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The Collapse of Communism and the Search for Master Narratives: Interpretative Implications of German Unification

After decades of Cold War stability, most participants experienced the collapse of communism in 1989-90 as an unforeseen "return of history."¹ The deep freeze of the Cold War made it seem that the East-West division had become permanent and that the best one could hope for was a gradual softening of the iron curtain. Repeated suppression of East European revolts by Soviet tanks and the failure of the communist parties in the West appeared to indicate that the domestic order of the competing blocs would remain unchangeable. Just when most people had accepted the permanence of the post-war system. Gorbachev's...