Berlin 1959-1961 Flashcards
Background
Yalta conference in 1945, Germany and its capital Berlin were both divided into four zones of occupation
Berlin lay well inside the Soviet zone of occupation and was a source of tension throughout the cold war
in late 1950s, issues around Berlin sparked off one of the biggest of cold war crisis
Reasons for growing tensions over berlin
Khrushchev and the East German authorities were concerned about the Brain drain from East Germany towards West Germany
Between 1949 to 1961, an estimated 2.7 million East Germans left for West Germany, and Berlin was the center of this process as people had easy access to western sectors
creating a bad impression of life in East Germany under its hard line communist leader, Walter Ulbricht, it was a source of embarrassment to the USSR
Summit meetings
Khrushchev hoped to pressure West into leaving Berlin; in 1959 he attempted to force the West to withdraw by threatening to give East Germany control of access point to the city. Eisenhower did not want to give into Khrushchev’s demands and believed a military presence was needed to protect West Berlins freedom. It was agreed to hold a summit meeting to resolve this ultimatum
they held a conference in Geneva in May 1959, and then in September 1959 at the US presidential residence Camp David in the US
No agreement was reached on logn term fate of berlin was reached, the ultimatum on Berlin was withdrawn by Khrushchev, the USSR shot down the American U2 spy plane flying over its territory
USA claimed it as a weather monitoring plane that had lost its way
However film was retrieved indicated that it had been on a spying mission
Paris summit ended in failure
America was embarrassed as it shown to have lied abut the U2 planes mission, and used methods of espionage which were morally suspect. They no longer held moral high ground in the Cold war
nothing was resolved on issue of berlin and remained a super source of tension in the cold war
relationship between the USA and the USSR deteriorated further, heightening Cold War tensions
The building of the berlin wall
The events during 1960 meeting increased tension further, consequently, amy skilled workers fled to West Berlin which caused labor shortages in the east of the city
At Vienna summit of 1961, Khrushchev demanded that the Americans leave West Berlin. President John F. Kennedy refused and on 25 of July, increased America’s spending on weapons by 6.4 billion
Berlin Wall building
On 13 August 1961, a barbed wire fence was erected along the border between East and West Berlin
they protected it with machine guns
Kennedy protested but was unwilling to go to war over Berlin
They built a concrete wall 45km long to replace the barbed wire
anyone trying to cross were shot. In the first year after wall was built, 41 East Berliners were shot trying to cross the wall. As a result families and friends were separated. East Berliners viewed the wall as a sign of inferiority in comparison to the west Berliners.
response of the West
during August 1961, foreign ministers of the US,UK and France met to discuss crisis of Berlin
A key concern of US and its allies was to keep access to West Berlin free at all circumstances, while ensuring tensions did not escalate into a wider conflict
It was clear that USA would not take military action against Soviet Union in its own geographical and political sphere of influence and risk of open conflict between two nuclear superpowers
no attempt at rollback in Berlin, and the East was allowed to remain cut off and isolated from the West
In private the USA were relived despite their public complaints. The Berlin border had been a source of tension between superpowers and by closing it the Soviets had removed the problem
