19222 - A Primer in German Reunification

Course Overview

Throughout history, borders of countries have changed like the tide. Countries have been formed by colonial powers and forcibly divided by external powers. Many times this has happened against the will of the people populating the territories of these countries. Germany was one of these countries. German unification was initially achieved with the formation of the German Empire in 1871 under the leadership of Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck only to be divided less than 100 years later in 1945 by the victorious allies following WW II. We'll discuss the history leading up to the division of Germany. After the division of Germany, we'll focus on the economic, military, political, legal and social/cultural effects that resulted from 45 years of division to identify the difficulties associated with reunifying a country. Critical thinking aids in explaining why these events took place and why after 25 years, there are still unresolved issues.