Hesitant europeans, self-defeating irredentists and security free-riders? west german assessments of irish foreign policy during the early cold war, 1949-59

Friendship is a motif often used to portray the state of West German-Irish relations after 1949. In several ways this characterisation is accurate, but it elides official West Germany's adverse estimation of many aspects of post-war Ireland. On closer examination official West German commentators, particularly in the Auswärtiges Amt (AA), were decidedly critical of Irish insularity, neutrality, protectionism and irredentism. Bonn considered that Dublin was wrongheaded and failed to understand the fundamentals of the Cold War world. In Bonn's view, Irish state policies should be impelled by the strategic need for Western economic and military solidarity and cooperation in the face of the Soviet behemoth rather than parochial national interests. Thus, the AA's internal dialogue critiqued key aspects of Ireland in the 1950s even as Bonn valued Ireland's benevolent attitude to West Germany and the Irish policy of supporting the reunification of Germany.