1990: Two Germanies

Welcome to 1990: Two Germanies. The premise of this alternate history is not grand. It is very simple. The reunification of East and West Germany in 1990 never happened. In this introduction, you will see the history of the two Germanies, with a focus on East Germany, from 1989 until today.

East German Transition into Democracy (1989 - 1990)
The fall of the Communist government in Poland would play a role in the fall of the Berlin Wall. This would again start the transistion, East Germany would experience, into a democratic country. September of 1989 would see much demonstrations throughout East Germany. Up until the fall of the Wall, events would happen as it happen OTL. On the 18th of October, the leader of East Germany, Erich Honecker, resigned and was replaced by Egon Krenz.

On the night between the 9th and 10th of November, the Berlin Wall would fall. This would later be seen as the kick-start of the transition. What was to follow was the gradual end of the one-party state, the dissolving of the Stasi, and the opening of more and more border crossings between West and East Germany. It looked like the two Germanies would soon become one. In March of 1990, the first free and democratic election in East Germany was held, seeing a victory of pro-unification parties.

The Chancellor of West Germany, Helmut Kohl, had as goal to see West and East united, as did Lothar de Maizière, the new prime minister of East Germany. But while both East and West had a leadership and legislatives that was in favor of unification, there where still opposition to this idea. There where even many of those demonstrating the old regime in East Germany, that also saw that the East German country developing its own culture, even its own nation. Not only opposition to the reunification domestically, the idea was also opposed by France, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union.

The reunification treaty was a failure that would paint the reputation of both Chancellor Kohl and Prime Minister Maizière. In both countries, their political parties suffered losses in popularity, with the SPD winning in the 1991 West German Election, and with a new East German nationalist movement gaining popularity in the East.

But while the reunification did not happen, the democratization of East Germany continued. Under the rule of Lothar de Maizière and the Christian Democratic Union, the country modernized, founded new ties to western powers, and later joined NATO.

The New East German Nation (1990 - 2000)
With reunification not succeeding, more East Germans begun to believe that their situation could be better without unifying with the West. There where ideas circulating that the differences between East and West was more than what they previously believed. While East German socialists looked back on the Prussian labor movement, more and more conservatives began to look back on the conservative Prussian state. This patriotic view on Prussia was rejected by the West, where many saw it as a prelude to militarism and nazism.

Before the 1994 East German general election, the ruling Christian Democratic Union had to drop its pro-unification, and came under the leadership of Berndt Seite. In the election, the Social Democratic Party and the CDU formed a coalition to oppose the East German patriotic parties on both the left and the right.

Over the 1990s, East Germany joined NATO, built up its economy and industry, while also holding up its agriculture. The establishment politicians tried many times to achieve the unification, but this was denied by France and the United Kingdom. East Germany joined the European Union among its Polish and Czech neighbors, and many of the East German patriots saw the country as near to more connected with their Eastern European neighbors, who had also suffered under the Soviet rule, than with West Germany.

The New Millennium (2000 - 2010)
A new millennium came, with new emerging problems in the world, that would affect both West and East Germany. 9/11 and the War on Terror would see both Germanies involved to some extent. Over these years, East Germany would be mostly ruled by the SPD or the CDU, with the Party of Democratic Socialism remaining a third party.