Editing German reunification (section)

===United Kingdom and France===
{{blockquote|[[United Kingdom|We]] [[Military history of Germany#World War I (1914–1918)|defeated the Germans twice]]! And now they're back!|Margaret Thatcher, December 1989<ref name="volkery20091109">{{cite news|last=Volkery|first=Carsten|title=The Iron Lady's Views on German Reunification/'The Germans Are Back!'|url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,648364,00.html|access-date=5 October 2010|newspaper=Der Spiegel|date=9 November 2009|archive-date=18 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518033937/http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,648364,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

[[British Prime Minister]] [[Margaret Thatcher]] was one of the most vehement opponents of German reunification. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Thatcher told [[Soviet General Secretary]] Mikhail Gorbachev that neither the United Kingdom nor, according to her, Western Europe, wanted the reunification of Germany. Thatcher also clarified that she wanted the Soviet leader to do what he could to stop it, telling Gorbachev, "We do not want a united Germany".<ref name="Times2009.9.11">{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6829735.ece |title=Thatcher told Gorbachev Britain did not want German reunification |access-date=8 November 2009 |date=11 September 2009 |author=Michael Binyon |work=The Times |location=London |archive-date=16 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716101355/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6829735.ece |url-status=dead }}</ref> Although she welcomed East German democracy, Thatcher worried that a rapid reunification might weaken Gorbachev, and she favored Soviet troops staying in East Germany as long as possible to act as a counterweight to a united Germany.<ref name="wiegrefe20100929" /><ref name="kundnani20091028">{{cite news|last=Kundnani|first=Hans|title=Margaret Thatcher's German war|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article6893915.ece|access-date=5 October 2010|newspaper=The Times|date=28 October 2009|archive-date=27 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527223003/https://the-tls.co.uk/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Thatcher, who carried in her handbag a map of [[Territorial changes of Germany#Interbellum|Germany's 1937 borders]] to show others the "German problem", feared that Germany's "national character", size, and central location in Europe would cause it to be a "destabilizing rather than a stabilizing force in Europe".<ref name="kundnani20091028" /> In December 1989, she warned fellow European Community leaders at a [[European Council|Council]] summit in [[Strasbourg]] which Kohl attended, "We defeated the Germans twice! And now they're back!".<ref name="wiegrefe20100929" /><ref name="volkery20091109" /> Although Thatcher had stated her support for German [[self-determination]] in 1985,<ref name="kundnani20091028" /> she now argued that Germany's allies only supported reunification because they did not believe it would ever happen.<ref name="wiegrefe20100929" /> Thatcher favored a transition period of five years for reunification, during which the two Germanies would remain separate states. Although she gradually softened her opposition, as late as March 1990, Thatcher summoned historians and diplomats to a seminar at [[Chequers]] to ask "How dangerous are the Germans?",<ref name="kundnani20091028" /><ref name="volkery20091109" /> and the French ambassador in London reported that Thatcher told him, "France and Great Britain should pull together today in the face of the German threat."<ref name="CalgaryHerald" /><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/6480413/Margaret-Thatcher-was-horrified-by-the-prospect-of-a-reunited-Germany.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/6480413/Margaret-Thatcher-was-horrified-by-the-prospect-of-a-reunited-Germany.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |author=Peter Allen |work=The Daily Telegraph |title=Margaret Thatcher was 'horrified' by the prospect of a reunited Germany |date=2 November 2009 |access-date=9 November 2009 | location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
[[Image:Oder-neisse.gif|right|thumb|300px|[[Former eastern territories of Germany]] (yellow and orange)]]
The pace of events surprised the French, whose Foreign Ministry had concluded in October 1989 that reunification "does not appear realistic at this moment".<ref name="DW-world2009.11.08">{{cite web |url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4861759,00.html |title=Germany's neighbors try to redeem their 1989 negativity |first=Ben |last=Knight |date=8 November 2009 |access-date=9 November 2009 |work=Deutsche Welle |archive-date=11 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091111174630/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4861759,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A representative of [[French President]] [[François Mitterrand]] reportedly told an aide to Gorbachev, "France by no means wants German reunification, although it realises that in the end, it is inevitable."<ref name="Times2009.9.11" /> At the Strasbourg summit, Mitterrand and Thatcher discussed the fluidity of Germany's historical borders.<ref name="wiegrefe20100929" /> On 20 January 1990, Mitterrand told Thatcher that a unified Germany could "make more ground than even [[Adolf Hitler|Adolf]] had".<ref name="CalgaryHerald">{{cite web |author=Anne-Laure |first=Mondesert (AFP) |date=31 October 2009 |title=London and Paris were shocked by German reunification |url=https://calgaryherald.com/news/London+Paris+were+shocked+German+reunification/2168902/story.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091104100738/http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/London+Paris+were+shocked+German+reunification/2168902/story.html |archive-date=4 November 2009 |access-date=9 November 2009 |work=Calgary Herald}}</ref> He predicted that "bad" Germans would reemerge,<ref name="volkery20091109" /> who might seek to regain [[Former eastern territories of Germany#Post World War II|former German territory lost after World War II]] and would likely dominate Hungary, Poland, and [[Czechoslovakia]],<ref name="kundnani20091028" /> leaving "only [[Romania]] and [[Bulgaria]] for the rest of us". The two leaders saw no way to prevent reunification, however, as "None of us was going to declare war on Germany".<ref name="wiegrefe20100929" /> Mitterrand recognized before Thatcher that reunification was inevitable and adjusted his views accordingly; unlike her, he was hopeful that participation in a single currency and other European institutions could control a united Germany.<ref name="kundnani20091028" /> Mitterrand still wanted Thatcher to publicly oppose unification, however, to obtain more concessions from Germany.<ref name="volkery20091109" />