Ostpolitik

Ostpolitik was West Germany’s policy of easing tensions and normalizing relations with Eastern Europe and East Germany, pursued especially under Chancellor Willy Brandt from 1969.

Treaty of Moscow: A 1970 treaty in which West Germany and the Soviet Union renounced the use of force and recognized Europe’s existing borders. It established the renunciation of force and border recognition at the heart of Brandt’s eastern policy.
New Ostpolitik: The foreign-policy program associated with Willy Brandt and Egon Bahr that pursued détente and practical agreements with Eastern Europe. This name distinguishes Brandt’s late-1960s shift from earlier, more limited contacts with the East.
German reunification: The 1990 political process that ended Germany’s division by bringing the German Democratic Republic into the Federal Republic. Ostpolitik did not reunify Germany, but its agreements helped make later relations across the divide more workable.
Détente: A Cold War strategy of easing tensions between rival powers through negotiation, agreements, and communication. Ostpolitik was a national policy within the broader superpower-era movement toward détente.
Treaty of Warsaw: A 1970 treaty in which West Germany and Poland accepted the Oder–Neisse line as Poland’s western border. It gave Ostpolitik its most consequential bilateral settlement over Germany’s eastern frontier.
Egon Bahr: A West German Social Democratic politician and diplomat who formulated key ideas behind Brandt’s policy toward Eastern Europe. His 1963 proposal of “change through rapprochement” supplied a guiding principle for the policy.
Nobel Peace Prize: An annual international award recognizing contributions to peace, established under Alfred Nobel’s will. Brandt received the 1971 prize for efforts to strengthen peace and improve relations between West and East.
West German reunification policy: The Federal Republic’s changing strategies for maintaining the goal of German unity while governing a divided country. Ostpolitik accepted existing realities in practice while formally preserving the goal of eventual unity.
Basic Treaty: The 1972 agreement in which West Germany and East Germany recognized their relations and committed to practical cooperation. It created a framework for regular relations between the two German states without resolving national unity.
Willy Brandt: A Social Democratic politician who served as West Germany’s chancellor from 1969 to 1974 and pursued détente with the East. As chancellor, he made Ostpolitik the centerpiece of West German foreign policy.

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