How was the reunification of Germany a cause of the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union (1991)?

Answer 1

The reunification of germany was a result of the collapse of communism rather than a cause of it.

When teltsin took office in the USSR he initiated sevral new policies in order to streamline his government party that had grown bloated and inefficient over time.

However these policies (called perestroika and glasnonst) were mismanaged by incomptent party members and the government lost contorl of the newspapers and televison stations.

Now freed from governmental control the news agencies began to report on how the freedoms of its citizens had been compromised by communist governments and how corrupt government officials were living in luxury while inflation and poverty were destroying the average citizens.

BEcause of this exposed corruption the communist party began losing seats in popular elections all overf russia. This created a domino effect, as the communist party lost power in russia, communist satellite states no longer had the financial and military protection required to maintain communist governments and so they began to topple in election after election.

this is what happened to germany in 1990. without financial and military protection provided by russia the communist government could not sustain itself and was elected out, then reunified with its other half.

Answer 2

It is mostly the other way around. The first stage for the reunification was the oppening of the borders of East Germany (the famous fall of the Berlin Wall). This happened because of three reasons. One was that other eastern countries had already oppened their borders so East Germans could go out through these countries. Another was the pressure from the East German population, which started because they were seeing the changes in other east european countries. The third reason and the one that made things happen was the removal of East German president Erick Honnecker. This happened after a direct involvement of Michael Gorbachev. So you could say that it was first the change in Soviet Union that triggered the whole process.

Answer 3

I don't see that as a cause of the collapse of the USSR, but a manifestation of the collapse of the entire Soviet bloc's economics. The central economic unit was the USSR and it was putting itself out of business with the war in Afghanistan, once its economy was fatally weakened the entire system was doomed to collapse and the satellite states, the puppet regimes like East Germany, went first because the USSR could not afford to support them any more. The reunification of Germany was more an effect, than a cause, of the collapse of communism. (at least thats how I see it)

Answer 4

East Germany was the major satellite of the old Soviet regime. When communism was collapsing in Poland, Germany was the one putting all the pressure on the Polish Communist party to tow the line. Then Poland fell and East Germany was stunned that their strong arm techniques failed. Then their own regime got shaky. Their economy was failing. The famous "Five-Year Plans" were worthless. When East Germany finally admitted failure and the wall fell down, it was clear that the Communist experiment in Europe was doomed.

But the reunification of the two Germanies wasn't the major cause of the fall of Communism in the USSR. Ronald Reagan, Lech Walesa and Pope John Paul II were much directly responsible for that. But it was a realization that Communism in the USSR wasn't able to prop up its satellites and continue spending money wildly to get smaller nations to remain under their control. Gorbachev was no dummy. He allowed the dissolution of the USSR and the introduction of a republican form of government to develop. His biggest worry was a hungry military and a lot of dangerous substances that were being stolen and sold on the black market.

Answer 5

East germany had the strongest economy (per capita) of all Warsaw Pact members, thus supporting the USSRs economy.A large deal of imported goods in the USSR came from east germany.Furthermore, the fall of east germany meant that the contest between capitalism and communism was decided, since both east and west germany acted as a demonstration of both systems capabilities.Soviet and east german propaganda had always said that east germany would eventually overtake west germany and become more prosperous, the failure of that showed the inefficiency of communism in europe.
I slightly disagree with those who said its the other way round.In 1989, there was no sign of the USSR falling apart yet.The changes had been initiated by Gorbachev himself (Glasnost, Perestroika).The decisive point was that Gorbachev refused to use military force against the east german demonstrations.(But unlike written above, no soviet troops were pulled out of east germany before 1991).

Answer 6

This is perhaps a chicken and egg argument. It might be suggested that the reason Germany was able to reunify was because of the fall of communism; or, you could argue that the reason communism fell was because there was so much pressure on the communist system from places like Germany.

I would favor the previous argument, however. Without the fall of communism Germany would never have gotten back together.

Answer 7

Not a cause, but a consequence. Ussr could not support an empire any longer.