# Capital Move - Bonn to Berlin in 1999; How Did we Benefit **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 23, 2017, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-move-bonn-to-berlin-in-1999-how-did-we-benefit/805170 "2017-12-23T22:53:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-move-bonn-to-berlin-in-1999-how-did-we-benefit/805170/41 "2017-12-26T06:49:10Z")
“The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) doesn’t exist any more”. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-move-bonn-to-berlin-in-1999-how-did-we-benefit/805170/42 "2017-12-26T09:39:26Z")
> [@JBGUSA](#): > > I do. Whether you want to call it a colony, a satellite, a client state or any other label, they were not free to have their own foreign policy and not entirely free to have their own domestic policy either. In both form and substance, the DDR was never a colony, and DID NOT EXIST in 1999 to have policies of any sort. Not really sure why you think repeating “form over substance” will change really basic facts. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-move-bonn-to-berlin-in-1999-how-did-we-benefit/805170/43 "2017-12-26T10:01:59Z")
> [@JBGUSA](#): > > Again form over substance. Facts over the non-factual spin you mean. this demarche is no more convincing than the pretended political orientations. It is amusing to see almost not one single fact gotten right. > [@Nava](#): > > “The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) doesn’t exist any more”. As he needs help: DDR = GDR = German Democratic Republic. It is more close to “The DDR is no more” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-move-bonn-to-berlin-in-1999-how-did-we-benefit/805170/44 "2017-12-26T14:24:42Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > It is more close to “The DDR is no more” Both work, but yours is the way I interpreted it since it uses simple English cognates for each word. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-move-bonn-to-berlin-in-1999-how-did-we-benefit/805170/45 "2017-12-26T16:28:00Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > The capital of South Africa is actually tripartite. Cape Town is the legislative capital, where Parliament sits. Pretoria is the executive/administrative capital, where the President and Cabinet sit, and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital, where the Supreme Court of Appeal sits. Interesting. Thank you, and I incidentally see the U.S. embassy is in Pretoria, which makes sense since the ambassador is more likely to interact with the President or foreign minister (properly styled the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, I see). ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-move-bonn-to-berlin-in-1999-how-did-we-benefit/805170/46 "2017-12-26T20:06:51Z")
> [@JBGUSA](#): > > I don’t. Let me in on it. Are you being confused by the substance or the form? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-move-bonn-to-berlin-in-1999-how-did-we-benefit/805170/47 "2017-12-27T01:43:24Z")
> [@JBGUSA](#): > > Form over substance. East Germany was effectively a Russian colony. And frankly the loss of those colonies cost Yeltsin his job and gave us Putin. That is not at all what cost Yeltsin his job. The USA had done enormous damage _inside_ Russia itself and the former USSR during the 1990’s. The reunification of Germany was not the major sore point. ---
**Author:** ![PitJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9bcb4/32.png) [@PitJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PitJ)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-move-bonn-to-berlin-in-1999-how-did-we-benefit/805170/48 "2017-12-27T12:53:44Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > … It’s an almost 375 km drive from Bonn to Berlin. 535 km exactly (German here, having lived in both cities), but this isn’t about distance. ---
**Author:** ![PitJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9bcb4/32.png) [@PitJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PitJ)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2017, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-move-bonn-to-berlin-in-1999-how-did-we-benefit/805170/49 "2017-12-27T13:07:47Z")
> [@Oswald\_Bastable](#): > > The hypothetical you should be comparing here is: > > _How would the US have benefitted had Reagan announced his intention to move the US West German embassy to Berlin in 1981?_ > > OB Exactly. West and East Germany reunited peacefully, voluntarily and with the consent of all four World War II victors/allied forces. There is absolutely no similarity to the Situation of Jerusalem, Israel and the Palestinians - what would be there to reunite? peacefully? and with the friendly consent of whom - Iran? Saudi-Arabia? Syria? In 1981, the Status of Berlin was exactly thus that any attempt to move official and central representations of one of the Western Allies would have immediately triggered a non-favourable reaction from the USSR, even though East Berlin was the GDR capital. Eight years later the Picture was different, with the USSR under Michail Gorbachev being on a widely different and much more appeasing course (I severely doubt that former KGB head and now president Putin would have allowed this). Everybody agreed on the reunification and on Germany becoming one sovereign nation. As such, Germany felt the need to decide where it’s capital should be, and after months of controversial debates it was decided to move from Bonn (which was a sort of Symbol of the post-War West Germany) to Berlin. This was also intended to bring the capital closer to East Germany, Berlin being situated in the middle of one of the East German countries. So far most of the German Population sees this as the correct move. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capital-move-bonn-to-berlin-in-1999-how-did-we-benefit/805170.md?page=2)