of a possible German merger, and on top of the rhetoric about the "Fourth German Reich," almost all the media speculated about the threat to Europe after German reunification.
Despite being an ally of West Germany, Britain was so well-flagged that Margaret Thatcher carried with her a map of Germany from 1937 to warn of the dangers of German unity in European countries. The German newspapers were merciless in their criticism that our real enemy was not in the East, but in Great Britain, which carried the red, white and blue flag of St. George's Rice. France was equally wary of the unity of Germany, having suffered three catastrophes from 1870 to 1940, all three times from Germany.
In order to curb German reunification, Britain and France agreed to hold the largest military exercise since World War II on West German territory, and to intimidate West German Prime Minister Kohl. But the beauty of history lies in the fact that it does not compromise with anyone's will, and for the obstruction of Britain and France, Cole's first thing to do is to level the United States and the Soviet Union. At this time, France has withdrawn from NATO, France-US relations are at an all-time low, and Germany's attitude is crucial if the United States wants to continue to meddle in European affairs. Cole used this as a cost to reassure the United States that it would remain within the NATO system after reunification and would help maintain U.S. leadership as much as possible.
The exchange of interests has always been the result of mutual compromise, Kohl's assurances in exchange for the support of the United States, while the Soviet Union is facing disintegration, Germany promised to make no more claims to the territory after reunification, that is, to abandon the old German land of Königsberg (Kaliningrad, Russia), which the Soviet Union felt was a good bargaining chip. Germany's next target is France, but where is The weakness of France? France's single-mindedness to be the boss of Europe undoubtedly requires Germany's support, which has thrown itself into its favor and gone from many quarters to advocate the establishment of a European Union alliance, prompting France to change its attitude and no longer strongly oppose German reunification.
Isolated and helpless at this time, Britain was alone, and although it won the Falklands War in those years, its own consumption was also very large, and it still ran into a wall in China, agreed to return Hong Kong, and could no longer intervene in German reunification alone.
In 1990, the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France, together with East Germany and West Germany, 4+2, signed the Treaty on the Final Settlement of the German Question in Moscow. Note that the signing place was Moscow, and the other five countries were asking the Soviet Union (Russia) to withdraw their troops.
From 1945 to 1994, the Soviet Union (Russia) stationed troops in East Germany to resist the nato military threat. During the long Cold War, the Soviet troops stationed in Germany were always fully loaded, equipped and trained the best. At the beginning of 1991, there were still 24 divisions with about 338,000 troops, and there were 47 at the airport alone.
The treaty had two main points about the army: the withdrawal of all Soviet troops from East Germany; the number of unified German troops should not exceed 370,000. The treaty stipulated the withdrawal of Soviet troops from East Germany, but did not stipulate the withdrawal of American, British, and French troops from West Germany, which was obviously detrimental to the Soviet Union. To this day, the United States, Britain, and France still have a large number of troops stationed in Germany, of which there are 30,000 or 40,000 U.S. troops in Germany, and there are not many British and French troops, but this is not out of good intentions, but the national strength cannot maintain a large overseas garrison.
Ramstein Air Base is a military base of the United States Air Force in Germany, NATO's largest air base in Europe, and the location of the Headquarters of the United States Air Force in Europe.
Why did the Soviet Union (Russia) obediently withdraw its troops? At that time, the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia inherited the mantle, in the 1990s, Russia had a War in Chechnya inside, a war in Georgia outside, and the Caucasus region was the focus of Russia's strategy. In addition, Russia fantasized about integrating into the European family after the dissolution, and according to russian media, the president of the United States at the time also verbally promised that NATO would not expand eastward.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO experienced five waves of expansion, with the number of member states growing from 16 to 30, and most of the new members were Soviet unionists or allies. In 1999, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic joined; in 2004, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Estonia joined; in 2009, Croatia and Albania joined; in 2017, Montenegro joined; and in 2020, North Macedonia joined.
On the question of whether NATO will expand eastward, the Russians have completely failed in their judgment, regardless of whether the us president at the time verbally promised that it would not expand eastward, in fact, nato has now deployed missiles to the Russian border, and if Ukraine joins NATO again, the south of Moscow will be wide open. NATO's goal, it seems, is not only to disintegrate the Soviet Union, but to further disintegrate Russia. There is no regret medicine in the world, just imagine if Russia still has 300,000 troops stationed in Germany, will NATO dare to expand eastward at will?