Foreign policy of the “small coalition” in the Federal Republic of Germany during 1974 - 1976 period: moving from idealism towards political and economic pragmatism

The open “German question” during the Cold War was one of the key problems that complicated international relations in the post-war period. Chancellor W. Brandt in the early 1970s. Came with a radical and completely different solution to this problem. His “new Eastern policy” and the philosophy of “Wandel durch Annäherung” (“Change through rapprochement”) in relation to Eastern Europe contributed to the positive development of relations on the East-West axis. His successor as Chancellor G. Schmidt was in a completely different situation. When analyzing the period from 1974 to 1976, that is, during the first term of activity of his government, views appear that the "Eastern policy" has degraded, and thus the visionary stage, formed by W. Brandt, has ended. The article shows that 1974-1976. were decisive for the successful rule of the “small coalition” in the subsequent period up to 1982. In addition, evidence and documents provided evidence that G. Schmidt did not underestimate the importance of the “Eastern policy”. He was a realist and a pragmatist, but he did not betray the vision and approach of W. Brandt.