The unification of Germany as a prelude to the end of the division of Europe and the termination of the Cold War came as a surprise to the whole world. It was the beginning of a new era in German and European history. The Price of German Unity is the first full-scale analysis of this process, both domestically and in its wider international context, with a particular focus on the social-policy consequences. Gerhard A. Ritter uses a wide range of hitherto inaccessible sources to describe and analyse the dynamics of reunification, including archives from the Chancellor's Office, and the relevant ministries and major parties of both the Federal Republic and the GDR, as well as the private papers of the leading actors on both sides and a wealth of interview material. As the book convincingly demonstrates, the wholesale transfer of the social system of the Federal Republic of Germany to the territory of the former GDR and the huge drain of economic resources from West to East that this involved, profoundly affected the economic and political framework of the new Germany and greatly intensified the latent crisis of the German welfare state.

The Price of German Unity: Reunification and the Crisis of the Welfare State

Business & Money

Ritter, Gerhard A.

Deveson, Richard

Economics

Oxford University Press

The power of the Prussian state, with its outward splendour and military pageantry, and with the prestige it began to enjoy within the system of European states, gradually came to outweigh older traditions of cultural identity. The imperial period saw the formation of all the principal institutional structures which have continued to govern life in Germany, and all the foundations of present-day cultural life. Yet the German Empire remained a state distorted by authoritarianism. All areas of life were affected, politics, the economy, the arts, education and foreign policy, and a widening gulf opened between the political system and society, putting at risk the very governability of the Empire. It was in these conditions that Germany went to war in 1914, a conflict which ended with the collapse of the Hohenzollern monarchy and revolution. This book offers a cogent analysis of the main developments and issues in a formative and portentous period of Germany's history.

Imperial Germany 1867-1918: Politics, Culture, and Society in an Authoritarian State

Arts & Photography

MOMMSEN, Wolfgang J.

Sculpture

Hodder Education Publishers

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