Unchained Eagle: Germany After the Wall: Germany After the War [Taschenbuch]

Tom Heneghan took up a Reuters posting in Germany in the spring of 1989. There could hardly have been a more fortuitous time. Unchained Eagle documents one of the most significant and defining decades in this mighty, and mightily troubled, country's history. Six months after he arrived, the Berlin Wall came down, bringing with it an euphoria matched only by the post-unification hangover of economic and social inequality, and resurgent nationalism. When Ossi (East German) in his Trabi met Wessi (West German) in her BMW, the fearful pedestrians included France and Britain, who feared the strategic consequences. The massive figure of Helmut Kohl ensured that a unified Germany overcame the "wall in the head" which remained long after the brickwork gave way. When a second icon--the former Chancellor himself, "150 kilos of history made flesh"--also fell, to slush fund revelations, the new incumbent, Gerhard Schröder, had already proved younger, flashier, and thoroughly at ease with the modern sound-bite culture. The era of the heavyweight statesman--Kohl, Mitterand, Thatcher--had given way to the Herr Blair Bunch.

Thomas Mann said in 1945 "We do not want a German Europe, but a European Germany". By the close of Heneghan's excellent book, studded with portentous and sensitive anniversaries--the liberation of Auschwitz, the fall of the Wall--Germany had begun to deal responsibly with its duplicitous past, both Nazi and Stasi, and forge a future in line with such a sentiment. The smallest unified German state ever, but uniquely with undisputed frontiers, had stopped bankrolling Europe, and had progressed from the Bonn Republic to the Berlin Republic, and even joined the notional Brussels Republic. It had also seen the rest of Europe finally stop "projecting old fears onto new problems", and in Bosnia, taken its first, tentative steps towards defensive military engagement. Heneghan's writing displays the hallmark impeccable standards of Reuters: accurate, objective, judiciously wry journalism, squeezing sense and concise copy from hours of speeches and acres of print. And, by the time he signs off, he's happy to report of Germany that "it was finally a normal country". --David Vincent

Table of Contents View the Bibliography online Useful links to related sites 9 November 1989. The fall of the Berlin Wall A symbol of the Cold War, its collapse heralded a new era in European history and launched a journey full of immeasurable challenges for the people of east and west Germany. In the ten years that have followed, much has changed in Germany, from the rise of Helmut Kohl as Europe's leading statesman to the return of the government to Berlin, the city that symbolises the nation's greatest triumphs and defeats. The Germans first met with scepticism and mistrust abroad as they hurtled towards reunification, then concern as they struggled to adjust to their new state. But they came through the difficult decade as a stable democracy and reliable ally, one that shed the shackles of the post-war period without breaking its bonds to the European Union, NATO and its Western partners. Unchained Eagle is the story of Germany, from events leading up to the unification of east and west to the government's move to Berlin and Kohl's disgrace over his illegal slush funds.It looks at the challenges that have faced the nation - defining its military role, integrating eastern Germany, fighting neo-Nazis and establishing a German stamp on the European Union - and assesses how it has met them. It reflects on the concerns and controversies over economic reform, European monetary union, remembering the Holocaust and shaping the new Germany. More importantly, it is the story of a country and its people, the events that have moulded a new European power and the faces that have rewritten history. All this is portrayed with insight and understanding by Tom Heneghan, a long-time observer of German politics. He was in Berlin as the Wall fell and spent the next decade reporting at first hand on the changes that event brought about and the way the Germans - from Helmut Kohl to average citizens - responded to them. Unchained Eagle is an authoritative account of the unification of two countries, the challenges they faced and the new and more confident Germany that emerged from the upheaval. About the Author Tom Heneghan took up his posting as Reuters Chief Correspondent for Germany in the spring of 1989 and was on the spot when the Berlin Wall fell that autumn.Over the next eight years, he travelled around the country covering the events and issues that make this book including following Helmut Kohl on foreign trips as far afield as Moscow, Tokyo and Denver. At the end of the NATO bombing campaign in 1999, he entered Kosovo with the Bundeswehr to report on the first German combat troops deployed abroad since World War Two. Reviews "A fine book rich in information and solid judgement. Tom Heneghan's description and analysis reflect the reality of post-reunification Germany. The 'Berlin Republic' is a normal state, with its strengths and its scandals. This book challenges non-German readers to put aside their suspicions and see the country as it is."- Alfred Grosser, French political science professor and author of Germany in Our Time and Deutschland in Europa "Tom Heneghan is a consummate professional, a reporter's reporter. He writes lucidly and with forensic accuracy, lighting a path through the minefield of contradictions and prejudices that greeted the Germans' bid to re-unite as a nation and its stormy aftermath...Unchained Eagle is both an accomplished piece of detective work, and a gripping account of the greatest story of our time." - William Horsely, BBC European Affairs Correspondent "Tom Heneghan has succeeded in giving a fair and thorough analysis of an epochal change that has led to a new perception of Germany's role in the decade since the fall of the Berlin Wall. His first-hand account and brilliant interpretation of events up to Helmut Kohl's fall from grace contribute to a better understanding of what makes Germany tick today." - Christian Muller, Neue Zurcher Zeitung correspondent and author of Helmut Kohl, A Man of His Times and Colonel Stauffenberg - a biography "In the clear, direct style of the foreign journalist and observer, Heneghan demonstrates a differentiated, perceptive view of divided, united and disunited Germany as well as compassion for the emergence of the new Germany - from its 'brooding past' to its becoming 'a normal country'. - Angelika Volle, Executive Editor, Internationale Politik "Tom Heneghan brings an open mind to the complex and often enigmatic country called Germany...For English-speaking readers, there is no better guide to the politics of Germany in the 1990s." - Joachim Fritz-Vannahme, Europe Correspondent, Die Zeit "Heneghan's book provides important insights into the origins of the euro and the reasons for its existence. The same applies to the secret accounts scandals which have badly damaged Kohl's image and prompted embarrassing questions around Europe."- Pilar Bonet, Berlin Correspondent, El Pais "Tom Heneghan has a journalist's eye for detail and the voice for telling a story. This history book by someone who lived the history is a pleasure to read." - Marjorie Miller, London Bureau Chief, Los Angeles Times "...a highly informative and very readable chapter in the history of contemporary Europe. [Heneghan] is uniquely qualified for the task, bringing to his subject just the right balance between familiarity and distance, sympathy and critical judgement." - Michael Mertes, Deputy Editor-in-chief, Rheinischer Merkur