Chapter 1 - The German problem and linkage politics

Summary

I say, as Voltaire said of God, that if there were no Germans we should have to invent them, since nothing so successfully unites the Slavs as a rooted hatred of Germans.

Mikhail Bakunin, 1865

[I]f war is too important to be left to the generals, surely commerce is, in this context, too salient to be left to bankers and businessmen.… Another misconception is that the potential for economic leverage, even if it exists, cannot be translated into effective pressure against the Soviets, because they will not make political concessions for economic purposes. In fact, however, only rarely have Western countries attempted to use economic leverage against them.

Samuel P. Huntington, 1978

The German problem has been a major source of instability in European and world politics for over a century. Although it has been resolved for the time being since the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and its Eastern neighbors in the early 1970s, it could once again become a source of international tension. It is a central issue for Soviet foreign policy. The relationship between Germany and the USSR remains one of the most important determinants of East–West security today. It is therefore vital to understand the process of postwar Soviet–German conflict and rapprochement to outline future developments in East–West relations. Although political questions have dominated the evolution of West German Ostpolitik and Soviet Westpolitik, the economic aspects of the relationship have at times played a significant role in the development of German-Soviet detente, interacting with political issues.