Four Power Agreement on Berlin

The Four Power Agreement on Berlin also known as the Berlin Agreement or the Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin was agreed on 3 September 1971 by the four wartime allied powers, represented by their Ambassadors. The four foreign ministers, Alec Douglas-Home of the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics' Andrei Gromyko, France's Maurice Schumann, and the United States's William P. Rogers signed the agreement and put it into force at a ceremony in Berlin on 3 June 1972.^[1] The agreement was not a treaty and required no formal ratification.

The Berlin Agreement 1
See also 2
Footnotes 3
References 4
External links 5

The Berlin Agreement

In 1969 Berlin Brigade troops of the U.S. Army roar through morning rush hour traffic in a Zehlendorf residential district, a routine reminder that Berlin was still legally occupied by the World War II victors.

By reconfirming the existence of the rights and responsibilities of the four Powers for the future of Berlin and Germany as a whole (which the Soviets claimed to have abrogated as a result of the Berlin crisis of 1959-1962), the Agreement laid the foundation for a series of East-West agreements which ushered in the period usually known as Détente. It also reestablished ties between the two parts of Berlin, improved travel and communications between the two parts of the city and brought numerous improvements for the residents of the Western Sectors.

In order to reach such improvements, the ultimate political definition of the status of Berlin was purposely left vague, thus preserving the differing legal positions of the two sides. The word "Berlin" does not appear in the text. The city of Berlin is identified only as the "relevant area."

The Quadripartite Agreement is drawn up "in the English,^{[lower-roman 1]} French^{[lower-roman 2]} and Russian^{[lower-roman 3]} languages, all texts being equally authentic." Thus, there is no authentic text in the German language. The translations used by both German states have some differences.^{[lower-roman 4]}

After the agreement entered into force, the Soviet Union used this vague wording in an effort to loosen West Berlin's ties with the Federal Republic of Germany. However, the agreement contributed greatly both to a reduction of tensions between East and West over Berlin and to expanded contacts between the two parts of Germany. As such, it made an important contribution to the process which resulted in the reunification of Germany in 1990.

Along with the Allied agreement, the Basic Treaty (Grundlagenvertrag) (effective June 1973) recognized two German states, and the two countries pledged to respect one another's sovereignty. Under the terms of the treaty, diplomatic missions were to be exchanged and commercial, tourist, cultural, and communications relations established. Under the Agreement and the Treaty, in September 1973, both German states joined the United Nations.

These treaties were part of a breakthrough series of international agreements which were seen by some as formalizing the Cold War's division of Europe, while others saw this as the start of the process that led to the end of the Cold War. M. E. Sarotte wrote in 2001 that "...despite all the fears, both sides managed to make many bargains as a result of the détente dialogue."^[2]

Footnotes

^ "Big 4 Sign Berlin Accord, Stars and Stripes, June 4, 1972, p1
^ M.E. Sarotte; "Dealing with the Devil: East Germany, Detente & Ostpolitik, 1969-73"; The University of North Carolina Press; Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Page 164 in paperback edition.

References

^ on Berlin (Berlin, 3 September 1971)"Quadripartite Agreement" (PDF). CVCE. Retrieved 2013-02-19.
^ sur Berlin (Berlin, 3 septembre 1971)"Accord quadripartite" (PDF) (in French). CVCE. Retrieved 2013-02-19.
^ между Правительством Союза Советских Социалистических Республик, Соединенным Королевством Великобритании и Северной Ирландии, Соединенными Штатами Америки и Французской Республикой, Берлин, 3 сентября 1971 г.Четырехстороннее соглашение (in Russian). Юридическая Россия. Федеральный правовой портал. Retrieved 2013-02-19.
^ Mahnke, Hans Heinrich, ed. (1987). "118. Viermächte-Abkommen vom 3. September 1971 (sowie die authentischen alliierten Texte in Englisch, Französisch und Russisch)". Dokumente zur Berlin-Frage 1967-1986. (Schriften des Forschungsinstituts der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik e.V.: Reihe Internationale Politik und Wirtschaft 52/II) (in German). München: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag. pp. 190–211. (GDR translation as footnotes: Vierseitiges Abkommen)

