France and the Reunification of Germany : Leadership in the Workshop of World Politics

With the collapse of the Soviet Union and its Eastern European bloc, the reunification of Germany was a major episode in the history of modern Europe ― and one widely held to have been opposed by that country's centuries-old enemy, France. But while it has been previously believed that French President François Mitterrand played a negative role in events leading up to reunification, this book shows that Mitterrand's main concern was not the potential threat of an old nemesis but rather that a reunified Germany be firmly anchored in a unified Europe. Updated with a new introduction and other materials, the book blends primary research and interviews with key actors in France and Germany to take readers behind the scenes of world governments as a new Europe was formed. Tilo Schabert had unprecedented, exclusive access to French presidential archives and here focuses on French diplomacy not only to dispel the notion that Mitterrand was reluctant to accept reunification but also to show how successful he was in bringing it about. Foreword 5 Acknowledgments 11 Contents 12 About the Author 16 Abbreviations 17 Chapter 1: Introduction: The Political Science of History 19 Acting out Political Creativity 19 Sources to Build a Tale on 21 It’s the Actors’ Tale 22 A Tale unto Meaning 23 What the Tale Tells Us 25 The Tale’s Teaching of Political Science 27 On the History of Our Story: Metamorphoses 27 Chapter 2: Thinking at the Élysée 29 Thinking Through Dialogue 29 “Without Pretending to Have Second Sight” 31 Chapter 3: In the Workshop of World Politics 39 Organizing 40 Interpreting 44 Structuring 52 Chapter 4: World Politics, European Politics, and German Politics: “The Grand Strategy” 64 Principles of Foreign Policy 64 The Lucky Star 67 Three Unresolved Problems 70 Chapter 5: German Politics, European Politics, and World Politics: “Everything That Is Not Impossible Is Possible” 80 “World Balance Is Fragile” 80 “We Are Endeavoring to Remain Close to the Germans” 81 The Principle of Change: The East Changes 88 “What’s the Name of That Young Fellow?” 91 “The Soviet Empire Will Be Hit from the Inside and the Germans Will Recover All Their Chances” 99 Chapter 6: The Problem of France’s Economic Sovereignty 107 “But Will That Drive Bury the Grande Nation?” 107 “You Have Chosen to Follow a Different Path” 116 “Leaving the European Monetary System Would Put Us Under the Control of the International Monetary Fund” 121 “Our Problem in Relation to Germany” 131 Chapter 7: The Question of Nuclear War 143 Mrs. Thatcher’s Question During the Venice Roundtable: “Would You Use Your Bombs to Protect Bonn?” 143 “Peace Is Never the Daughter of Renunciation”12 151 François Mitterrand’s Strategic Thinking 151 Balance 151 Deterrence 155 American Uncertainties 157 When Would France Have Grounds for Starting a Nuclear War? 160 Chapter 8: Germany in France’s Power Game 166 “At What Point Will France Bring Everything into Play? I Don’t Know Myself” 166 “Since It’s They Who Want Something, Let’s Let the Germans Come” 176 Chapter 9: The Reunification of Germany: In Quest of a Scenario 198 The Problem of History and the Problem of the Scenario 198 The French Scenario 205 “A Positive Middle Line” 210 The Song of Freedom 212 At the Élysée, October 18, 1989: “The European Community Must Be the Point of Attraction” 213 Strasbourg, October 25, 1989: “Like the Great Moments of 1789” 214 Copenhagen, November 10, 1989: “These Are Happy Events” 217 Strasbourg, November 22, 1989: “A Breach in the Wall” 218 Interview, Paris-Match, November 23, 1989: “Peace Is as Precious a Possession as Liberty” 218 Berlin, December 22, 1989: “We Would Not Want There to Be Any Contradiction Between the German Will and the European Will” 219 Chapter 10: The Voice of Europe 226 The Song of the Rebel, the Refrain of the Exhorter 226 “I Hoped for a New Time” 226 “Nationalities Never Cease to Exist” 228 “The Policy of a State Lies in Its Geography” 230 “The Deutschmark Is, in a Way, Its Nuclear Force” 234 The European Passion 238 “Such Power Europe Could Represent” 238 “We’re Divided on That” 243 Chapter 11: Is Germany About to Break Loose? 