A Diplomatic History of German Unification, 1989-1990

In 1989, more than forty years after the postwar division of Germany was cemented by the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, this division was suddenly called into question. Within a year the GDR ceased to exist and its territory had been absorbed into the FRG. The unification of Germany was approved by the Soviet Union as well as the United States, Great Britain, and France. These countries relinquished their rights and responsibilities for Berlin and for "Germany as a whole" in a treaty providing a "Final Settlement" of the German question.