Two-Plus-Four Treaty Settles the External Terms of German Unification

Six foreign ministers signed the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany in Moscow on 12 September 1990. James Baker joined his counterparts from the Soviet Union, Britain, France, and the two German states to settle the external conditions for unification. [1]

The collapse of East Germany’s one party rule had opened a question that Germans alone could not resolve. The four wartime powers still held rights arising from Germany’s defeat in 1945. Soviet leaders initially resisted a united Germany remaining in NATO, and negotiations had to reconcile that concern with the Federal Republic’s existing alliance commitments. [1]

The settlement confirmed Germany’s borders, limited its armed forces to 370,000, and recorded its renunciation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Germany retained the right to belong to alliances, while Soviet forces would withdraw from the former East Germany by the end of 1994. [1]

Unification followed on 3 October 1990. After ratification, the treaty entered into force on 15 March 1991, ending the four powers’ remaining rights and responsibilities and closing the occupation framework that had survived through the Cold War. [1] [2]

Related Diplomats

1. Jürgen Ruhfus [3] [4]
2. Gerhard Herder [5] [6]

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