Ostpolitik 1969 1974

Recent studies of the Cold War transcend a narrow focus on four decades of superpower rivalry recognizing that leaders and governments outside of Washington and Moscow also exerted political economic and moral influence well beyond their own borders. One striking example was the Ostpolitik of Chancellor Willy Brandt which not only redefined Germanys relation with its Nazi past but also altered the global environment of the Cold War. This book examines the years 19691974 when Brandt broke the Cold War stalemate in Europe by assuming responsibility for the crimes of the Third Reich and by formally renouncing several major West German claims while also launching an assertive policy toward his Communist neighbors and conducting a deft balancing act between East and West. Not everyone then or now applauds the ethos and practice of Ostpolitik but no one can deny its impact on German European and world history.