ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the reasons for the persistent perception of the United Kingdom's role in the German unification process as both negative and marginal, addressing the reasons why a more balanced historiography failed to emerge in the first two decades after unification. It analyses the factors that contributed to the relative ineffectiveness of Britain's German policy, focusing on the British domestic context, both political and institutional, and on the bilateral relationship between the UK and the Federal Republic with particular emphasis on the role played by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The chapter establishes the long-term significance of Britain's perceived failure on the German question in 1989-90. The twenty-fifth anniversary of Germany's unification offers an opportunity to explore some of the issues raised by the historiographical 'breakthrough' of 2009 in greater depth. Changes of personnel also affected the reporting of events from Germany.
