Berlin Wall Flashcards
What state was Berlin in in summer 1961?
After the unsuccessful summit meetings (largely due to the U2 spy plane crash), issues over Berlin remained standing.
By August 1961, 40,000 people per day were leaving East Berlin. Khrushchev’s Berlin Ultimatum, although renewed at the 1961 Vienna summit, hadn’t succeeded in forcing the Western powers out of the city. Khrushchev needed to find an alternative way to deal with the refugee problem.
How many people were leaving East Berlin each day by August 1961?
40,000.
By which month in 1961 were 40,000 people leaving East Berlin each day?
August.
What did Khrushchev do in August 1961?
He ordered East German troops to build a barbed wire fence between East and West Berlin. By the end of the summer, it developed into two concrete walls, stretching 27 miles, separated by a “no man’s land”, armed with traps, minefields and border guards instructed to shoot anyone attempting to climb over the wall. There were hundreds of lookout towers with machine gun nests and powerful searchlights.
When did Khrushchev order the construction of the fence that would soon become the Berlin Wall?
August 1961.
Give 2 examples of people’s attempts to escape over the Berlin wall.
1) Once woman threw a mattress out of her window into West Berlin, then jumped of it. She landed on it, but later died of her injuries.
2) Two building workers tried to cross - one made it, but the other, Peter Fechter, was shot by East German guards. He lay dying for 45 minutes.
In what ways was the Berlin Wall important?
1) Negative impact on USSR’s reputation
2) Negative impact on communism’s reputation - prison
3) Negative symbol for international relations
4) Reduced tensions + likelihood of war
How did the Berlin Wall have a negative impact on the USSR’s reputation?
1) The fact that Khrushchev needed to build a wall (because his Berlin Ultimatum had been unsuccessful) showed that he couldn’t intimidate Kennedy and had been forced to accept Western control of West Berlin.
How did the Berlin Wall have a negative impact on the reputation of communism?
The wall showed that Germans preferred capitalism over communism, and had to be locked into East Germany, as if it were a prison, to prevent them from leaving. West Berlin became a propaganda victory and an emblem of freedom and defiance against communism.
How was the Berlin Wall a negative symbol for international relations?
The East and West had been disputing over Berlin since WW2, numerous meetings and summits having failed to resolve the issue. The situation was now so severe that a concrete wall divided the city; it became a powerful metaphor for the divisions between the East and West.
How did the Berlin Wall, in a way, decrease tensions?
Now that the borders were closed, there was less likelihood that the Superpowers would go to war over Berlin. As Kennedy said, a wall was better than war.
What was the name of the speech that President Kennedy delivered in front of the Berlin Wall in June 1963?
“Ich bin ein Berliner”
What was the theme of the speech that President Kennedy delivered in front of the Berlin Wall in June 1963?
Capitalism was superior to communism. The Berlin Wall was wrong, and the USA would defend West Berlin.
