Talk:West Germany

Willy Brandt section is too large?

The Willy Brandt section is under the History section of West Germany. This person ruled for 4 years only yet there are so many details about what happened while he was Chancellor and most of that are not historical events just legislation that was passed. Bly000 (talk) 17:57, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

Amusingly at almost 7000 words the Willy Brandt subsection is almost half of this article, and over half the length of the Willy Brandt article. Certainly seems some could be merged into the main article. CMD (talk) 02:53, 9 January 2024 (UTC)

It seems like the sections were copied from the main article so I think no actions are needed there.

I replaced the whole subsection with a modified part of Willy Brandt's lead section which talks about his chancellorship. Probably more improvements can be done there as there are no references Bly000 (talk) 11:09, 9 January 2024 (UTC)

How did west Germany repair ties with east Germany

I thought that they were always enemies Usydydjwhxyxhx (talk) 07:40, 29 March 2024 (UTC)

NO: Entspannungspolitik, friedliche Koexistenz etc.Nillurcheier (talk) 09:28, 29 March 2024 (UTC)

@Usydydjwhxyxhx: Please note that Wikipedia talk pages are not forums for general discussion about the topic. Yue🌙 23:30, 29 March 2024 (UTC)

What was "West Germany" anyway?

I agree with @Alisperic's that "West Germany is a term used to describe" is problematic. But so is "West Germany was a country". The country we called "West Germany" still exists – it's now called "Germany". Mind you, can't offer a good alternative. Perhaps somebody else can? Isaac Rabinovitch (talk) 22:27, 5 May 2024 (UTC)

@Isaac Rabinovitch Yeah, I was a bit troubled by the phrasing that I submitted too; it appears to be quite difficult to encapsulate the fact that the article is not about the term, but also the nuance that it remains a country. But here's an alternative that I've come up with today based on the Weimar Republic article:

West Germany (German: Westdeutschland, pronounced [ˈvɛstˌdɔɪ̯t͡ʃlant] ^ⓘ) was a historical period of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ^ⓘ, BRD) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990.

Still, this presents itself with its own issues. I don't know whether it's entirely accurate to describe West Germany as a historical period. Also, I feel that there should be a link to Germany somewhere in the sentence, seeing that West Germany was essentially the same state. But linking the bolded Federal Republic of Germany is problematic due to MOS:BOLDLINK, and adding another mention of "Germany" in the sentence seems to make it quite wordy. Maybe this could work better:

West Germany (German: Westdeutschland, pronounced [ˈvɛstˌdɔɪ̯t͡ʃlant] ^ⓘ) was a historical period of the Federal Republic of Germany from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990.

But then its official name Federal Republic of Germany isn't bolded or properly addressed in the 1st sentence, which again feels problematic.

Let me know what you think of these and/or if you come up with a better alternative.

— Alisperic (talk) 01:46, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

As much as I hate "is a term used to describe" (which I try to edit out whenever I see it) I think it might just be the best way to encapsulate what we mean when we say "West Germany". Isaac Rabinovitch (talk) 03:42, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

The problem with calling it a "term" is that the article is not about the term, unlike how articles like Latinx or Fuck are. Even though it may feel most clear, I believe calling it a "term" is inaccurate in the context of this article, and Wikipedia policy is clear that this should be avoided (WP:ISATERMFOR, WP:REFERS, MOS:REFERS). So, I think it is better for the 1st sentence to be a little clunky rather than calling "West Germany" a term, and I have just edited the first sentence to read as follows:

West Germany was the Federal Republic of Germany from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990.

I still feel that it is imperfect but I believe it to be a solid foundation from which other editors can improve.

— Alisperic (talk) 06:03, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

How about...

The Federal Republic of Germany, from 1949 to 1990 commonly West Germany, was established on 23 May 1949. The historic period of a split German state ended in 1990 and the reunification with East Germany.

JackTheSecond (talk) 13:12, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

Huh. Clumsy wording, but I like it better than any previous version. Factual and clear. Isaac Rabinovitch (talk) 22:03, 6 May 2024 (UTC)