In September 1945, a thick smoke from the history of the world began to slowly dissipate – World War II was over. In order to prevent the restoration of Nazi forces in Germany and threaten the national security of Europe, the victorious countries of World War II, Britain, France, the United States and the Soviet Union, occupied all of Germany. In the original plan of the Allies, it had been decided that Germany would be destroyed. At this time, the "good drama" of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union has begun.
Under the change of the international situation, the British, French, and American occupation zones in western Germany were merged into the Federal Republic of Germany, while the Soviet occupation zone in the east established the GDR, which slowly developed into the East German regime. After the defeat, Germany was divided up and slowly became a tool for mutual containment in the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. The "wrench" between the two Germans in the military, cultural, economic and other fields also represents a positive competition between the two systems.
According to historical records, at the peak of the Cold War, the total Soviet army in East Germany reached 450,000, and even equipped with 11,000 tanks and armored combat vehicles, 2,100 fighters and 1,400 helicopter gunships.
From this data alone, the Soviet Union is the "stabilizing" end of the United States. But the trajectory of history is always unexpected: in 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. The following year, East Germany was incorporated into West Germany, and Germany was reunified.
What makes people wonder is that german reunification is not the will of the Soviet Union, so what happened behind the 300,000 elite Soviet troops who did not move?
The development of East Germany after the war
As the forefront of the Soviet side of the Soviet side of the Soviet Union and the United States, in the past half century, East Germany has been highly valued by the Soviet government, and its military and economic strength has made great progress. Under the macro-control of the integrated planned economy of the Soviet-Eastern Bloc, East Germany, which was less than half of west Germany's territory, this country established on the ruins of the post-war period, developed from scratch into the world's tenth largest industrial power at that time.
Germany was no longer allowed to have an army after World War II, and as the Cold War intensified, the Soviet Union stationed two-thirds of its elite forces in Eastern Europe in East Germany. As a result of West Germany's accession to NATO, it was the first to break the rule that Germany could not have an army after World War II.
In 1956, East Germany established the National People's Army under the guidance of the Soviet Union. Unlike the Bundeswehr in West Germany, the composition of the German army, which was built entirely from the Soviet army, was almost entirely German and was completely subordinate to Soviet management.
In East Germany, such a powerful military force, while competent to defend the gates of East Germany, could even single-handedly inflict an overwhelming blow on opposing Western European countries. In such a "safe" environment, the GDR's economic production was adequately guaranteed.
As a satellite state of the Soviet Union, East Germany's per capita GDP reached $5670, and its economic strength even surpassed that of the Soviet Union at that time, claiming to be the richest country in the world guided by "Marxism-Leninism". Interestingly, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was sent to work in East Germany, also lamented that the local goods were all available, even much better than at home.
At that time, when the Chinese people who visited East Germany returned to China, they all admired its complete infrastructure and the people's living environment was far stronger than that of domestic life at that time. In addition to the economic sphere, the level of education of the people of East Germany at that time was also very high. According to the article "The Education System of the GDR", more than 11% of East German citizens in 1987 had a diploma of university diploma or above, while at that time the data of china's vigorous development of education was only 0.6%.
In order to deepen its influence, the Soviet Union, with the help of the organization of the Economic Mutual Association, completed a series of measures to coordinate the distribution of economic production. Under the economic integration of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the two have formed a fairly close connection.
But in the economic connection of "you have me, I have you", the East German economy is simply not alone. The raw materials needed for Production in East Germany were entirely dependent on Soviet exports, and there was a saying in East Germany at that time: "If you are not afraid of Soviet tanks, you are afraid of the Soviet Union closing oil pipelines." ”
It was not until the oil crisis of the 1980s that the East German economy began to decline, gradually exposing many problems.
The 300,000 elite Soviet troops stood still
After the war, the division of Germany was in the interest of the four allies, and at the same time relatively stabilized the European pattern. But for half a century they have always been a nation in the hearts of the German people.
The bell must also be tied to the bell, and the hope of German reunification is all pinned on the four major powers of the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain and France. However, the continuous heating up of the US-Soviet struggle for hegemony has slowly extinguished the flame of hope in the hearts of the German people.
The pace of history came to the mid-1980s, and with the advent of the oil crisis, the Soviet Union's national strength began to decline, and more and more economic problems were constantly exposed. Behind the powerful military power of the Soviet Union, there is undoubtedly a high investment in military expenditure.
In the 1970s, the War in Afghanistan, the east German garrison and other events made the Soviet Union, which had only half the GDP of the United States, spend more on military expenses than the United States. In the early 1980s, the United States induced the Soviet army to continuously expand its military strength through the formulation of the "Star Wars Plan".
By the time Gorbachev came to power, the economic situation in the Soviet Union was already quite severe, and it also seriously affected the economic development of East Germany. People's living standards began to be greatly reduced, and the necessities of life were extremely scarce. In terms of home appliance procurement alone, there is a saying in East Germany: "The delivery time of a washing machine can reach up to three years, and a Trabette car needs to wait for at least ten years." ”
When Hungary broke the Iron Curtain, which had been banned for forty years, 13,000 East Germans fled to West Germany via Hungary and other places, causing tensions in East Germany.
In this turbulent situation, the Soviet Union had already made an unwise decision to use another 300,000 elites. The new diplomatic thinking put forward by the newly elected Gorbachev, "the interests of all mankind above all else", is actually a kind of strategic contraction.
In order to alleviate economic pressure, the Soviet Union even agreed to the request to withdraw troops at the German "4+2 Conference" in exchange for nearly 20 billion marks of aid from West Germany. The withdrawal, which had been completed within eight years, was accompanied by the collapse of the Soviet Union and huge economic assistance from Germany, and in 1994, all Russian troops were withdrawn from Germany.
The Berlin Wall, as a special product of the struggle for hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union behind the confrontation between the two Germanys, has always been deeply rooted in the hearts of the German people. Under the Soviet union's policy of non-intervention, German reunification was already doomed. In November 1989, the Berlin Wall was torn down. In October 1990, East Germany joined West Germany, and the forty-five-year split finally came to an end.
Russia's regrets
"The unification of Germany is a matter for Germany itself. The Soviet Union's support for German reunification led to the smooth progress of the process of German reunification. This is a sentence written by Gorbachev in "I Am United with East and West Germany." In 1990, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Turning the clock to the 21st century, when the German media interviewed Gorbachev on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall about this historical moment, he still replied: "How I looked at this thing 30 years ago, and how I still look at it now, there is no change in my view, that is, I think the reunification of East and West Germany is one of the most important masterpieces of my life." ”
However, as history progressed, it was discovered that this withdrawal was undoubtedly a huge decision-making mistake for Russia today. At the same time, the withdrawal of Russian East Germany also coincided with the eastward expansion of NATO. But the wood was ready, and Gorbachev had already accepted a huge appropriation from Germany, so that the Soviet-American open struggle ended in the defeat of the Soviet Union.
The international situation is constantly changing, and the rapid development of the reunified German economy has become the "bellwether" of Europe. Although the surface Germany and Russia have good international relations, the energy exchange line "Nord Stream Line 2" was established. However, Germany knows that Russia is reluctant to take the original decision and has always been vigilant about it.
Germany and the United States have been standing on the same front after the end of the Cold War, coupled with the continuous investment of military funds by the US military in Germany, its military base has advanced to the vicinity of East Germany, which can already threaten Russia. Russia's desire to re-deploy troops is impossible, and Germany is even less able to drive U.S. troops out of the country.
Gorbachev's mistakes have become permanent mistakes in Russian history, and the Nobel Peace Prize is only a blind spot for Western political forces.