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| 1954, Oct. 23 |
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| After France and Germany reached agreement on the Saar question, French prime minister Pierre Mendès-France joined the other Allies in signing the protocols to make West Germany a sovereign and equal member of the Western alliance. | 1 |
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| 1955, May 3 |
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| The Free Democratic Party broke with Chancellor Adenauer over the issue of German unification. | 2 |
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| May 5 |
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| The WEST GERMAN FEDERAL REPUBLIC GAINED SOVEREIGN STATUS as the final instruments of ratification of the Paris treaties were deposited in Bonn; it joined NATO four days later (See Dec. 21). | 3 |
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| June 6 |
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| Adenauer resigned from his post as foreign minister, and Heinrich von Brentano succeeded him. | 4 |
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| July 18–23 |
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| The Geneva conference discussed German unification among European and world problems, and provided for a Big Four Foreign Ministers Conference, which failed to agree on a solution to the German problem (Oct. 27–Nov. 16). | 5 |
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| July 22 |
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| A rearmament bill was enacted that authorized the immediate enlistment of 6,000 officers and men to form the nucleus of a future army of half a million. | 6 |
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| Sept. 9–13 |
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| During Chancellor Adenauer's visit to Moscow, West Germany and the USSR decided to establish diplomatic relations, and the USSR promised to release German war prisoners. | 7 |
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| Oct. 23 |
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| Saarlanders voted overwhelmingly to reject Europeanization, agreed on by France and Germany (Oct. 5), and in a parliamentary election (Dec. 18) gave a majority to pro-German parties. | 8 |
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