The governments of the United States and the United Kingdom seemed to not know how to react to these developments. The Federal Foreign Office spent a lot of time analysing possible reasons for the Soviet willingness to negotiate, revealing considerable differences of opinion between London and the embassy in Moscow. The four-page discussions on Berlin continued, with the Russians proving to be generally tough interlocutors. Part I. General provisions 1. The four Governments will endeavour to promote the elimination of tensions and the prevention of complications in the area concerned. 2. The four Governments, having regard to their obligations under the Charter of the United Nations, agree that there shall be no use or threat of use of force in the territory and that disputes shall be settled exclusively by peaceful means. (3) The four governments shall respect each other`s individual and common rights and obligations, which shall remain unchanged.
4. The four Governments agree that, notwithstanding differences of legal opinion, the situation which has developed in that territory and as defined in this Agreement and in the other agreements referred to in this Agreement may not be unilaterally altered. With the Allied agreement, the basic treaty (in force in June 1973) recognized two German states, and both countries undertook to respect each other`s sovereignty. In accordance with the provisions of the Treaty, diplomatic missions should be exchanged and commercial, touristic, cultural and communicative relations should be established. Under the Agreement and the Treaty, the two German states acceded to the United Nations in September 1973. After the entry into force of the agreement, the Soviet Union used this vague wording to loosen West Berlin`s relations with the Federal Republic of Germany. However, the agreement contributed significantly to the reduction of tensions between East and West over Berlin as well as to the expansion of contacts between the two sides of Germany. As such, he made an important contribution to the process that led to the reunification of Germany in 1990.
The divided city of Berlin had been the Cold War fault line since 1945. The erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961 concretized the ideological, political and military competition between East and West. Berlin`s problems were a useful stick to beat the other side, and until the late 1960s, any constructive agreement seemed far away. The West opposed the recognition of the GDR, while the Soviet Union complained about the activities of the FRG. Meanwhile, Berliners and the occupation authorities faced problems on a daily basis with communication, access by road or air, local government and the movement of goods. The agreements concluded in September 1971 were intended to resolve some of these difficulties. By August 1971, however, East and West had clearly decided, for various reasons, that this agreement was desirable. The context was the broader interest in improving Western security, the Mutual and Balanced Force Needs Talks (MBFR), the Middle East negotiations, and China-US relations. At the Berlin talks, the ambassadors of the United States and the Soviets accelerated the pace, and a draft text was approved on 18 August. The Federal Foreign Office considered that the agreement met the essential requirements of the Western Allies, although it strengthened the status of the GDR and tacitly acknowledged that the Berlin Wall would remain here. Douglas-Home called it a “good deal”; The prime minister disagreed, although accepting his signature “may well be right, because we are ready to acknowledge the realities.” It could also improve the political atmosphere and pave the way for what would become the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) in 1973.
Fifty years ago, the ambassadors representing the 4 occupying powers in Germany – France, Great Britain, the United States and the USSR – signed an agreement on Berlin. These included documents on access, communication and the respective positions of the FRG (West Germany) and the GDR (East Germany) in relation to Berlin. Although neither the West nor the East got everything they expected from the negotiations, the fact that the agreement was signed came as a surprise to many involved. By reaffirming the existence of the rights and obligations of the four powers for the future of Berlin and Germany as a whole (which the Soviets claimed to have abolished following the Berlin Crisis of 1959-1962), the agreement laid the foundations for a series of East-West agreements that ushered in the period commonly known as détente. It has also restored connections between the two parts of Berlin, improved travel and communication between the two parts of the city, and made many improvements to residents of the western sectors. Although cold war policies made it difficult to reach an agreement, they also paved the way for the quadripartite agreement. The Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 caused severe East-West cold, but as always after a shock, a reorganization of relations on both sides was necessary for economic and geopolitical reasons. From the Soviet perspective, better access to Western (especially West German) markets and technologies was important for economic progress.
From a Western perspective, constructive Soviet engagement on global issues such as arms control, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the growing power of Communist China was desirable if it could be achieved without admitting too much ground. These treaties were part of a series of revolutionary international agreements that were seen by some as formalizing the division of Europe during the Cold War, while others saw them as the beginning of the process that led to the end of the Cold War .M. Sarotte wrote in 2001 that “.. Despite all the fears, the two sides managed to conclude many negotiations through the dialogue on détente. [2] The Four Powers Agreement on Berlin, also known as the Berlin Agreement or the Four Powers Agreement on Berlin, was concluded on September 3, 1971 by the four Allied war powers, represented by their ambassadors. The four Foreign Ministers Alec Douglas-Home of the United Kingdom, Andrei Gromyko of the Soviet Union, Maurice Schumann of France and William P. Rogers of the United States signed the Agreement and brought it into force in Berlin on 3 June 1972. [1] The agreement was not a treaty and did not require formal ratification. In the early months of 1971, Secretary of State Douglas-Home`s briefing insisted that the Soviet proposals on Berlin were a “deliberate attempt to undermine the Western position” and that Allied authority should be maintained. In June, the West`s insistence that the idea of a European security conference without an acceptable Berlin agreement was a false start seemed to be leading to a standstill. 4.
The four Governments agree that, notwithstanding differences in law, the situation which has developed in that territory and as defined in this Agreement and in the other agreements referred to in this Agreement may not be unilaterally altered. Athletes from East and West Germany are competing for the first time in different teams at the Olympic Games – with different anthems, but always with the same flag. .