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Re:Was German unification inevitable? by rolandm on Saturday March 20, 2021 @02:49PM (#26525134)
Not in the trillions, but more like "25-40 billion euros or $31-50 billion" https://www.dw.com/en/how-kohl-and-gorbachev-sealed-the-deal...

Helmut Kohl negotiated a very good deal. Money was not an issue for Germany but speed and total withdrawl of the Russian troops. Germany would have paid much more. A year later and it might be too late for the reunification (Gorbachev was kicked out of the Kremlin).

Re:Was German unification inevitable? by kmonsen on Saturday March 20, 2021 @08:14PM (#26527077)
Is not like the Soviet Union has a really long life ahead anyway. They had gotten the mortal wound, the question was mostly how long the bleeding out would take.

I guess they could have gone down in flames if they wanted to choose that instead. The rest of the world owes them a huge thanks for accepting defeat gracefully. And for beating Hitler of course.