ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the effect that the extraordinary events of 1989 and 1990 have on German-US relations. German unification—changed a great deal in the world. With the passing of the cold war, there is a subtle but important change in the basis of German-US relationship. By 1985 the three basic sources of German-American tensions-in military security, Ostpolitik, and the structure of macroeconomic relations-had become long-standing and familiar features of the transatlantic landscape. Many argued that US defense spending was driven principally by the military commitment to Europe. The Ostpolitik developed into a policy of small, practical steps- easing travel between the two Germanies, buying with deutsche marks the right of East Germans to move West, among others. Germany is the most obvious Western partner for promoting Soviet economic restructuring and peaceful integration into the world community.
