the Berlin wall Flashcards
What had confirmed to many people in Eastern Europe that it was impossible to fight the communist
The crushing of the Hungarian uprising
what was the only was to escape the oppression according to citizens
to leave
What was in west Berlin that wasn’t in east Berlin
Shops full of goods
Great freedom
Great wealth
Great variety
why had the western powers made west Berlin better than east Berlin
To get people to join the capitalists
Could East Germans move to west Germany
East Germans were still able to travel freely into West Berlin during the 1950s
By the late 1950s, thousands were leaving and never coming back.
when did JFK come into power
1961
What did Khrushchev do when Kennedy come into power
Khrushchev thought he could bully Kennedy and chose to pick a fight over Berlin.
He insisted that Kennedy withdraw US troops from the city.
He was certain that Kennedy would back down.
Kennedy refused.
However, all eyes were now on Berlin.
When was the Berlin wall made and how was it made
At 2am on Sunday, 13th August 1961, East German soldiers erected a barbed-wire barrier along the entire front between East and West Berlin.
This brought about the end of free movement from East to West.
It was quickly replaced by a concrete wall.
All the crossing points from East to West Berlin were sealed, except for one.
This became known as Checkpoint Charlie.
Consequences of the Berlin Wall
families were divided
Berliners were unable to go to work; chaos and confusion followed.
Border guards kept a constant lookout for anyone trying to cross the wall.
They had orders to shoot anyone trying to defect.
Hundreds were killed over the next 3 decades
The Berlin tank Crisis
27 October 1961, Soviet tanks pulled up to Checkpoint Charlie and refused to allow any further access to the East.
All day, US and Soviet tanks, fully armed, faced each other in a tense stand off.
Then, after 18 hours, one by one, five metres at a time, the tanks pulled back.
what did Kennedy say about the wall
“It’s not a very nice solution, but a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.”
How did the communists and the west describe the wall
The communists presented the wall as a protective shell around East Berlin.
The West presented it as a prison
