What caused the east and west Germany to unify?

Answer 1

East Germany was one of the most repressive regimes in the Soviet bloc. They went to great measures to prevent their people from leaving and going to Western countries, especially West Germany. In 1989, Hungary's government decided to stop blocking their border with Austria (which was neutral, but bordered West Germany). So East Germans would go to Hungary, and then they could just slip across the border into Austria and then West Germany.

The people were able to see how bad the East German government was compared to the West, and major protests erupted in East Germany. The government finally broke the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, and allowed free transit to West Berlin and West Germany. Despite this, the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany ("Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands" in German, or SED for short) could not hang onto power, and virtually the entire government resigned overnight. The SED was no longer the sole, dominant party and a less authoritarian government was set up.

With the collapse, East and West almost immediately went into talks to formally reunify- these talks went surprisingly quick and smoothly. Less than a year after the Berlin Wall fell, Germany officially reunified on October 3, 1990, which is now a national holiday.

Answer 2

The disintegration of the USSR and the resulting social unrest in Communist East Germany, ending in the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. East and West Germany had been one country since the 19th century and had been forcibly separated in 1945 by the Russians. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany's Parliament passed a resolution in which it decided it wanted to be reunited with West Germany. West and East Germany then signed a 'Unification Treaty' in 1990 through which the two countries were reunited again.

Answer 3

The East German government in 1989 was financially bankrupt and unable to survive with the increased protests that led to the breaking of the Berlin Wall. As a result, West Germany annexed East Germany and assumed that government's debts, territory and citizens.