berlin wall 1959-63 Flashcards
describe the living conditions between east and west berlin?
living conditions in west were better
what is meant by “ brain drain”?
educated people e.g. engineers and doctors leaving east berlin to go to west berlin, resulting in huge financial impact on east berlin
how did brain drain make krushchev look/
made him embarrassed, it suggested people preferred capitalist life rather than communist life
what happened at the summit in 1959?
krushchev and eisenhower discussed berlin and decided to meet in paris next year ( paris peace summit )
why had talks about berlin broken down again?
khrushchev stormed out of paris peace summit after eisenhower’s refusal to apologise for u2 crisis
after vienna summit, what did ussr believe?
berlin issues wouldn’t be resolved by negotiation, which sparked creation of berlin wall
when did khrushchev build berlin wall?
13th august 1961
what was berlin wall like at the start?
first it was just barbed wire, then it changed to concrete with soldiers guarding it
what was checkpoint charlie?
only place where you could cross over both sides of berlin
what happened in october 1961?
berlin wall stand off
what happened in berlin wall stand off?
us diplomats and soldiers kept crossing into east, however soviet tanks blocked checkpoint charlie, there was a stand off with both countries tanks for around 16 hours, both sides retreated and didn’t want conflict
what did usa argue about the wall?
it showed failure of communism, and how only way ussr could stop people going to west is by a wall
when kennedy visited berlin in 1963, what did he declare in his speech?
“i am a berliner”
what did kennedy claim west berlin represented?
freedom and struggle against communism
