RETREATING FROM THE COLD WAR

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Retreating from the Cold War Germany, Russia and the Withdrawal of the Western Group of Forces

David Cox Adjunct Professor of Political Science and International Affairs The George Washington University, Washington DC

MACMILLAN

©David Cox 1990 Softcover reprint of the hardcover lst edition 1996 978-0-333-64636-6 All rights reserved. No reproduction. copy or transmission of this publication milly be made without written permission.

No pamgraph of this publication may be reproduced. copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance wi th the provisions of the Copyright , Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottcnham Coun Road, London WI P 9HE.

Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to c riminal prosecu1ion and civil claims for damages.

First published 1996 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Bas in,gstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world

ISBN 978-1-349-39598-9 ISBN 978-0-230-38993-9 ( eBook) DOI /9780230389939 10.1057

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Libmry.

10 9 8 7 6 05 04 03 02 OJ

5 4 3 2 I 00 99 98 97 96

Copy-edited and typeset by Povey-Edmondson Okehampton and Rochdale, England

For Carol

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Contents

List of Maps and Tables ix

Author's Note xi

List of Abbreviations xiii

1 The Politics of Decline 1

2 The GDR, GSFG and WTO 17

3 The Beginnings of Disengagement 39

4 The East German Revolution 61

5 The WGF and Moscow's Relations with Germany 81

6 Domestic Politics and the WGF 103

7 The Withdrawal and the End of the Cold War 123

Appendices

1 Commander s-in-Chief of the GSFG I WGF 137

2 Chronology of Key Events 138

3 Treaty on the Final Settlement on Germany 143

Notes and References 151

Selected Bibliography 175

Index 181

vn

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List of Maps and Tables

Maps

GSFG Deployment 33

The Eastern Lander 96

Table

Eastern European Announced Force Reductions 57

IX

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Author's Note

This book is about the withdrawal of the former Soviet troops from what was East Germany. In a much larger sense, it is also about the end of the Cold War, as well as of the Soviet Union. All of these events were ultimately the result of Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms of Soviet society. They were not, however, entirely the intended consequences of his reforms.

Appropriately enough, the book did not turn out as originally intended either. What started out as separate analyses of different aspects of the withdrawal quickly became much more of a chronological narrative. While this may seem to make it more of a history and less political science, I hope it gives the book greater coherence and readability.

Hadia Samaha carried out a large part of the research for this book, while the Department of Political Science at The George Washington University provided financial support for the research assistance. Wendy Kolker proofread the manuscript and provided useful comments. I would also like to thank everyone at Macmillan and the New York University Press who helped in the production of this book.

The Russian language material was transliterated according to the system used by The Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press. For simplicity's sake, all diacritical marks, whether in German, Russian or any of the other East European languages, were omitted.

DAVID COX

xi

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List of Abbreviations

CDU Christlich-Demokratische Union (Christian Democratic Union)

CEMA Council for Economic Mutual Assistance CFE Conventional Forces in Europe CGF Central Group of Forces CIS Commonwealth of Independent States CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union CSCE Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe FDP Freie Demokratische Partei (Free Democratic Party) FRG Federal Republic of Germany GDR German Democratic Republic GLCM Ground Launched Cruise Missile GSFG Group of Soviet Forces in Germany HSWP Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party INF Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces IRBM Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile KGB Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti (Committee for

State Security) MfS Ministerium fxir Staatssicherheit (Ministry for State

Security) MPLA Movement Popular de Libertacdo de Angola (Popular

Movement for the Liberation of Angola) NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NGF Northern Group of Forces NVA Nationale Volksarmee (National People's Army) OMG Operational Maneuver Group PDPA People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan SDI Strategic Defense Initiative SED Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Socialist

Unity Party of Germany) SGF Southern Group of Forces SMAG Soviet Military Administration in Germany SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social

Democratic Party of Germany) TVD Teatr Voyennikh Deystvy (theater of military

operations)

xin

XIV List of Abbreviations

UN United Nations USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics WGF Western Group of Forces WTO Warsaw Treaty Organization