5. The Berlin Wall

Question 1

Reasons for growing tension (3)

Answer 1

• the Hungarian experience confirmed that it was impossible for Eastern European nations to break free from communist control
• Although this it was different in Berlin for individuals
• Although a divided city, it was still possible for people to flee to the West using West Berlin as their point of exit

Question 2

Why did Eastern European’s want to escape to West Berlin?

Answer 2

• Due to a lot of US investment, West Berlin was a living advertisement of the benefits of capitalism and many Eastern European’s wanted to buy into the lifestyle it seemed to promise

Question 3

How many people slipped through the iron curtain by 1962 and how did USSR react?

Answer 3

• More than two million, many of whom were highly skilled, had slipped through the Iron Curtain. Even when barbed wire and other barriers were erected, the flow of people still continued.
• This was a source of embarrassment for the USSR

Question 4

Why did the USSR want to stop the movement of Eastern European’s into West Berlin and seal off West Berlin? (3)

Answer 4

• there would be fewer amounts of skilled people and a smaller population to contribute to the economy
• by people escaping from East Berlin to West Berlin it would make capitalism seem stronger and more desirable then communism
• Khrushchev was also concerned because West Berlin was a centre for western espionage, enabling the West to gather information about activities behind the Iron Curtain

Question 5

How did Khrushchev hope to solve this problem in 1958 ? Did he succeed?

Answer 5

He hope to pressure the West into leaving Berlin in 1958 by attempting to force the West to withdraw by threatening to give East Germany control of access points to the city; however this failed

Question 6

Why was Khrushchev unable to persuade the West to leave W. Berlin at the 1960 Paris Summit

Answer 6

The meeting collapsed when Khrushchev revealed that the USSR had shot down a U2 spy plane flying over its territory

Question 7

How did Khrushchev hope to solve his problem when he met with JFK in Vienna, June 1961 ?

Answer 7

Khrushchev demanded that the West hand over West Berlin to the soviets

Question 8

How did his demands only worsen relations with the West?

Answer 8

Kennedy refused to hand over West Berlin to the Soviet’s and in the following month increased US spending on weapons by $6.4 billion

Question 9

Date that Khrushchev ordered a wall to be built between West and East Berlin

Answer 9

August 1961

Question 9

USSR reaction to USA increasing US spending on weapons? (2)

Answer 9

• In August 1961 he ordered the erection of a massive wall that made the division of the city permanent
• Armed guards patrolled the wall and those attempting to cross it without permission ran the risk of being shot

Question 11

How did the USA and USSR react to the wall? (2)

Answer 11

• The USA protested but did nothing, unwilling to risk war
• In public the USA protested the wall but privately the wall helped the USA as it stopped the Berlin border being an ongoing source of tension between East and West

Question 12

Consequences and impact on relations that the Berlin Wall of August 1961 had (4)

Answer 12

• Anti-communist sentiment in the west increased
• ‘Concrete Curtain’ became a powerful symbol of the ideological, social and economic divisions that existed between East and West
• the view that the Iron Curtain was something holding people back increased as many hundreds of people died trying to get across the wall
• Although the building of the wall had initially been a soviet victory - the West was able to use the Berlin Wall as a Propaganda vehicle