The great rapidity of events in 1989-90, the collapse of Communism in eastern Europe, together with German reunification, took both participants and observers by surprise. When the Wall Came Down provides a wide-ranging compendium of responses in Germany and other countries - USA, Britain, USSR, France, Czechoslovakia, Israel, Poland, Italy and Japan. Following the editors' introduction which raises the issues implicit in the unification process, the essays examine the various components of the debate: modern Germany's relationship with its past, the role of German intellectuals in public life, the implications of German unity for the process of increased European political and economic integration, prospects for peace and stability in Central Europe, and the future of the nation-state. The only book to present such a diverse range of views and countries, When the Wall Came Down provides an extensive analysis of the German Question at this crucial time.