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East Germany was not sustainable without Soviet Union. That strip of land in the middle of Europe with barely 16 million people isn't quite China. But yes it c
by varjag 3y ago
East Germany was not sustainable without Soviet Union. That strip of land in the middle of Europe with barely 16 million people isn't quite China.
But yes it certainly was surprising, without the benefit of hindsight now.
- mcv 3y agoIt doesn't have to be China. There are far smaller countries in Europe that are perfectly viable, and even countries that aren't viable, like North Korea, can still continue to exist despite that. In this case, it's good that it happened so fast. It could have gone a lot worse.
- varjag 3y agoHardly any state in Europe can afford full self-sufficiency in isolation without enormous suffering. North Korea (with more population than DDR) survived Soviet collapse but just barely, losing hundreds of thousands in a protracted famine, until landing on client relationship with China. Not a realistic scenario for East Germany.