THE BERLIN WALL Another Cold War crisis Background East – West rivalry Berlin divided – contrast the two halves. WEST: Prosperous, helped by US, attracted.

THE BERLIN WALL

Another Cold War crisis

• Background

• East – West rivalry

• Berlin divided – contrast the two halves.

WEST: Prosperous, helped by US, attracted people from the East. Seen by USSR as ‘infection’ in the heart of Communist East Germany.

EAST: Much less prosperous and under Communist control, produced majority of food in the Eastern portion of Berlin

Focus on refugees from East Germany or East Berlin to West

1949-129,2451949-129,245

1951- 165,6481951- 165,648

1953- 331,3901953- 331,390

1955- 252,8701955- 252,870

1957- 261,6221957- 261,622

1959- 143,9171959- 143,917

1961- 207,0261961- 207,026

1962- 21,3561962- 21,356

1963- 42,6321963- 42,632

1964- 41,8761964- 41,876

What they wantedThe West

• Prevent USSR from gaining control of East Germany

• To see a united, democratic Germany

• Help West Berlin financially in order to wait out East Germany

The East

• Maintain control over E Germany

• Make the West recognise it as an independent state

• Stop the flood of refugees especially the skilled and professional ones – much needed in E Germany

1958-Soviet demandsWest should:

• Recognise GDR

• Withdraw troops from West Berlin

• Hand their access routes over to the East German government

West refused and Khrushchev backed down.

Events of 1961• June - Khrushchev pressured new American

President John F Kennedy

• Demanded withdrawal of Western forces from West Berlin – Kennedy refused

• July 23 – Flow of refugees from East to West = 1000 a day

• July 25 – Kennedy repeats support for West Berlin and announced increase in arms spending

Events cont’d

• 13-22 August – Khrushchev and East German govt. orders barbed wire barrier across Berlin, followed by a wall of concrete blocks

• All of West Berlin encircled apart from access points

• Each Year the Soviets improved the defences to prevent escapees to the West

• This was against the Four Power agreement made in 1949.

• West Berliners viewing across the new wall.

Results

• Important results for Berlin, Germany and the Cold War:

• BerlinBerlin was divided, free access ended between East and West, many families split, many attempted to escape to the West-between 1961 and 1989; 86 people died trying to cross the Berlin Wall

Results continued…• Kennedy accepted the Soviet action. He

refused to use US troops to pull down the wall to avoid war.

• Kennedy looked weak but West turned it into propaganda – “Why if Communism was so attractive was a wall needed?”

• 1963 – Kennedy visited West Berlin – pledged continued support – ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ (I am a Berliner) – famous speech

• Khrushchev lost face by failing to remove the West from Berlin

• LINK:http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkberliner.html

In the last phase of the wall's development, the "death strip" between fence and concrete wall.

United States President Ronald Reagan delivers his famed "Tear Down This Wall" speech at the Berlin Wall in June of 1987, in

which he called for Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MDFX-dNtsM&feature=fvwrel

Directions: For the following homework assignment, please review the powerpoint and use the internet to answer the questions. All answers should be written in complete sentences. Each answer should be at least a paragraph in length. This will be worth a quiz grade. Short, copied answers from other people/websites will be given a zero.

• 1). What was the Berlin Wall and why was it built?

• 2). Which President did the most to support West Berlin and protect it from the Soviets?

• 3). Explain a major event that took place in Berlin during the Cold War.

• 4). Why did the Soviets decide to tear down the wall in 1989?

• 5). What are the two opposing ideas in the Cold War? How did East Berlin and West Berlin represent their idea?