The Berlin Crisis Continues

1958 The new Russian leader Khrushchev demanded that the West withdraw from West Berlin and Berlin be made a free city. Khrushchev accused the West of using Berlin as a spy and propaganda centre. He wanted all armies to be removed from West Berlin and it to be integrated with East Berlin. The right of access to East Berlin would have to be negotiated with the East German government.

The West saw this as unacceptable. Especially since no Western government had officially recognised the East German government. The West said they would resist all attempts at making Berlin an independent city. Eisenhower refused to escalate the crisis in any war of words or arms. He recognised that any build up of arms by the US would be matched by the USSR. Both Eisenhower and Khrushchev wanted to avoid a ground war in Berlin and a nuclear war. Khrushchev eventually backed down

Frontier By this time the border between East and West Germany had been fortified. The 1400km frontier was secured by wire fences, guard posts and minefields. This meant no East German could legally cross to the West through this border.

The only border territory left was the border between East and West Berlin.

On 13 August 1961, West Berliners awoke to find themselves sealed off from East Berlin by a wire fence. Transport was cut between the East and West of the city.

The building of the wall

Causes of the Building of the Wall There are many people in the world who really don't understand what is the great issue between the free world and the communist world - let them come to Berlin! There are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the communists - let them come to Berlin! All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner' ['I am a Berliner']. President Kennedy, 1963

Unpopularity of East German government The Communist government of the DDR under Walther Ulbricht became more unpopular with its own people over the years, especially after June 1953, when Soviet tanks put down a workers’ uprising. The East German economy had clearly fallen behind West Germany’s. They increasingly relied on the Stasi and army to keep control.

Failure of the Paris (May 1960) & Vienna (June 1961) peace conferences Both of the these meetings between the leaders of the USA and the USSR were organised to try to solve the Berlin issue. They failed to do so largely because of the bad relations between the leaders at the time. At the end of the Vienna conference, Khrushchev had demanded that a solution be found to the Berlin problem within 6 months. Paris: Chairman Khrushchev meets President Eisenhower. Vienna: Khrushchev meets the new President, Kennedy.

2.19 million East Germans (out of a population of 17.5 million) fled to West Germany (BRD) from 1949 to The East German authorities fortified the border between East and West Germany with 850 km of wire fence and mines. Berlin, however, was effectively a gap in these defences. This escape route for defectors was an embarrassment for the government of the DDR. To make matters worse, those escaping were mainly young skilled professionals (e.g. doctors, teachers). Defectors from East Germany

Berlin did not become a free city, In November 1958, Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the USSR, suggested that Berlin become a free, demilitarised city, possibly under the control of the United Nations. Almost all West Berliners were against this, so the western powers, who were determined not to give up on Berlin, rejected the proposal. In spite of suggesting he would take firm action if his proposal was not accepted, by March 1959 Khrushchev had been forced to back down.

To solve the problem of Berlin, Khrushchev could have tried to seal off Berlin, as Stalin had done in However, after the Hungarian Uprising in 1956, Khrushchev was not certain how much he could rely upon his allies in the Warsaw Pact (set up in 1955). Weakness of the Warsaw Pact after 1956

U2 spy plane crisis, May 1960 An American spy plane was shot down over the USSR on 1 st May On 4 th May this was announced by Khrushchev. The USA claimed that the plane had actually been lost while studying the weather at high altitude. When Khrushchev produced the pilot (Gary Powers) and the wreckage of the plane it was clear that the US government had lied and had been spying on the USSR. This incident was embarrassing for President Eisenhower and further damaged relations between the superpowers.

Spying in Berlin From November 1958, the USSR had claimed that the western powers were using Berlin to spy on the Communist governments of eastern Europe. Secret underground ‘phone tapping’ equipment in Berlin used by US intelligence in the 1950s.

President Kennedy, January 1961 John Kennedy took over as President in January He was the youngest President the USA had ever had and was therefore relatively inexperienced in 1961.

Bay of Pigs fiasco, early 1961 President Kennedy provided US support for an invasion of the Communist country of Cuba by Cuban exiles who wanted the island to be Capitalist again (training, equipment, vehicles, aircraft). The invasion was a complete disaster. Kennedy looked weak.

Criticism of Khrushchev in the USSR, Khrushchev had taken over as leader of the USSR after Stalin died in He criticised how Stalin had ruled the country, but his own attempts to improve the USSR soon ran into problems. By 1960 this had weakened his position as leader of the country.

Military spending increased, July 1961 Both sides increased military spending at this time. Both of the superpowers had made sure that they were ready for war. A Soviet ‘Bear’ bomber and a US ‘Jupiter’ nuclear missile.

The wall was seen as a loss on both sides: the West couldn’t get rid of the wall, the East couldn’t get rid of the Westerners from Berlin. The construction of the wall was seen as a dark period in the Cold War. Most people felt the Superpowers were never going to come to any agreement. The wall heightened tension and increased the risk of actual war.

Task A Diamond 9 is used to think about the relationship between different causes and which ones were more important than others. Go to: In pairs type in your top 9 causes of the creation of the Berlin Wall and arrange them in the Diamond 9 with the most important at the top. In the box at the side you should then explain why you put them in this order. If the school system doesn’t allow us to do this online we will simply do it in the old fashioned way with pen and paper!