252 France and Germany in the Spring of 1989: The Conflict Around Economic and Monetary Union or “The Reestablishment of Parallelism Between Defense and Currency” 253 France and Germany in the Spring of 1989: François Mitterrand Speaks About The Reunification of Germany 267 Chapter 12: The “Inevitable”: The Pole Star of Unity Shines over the Germans 280 Chapter 13: The Struggle with Chancellor Kohl: Mitterrand’s Leadership 300 A Struggle with the Federal Chancellor 302 The Fall of the Wall 308 November 18: The European Council Dinner 310 The Announcement of the Ten-Point Plan 313 “The Reversal of Alliances”: Two Unambiguous Conversations, November 30 316 The Strasbourg Summit 320 Chapter 14: Germany’s Reunification Is Orchestrated by the Actors in the Workshop of World Politics 338 Kiev 340 “Now There Is an Alliance Doctrine” 343 The Schengen Affair 351 The Trip to the GDR: Why? 353 The Trip to the GDR: The “Competition” 358 The Trip to the GDR: Speaking About Reunification in Berlin and Leipzig 359 Latche 362 Chapter 15: Two Major Problems to Be Resolved: Germany’s Membership in NATO and the Question of Borders 373 “Reunification Lies in the Facts” 375 Germany’s Membership in NATO 377 The Question of Borders 383 Chapter 16: France in the Two-Plus-Four Negotiations 396 France and the Concept of the Four-Plus-Two/Two-Plus-Four Negotiations 397 France in the Two-Plus-Four Negotiations 403 Interlude: “To Buy Soviet Acquiescence on Politico-Military Issues” 413 The Decisive Moment of the Negotiations 415 Negotiations Accomplished: French Prompt Appraisals 419 Chapter 17: Epilogue 425 It Is a New Germany That Is Reappearing 427 “It’s a Deep-Seated Legend, But Not Innocent” 428 “... But France Has Known Germany for a Thousand Years” 431 “We Must Get Used to the Idea That the World Is a Huge Disorder” 433 “Personally, I Think of the Future” 434 “They’re Learning Again, in a Clumsy, Confused Way, What a Great Power Is” 435 “It’s Still Far from Being a Veritable Unification” 436 “I Have a Great Deal of Sympathy for the Germans” 437 Bibliography 440 Primary Sources 440 Archives 440 Author’s Interviews 441 Printed Documents 442 Memoirs, Diaries, Witness Reports 443 Secondary Sources 444 Index of Names 449 Index of Subjects 456 With the collapse of the Soviet Union and its Eastern European bloc, the reunification of Germany was a major episode in the history of modern Europe -- and one widely held to have been opposed by that country's centuries-old enemy, France. But while it has been previously believed that French President François Mitterrand played a negative role in events leading up to reunification, this book shows that Mitterrand's main concern was not the potential threat of an old nemesis but rather that a reunified Germany be firmly anchored in a unified Europe. Updated with a new introduction and other materials, the book blends primary research and interviews with key actors in France and Germany to take readers behind the scenes of world governments as a new Europe was formed. Tilo Schabert had unprecedented, exclusive access to French presidential archives and here focuses on French diplomacy not only to dispel the notion that Mitterrand was reluctant to accept reunification but also to show how successful he was in bringing it about. Tilo Schabert is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Erlangen, Germany. He also taught at the Universities of Munich, Stanford, Bochum, Trier and Dresden, and was Research Fellow at Stanford, Harvard and the Australian National University, as well as Senior Heisenberg Research Fellow at the German Research Council. Schabert was Visiting Professor in Lisbon, Perpignan, Paris, Rennes, Salerno, Naples and Beijing. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and its Eastern European bloc, the reunification of Germany was a major episode in the history of modern Europe and one widely held to have been opposed by that country's centuries-old enemy, France. But while it has been previously believed that French President Francois Mitterrand played a negative role in events leading up to reunification, this book shows that Mitterrand's main concern was not the potential threat of an old nemesis but rather that a reunified Germany be firmly anchored in a unified Europe. Updated with a new introduction and other materials, the book blends primary research and interviews with key actors in France and Germany to take readers behind the scenes of world governments as a new Europe was formed. Tilo Schabert had unprecedented, exclusive access to French presidential archives and here focuses on French diplomacy not only to dispel the notion that Mitterrand was reluctant to accept reunification but also to show how successful he was in bringing it about. Tilo Schabert is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Erlangen, Germany. He also taught at the Universities of Munich, Stanford, Bochum, Trier and Dresden, and was Research Fellow at Stanford, Harvard and the Australian National University, as well as Senior Heisenberg Research Fellow at the German Research Council. Schabert was Visiting Professor in Lisbon, Perpignan, Paris, Rennes, Salerno, Naples and Beijing