Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall; President Kennedys visit to Berlin, 1963.
In the early 1960s, the focus of the Cold War turned again to
Germany, and especially to Berlin. Berlin was a HUGE
embarrassment to the Russians, because people in the Soviet bloc were
desperate to get out, and they were fleeing in their millions to the West
via West Berlin. So the Russians were determined to get the
Americans out of West Berlin.
As you revise this confrontation, it is VITAL that you now the story of the Berlin Wall and its
importance.
*** COCK-UP ALERT ***
I have never marked a set of exams when
some FOOL
did not
muddle up the Berlin Wall with the Berlin
Blockade.
If you do this -
ZERO MARKS!!!
- get it sorted.
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Background |
Tension in Cold War - Kennedy was helping the
war in Vietnam.
Tension over West Berlin - by 1961, 2000 people
a day (3 million since 1945) were fleeing to the West through
West Berlin.
West Berlin was a centre for American spies
At the Vienna Summit (June 1961) Khrushchev
again demanded that the Americans leave West Berlin.
Instead, in July 1961, Kennedy INCREASED his
arms spending |
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Meat |
13
August 1961: the East
Germans erected a barbed wire wall overnight, later replaced with
concrete.
All
movement between East and West was stopped.
The
Wall
was fortified with barbed wire and guns.
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End |
Western
powers protested but couldn't do anything.
Wall remained until 1991, a symbol of the
division between East and West.
MANY East Germans died trying to escape through
the Wall.
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Cold War tension grew - both sides began testing
nuclear bombs.
Berlin was split into two.
The Wall remained until 1991, a symbol of the division between
East and West.
At first, it was a Russian propaganda victory -
the Americans
couldn't do anything.
BUT as time went on,
MANY East Germans died trying to escape through the Wall
-
it became a symbol of the failures of Communism, poor,
oppressed, and cut off from the West.
It therefore also inspired people in the West to
try to defeat communism - the West became more anti-Communist.
In 1963, President Kennedy went to West Berlin
and - in his 'I am a Berliner' speech, given right next to the
Wall - made HUGE propaganda out of the Wall,
about the need to defeat communism. He said
that it showed that there could be no accommodations made with
the communists - they must be opposed. (On the
other side of the Wall, East Berliners listened and cheered
him).
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Revision Focus
This is a Paper 1
topic, so concentrate on learning:
1. WHAT
happened
2. EFFECTS/
Importance
Links
e-book on the
Berlin Wall
Online revision sheet
Spidergram:
The
Berlin Wall
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Revision Diary