1 / 17

THE BERLIN WALL

By Mr Crowe www.SchoolHistory.co.uk. 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.

Download Presentation

THE BERLIN WALL

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. By Mr Crowewww.SchoolHistory.co.uk THE BERLIN WALL

  2. 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

  3. 1949-129,245 1951- 165,648 1953- 331,390 1955- 252,870 1957- 261,622 1959- 143,917 1961- 207,026 1962- 21,356 1963- 42,632 1964- 41,876 Focus on refugees from East Germanyor East Berlin to West

  4. The West Prevent USSR from gaining control of East Germany To see a united, democratic 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 What they wanted

  5. 1958-Soviet demands West should: • Recognise GDR • Withdraw troops from West Berlin • Hand their access routes over to the East German government West refused and Khrushchev backed down.

  6. 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

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

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

  9. 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:CNN - Cold War-The Wall

More Related