On America’s Changing Attitude Towards The Ostpolitik Of FRG

The world situation underwent the new change in the late1960s and early1970s. Facing the war in Vietnam, the rise of Soviet military power and economic pressure from the Western allies, President Nixon began to adjust American national strategy by implementing the strategy of "detente" between eastern and western world after his taking office. According to this, the coalition government formed by Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Democrats of the Federal Republic of Germany(FRG), which was in the forefront in the Cold War, implemented the "Ostpolitik"."Ostpolitik" is greatly different from the "Hallstein Doctrine" which was implemented by the Adenauer and Kiesinger administrations. This policy intended to promote the negotiations of FRG with Soviet, Poland and East Germany in order to improve the relationship between FRG and eastern countries, for promoting change by rapprochement and ultimately reaching the unification of Germany. The transformation of FRG’s policy caused a great deal of attention under the background of two camps’rivalries, of which the American held a complex attitude. This thesis aims to have a research on America’s attitude towards "Ostpolitik" and its characteristics and influencing factors by using the American public diplomatic documents from the angle of America’s strategy of detente.The introduction of this thesis introduces the origin of the topic, the present domestic and foreign research on the relationship between American strategy of detente and "Ostpolitik". Then it states the idea and innovation of the thesis.The first chapter discusses the America’s strategy of detente, including the international background, the source of ideas about this strategy and the relationship between America’s detente strategy and Europe. America’s detente strategy contains tactics of negotiations, linkages and so on, which are important factors to understand America’s changing attitude towards "Ostpolitik". With regard to the relationship between America’s detente strategy and Europe, America hoped that European countries could be more independent and bear more responsibility under the leadership of America, thereby to enhance the detente and defense of West Europe and the solidarity within the Western allies. These factors provided the possibilities for "Ostpolitik".The second chapter explores the FRG’s "Ostpolitik", including its domestic and international background, process from brewing to implementing of it, and its relationship with America. Domestic context contains the strengthening of FRG’s own power and public consciousness. International context contains the change of relations between America and the Soviet, the change of power within the East and West camps, as well as the development of German Democratic Republic. This part intends to discuss the emergence and implementation of "Ostpolitik" in the period from Mr. Brandt served as the Mayor of Berlin to becoming the German Chancellor. With regard to the relationship between Ospolitik and America, this part is based on the characteristics of the "Ostpolitik". Both of the maintaining of "Ostpolitik" and the German identity of West ally ensured America’s support finally.The third chapter elaborates the change of America’s attitudes towards "Ostpolitik", which is the focus of this thesis. This chapter includes three parts: changes of America’s basic concerns and coping tactics, changes of attitudes of America towards the concrete steps of the "Ostpolitik", and change of attitude of America towards the Berlin status negotiation. The discussion in this chapter intends to classify and analyze the change of attitude of America based on American diplomatic documents by time.The fourth chapter analyzes the characteristics and influencing factors of the change of America’s attitude towards "Ostpolitik". These features contain following three aspects.1) America treats the brewing and development of FRG’s "Ostpolitik" from the angle of its grand detente strategy.2) The change of America’s attitude experiences the process from being vague to clear.3) Among all those changes of attitudes of America, the most significant factor is the four great powers’ Berlin status negotiations which were closely linked to "Ostpolitik" carried out by FRG. The fundamental factor affecting the change of America is the detente strategy, whose synthesis, aggressiveness and pragmatism influenced the change of America’s attitudes.This article concludes that, with regard to the basic understanding of the "Ostpolitik" the specific steps of the "Ostpolitik" and Berlin status negotiation, America’s attitudes had experienced a process from a fuzzy uncertain to being assured and finally clear support to "Ostpolitik", and the process from initial passive observation to final active intervention. The fundamental factors affecting the change of America’s attitudes are that,"Ostpolitik" is in line with the detente strategy of Nixon Administration, and what FRG had claimed and behaved won US’trust.