External links

Text des Viermächte-Abkommens E-text of the Agreement in German
Ostpolitik: The Quadripartite Agreement of September 3, 1971 U.S Embassy Germany
Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations Note 4 gives details of the impact of this Agreement on the assession of East and West Germany to this Convention and other international treaties which effected the international status of West Berlin.
Site of the Four Power Talks on the Status of Berlin. Photo series on the 1970 treaty sessions.

Cold War

USA USSR ANZUS NATO Non-Aligned Movement SEATO Warsaw Pact

1940s	Dekemvriana Yalta Conference Operation Unthinkable Potsdam Conference Gouzenko Affair Operation Masterdom Operation Beleaguer Operation Blacklist Forty Iran crisis of 1946 Greek Civil War Corfu Channel incident Turkish Straits crisis Restatement of Policy on Germany First Indochina War Truman Doctrine Asian Relations Conference Marshall Plan 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état Tito–Stalin Split Berlin Blockade Western betrayal Iron Curtain Eastern Bloc Western Bloc Chinese Civil War (Second round) Malayan Emergency

1950s	Bamboo Curtain Korean War 1953 Iranian coup d'état Uprising of 1953 in East Germany 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état Partition of Vietnam First Taiwan Strait Crisis Geneva Summit (1955) Poznań 1956 protests Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Suez Crisis Syrian Crisis of 1957 Sputnik crisis Second Taiwan Strait Crisis Cuban Revolution Kitchen Debate Bandung Conference Bricker Amendment McCarthyism Operation Gladio Iraqi July Revolution "We will bury you"

1960s	Congo Crisis Sino-Soviet split 1960 U-2 incident Bay of Pigs Invasion 1960 Turkish coup d'état Soviet–Albanian split Berlin Wall Portuguese Colonial War (Angolan War of Independence Guinea-Bissau War of Independence Mozambican War of Independence) Cuban Missile Crisis Sino-Indian War Sarawak Communist Insurgency Iraqi Ramadan Revolution 1963 Syrian coup d'état Vietnam War 1964 Brazilian coup d'état United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1965–66) South African Border War Transition to the New Order Domino theory ASEAN Declaration Laotian Civil War 1966 Syrian coup d'état Argentine Revolution Korean DMZ Conflict Greek military junta of 1967–74 USS Pueblo incident Six-Day War War of Attrition Cultural Revolution Prague Spring Malaysia Communist Insurgency War Invasion of Czechoslovakia Iraqi Ba'athist Revolution Goulash Communism Sino-Soviet border conflict Communist insurgency in the Philippines Corrective Move

1970s	Détente Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Black September in Jordan 1970 Syrian Corrective Revolution Cambodian Civil War Realpolitik Ping-pong diplomacy 1971 Turkish coup d'état Corrective Revolution (Egypt) Four Power Agreement on Berlin Bangladesh Liberation War 1972 Nixon visit to China 1973 Chilean coup d'état Yom Kippur War Carnation Revolution Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Rhodesian Bush War Angolan Civil War Mozambican Civil War Ogaden War Ethiopian Civil War Lebanese Civil War Sino-Albanian split Cambodian–Vietnamese War Sino-Vietnamese War Iranian Revolution Operation Condor Dirty War Korean Air Lines Flight 902 Seven Days to the River Rhine Struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union

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Foreign policy	Truman Doctrine Marshall Plan Containment Eisenhower Doctrine Domino theory Hallstein Doctrine Kennedy Doctrine Peaceful coexistence Ostpolitik Johnson Doctrine Brezhnev Doctrine Nixon Doctrine Ulbricht Doctrine Carter Doctrine Reagan Doctrine Rollback Sovereignty of Puerto Rico during the Cold War

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Four Power Agreement on Berlin