The Berlin Crisis And Berlin Wall Flashcards
Reasons for people to move to wb?
More economic opportunism
Political oppression by the stasi
Entrepreneurship
East Berlin houses were bland, functional and boring
By 1953 how many people left east b for west b?
300000
How many more people fled by 1956?
150000 more fled
By 1961 how many East Germans had crossed into west b?
2.1 million
Out of the people who fled to west b in 1961, what percentage of them were under 25?
50%, 1/6th of the population.
Brain drain - future of eb in jeopardy as the brightest young people r moving away- embarrassing
Which East German leader put pressure on k to solve the problem?
Ulbricht, even more urgent after problems in Poland and Hungary
After pressure from ulbricht, how did k approach the Berlin question?
More combative as he would not allow it to become a failed state
What happened in 1958?
Khrushchev became the ussrs pm and gives Eisenhower a 6 month ultimatum to solve the Berlin crisis, refugee crisis and brain drain
Operation rose
Sunday 13th august 1961, Berlin Wall constructed at night
150km worth of barriers , 192 streets cut off, 97 going out of Berlin.
Why did k want to minimise us influence in Germany?
West Germany was now a member of nato and this could result in it being equipped with nuclear weapons which could inevitably threaten soviet security.
Fear that the USA put ICBMs in west Germany to address the Americans being increasingly sensitive to the soviets taking the lead in the space race and nuclear arms race.
Propaganda victory if win in Germany to boos soviet prestige and address the Chinese threat [ sino-soviet relations were deteriorating by 1958]
Why did the ussr issue to the west and what did it include?
6 month ultimatum
Withdrawal of western troops from West Berlin
Berlin to be declared as a ‘free city’
The essence of it was for western powers to negotiate an acceptable settlement of the German question, or the ussr would sign a separate treaty with the gdr therefore, it forced the western powers to recognise the gdr so the hallstein doctrine would become an irrelevancy.
What happened after the western powers rejected the ultimatum?
Talks in camp David but were inconclusive so the status quo remained
Paris summit in 1960 but u2 spy plane shot down
The Berlin Wall was a ….
Physical symbol of cw confrontation.
Ich bin ein Berliner
Speech by president kennedy 1963.
West commitment to defend freedom by controlling expansion also communism, propaganda tool
What did the Berlin Wall suggest about the west?
The inaction of the West and its apparent tolerance of the wall suggested that the west had reached a degree of recognition of the gdr.
Better alternative than war , avoidance of a nuclear confrontation,
27 oct
24 hr standoff between soviet and American tanks right at checkpoint charlie
JFK ‘it’s not a very nice situation but..
A wall is a hell of a lot better than a war
