Section A: Berlin: increasing tension, crisis, reaction

• what happened in 1949 to germany ?

  germany divided into west and east
• why were living standards and salaries become much higher than in east germany?

  west germany received marshall aid
• how could east germans travel to west germany?

  travel to berlin, cross from east to wast berlin, then travel from west berlin into west germany
• how many east germans have crossed to the west by 1958?

  three million, over a sixth of the population
• why was the refugee problem in berlin a problem fro east germany?

  a lot of the people leaving were engineers, technicians and teachers, that help rebuild the economy
• what did the refugee problem lead khrushchev to do?

  to issue the berlin ultimatum and eventually building the berlin wall
• what did khrushchev demand in november 1958?

  the western countries should recognise east germany as an independent country
• what was the western countries response to khrushchev's demand in november 1958?

  they refused
• when did khrushchev issue his ultimatum?

  27th november 1958
• what was khrushchev's berlin ultimatum?

  western troops should leave berlin and berlin should become a free city.
• what would happen to the west if they did not agree to the khrushchev ultimatum in six months?

  khrushchev said he would hand over control of all routes into berlin to the government of east germany
• what was the west's response to khrushchev's ultimatum?

  the west was outraged and accused khrushchev of trying to spread communism
• when was the geneva summit?

  may 1959
• what happened at the geneva summit?

  the foreign ministers met. no solution was reached but it was agreed khrushchev and eisenhower would meet in person
• when was the camp david summit?

  september 1959
• what happened at camp david?

  the soviets agreed to withdraw the ultimatum and that the would hold talks again in the summer
• when was the paris summit?

  may 1960
• what happened at the paris summit?

  the soviets announced that they had shot down an american u-2 plane, and that the pilot, gary powers, had admitted to being a spy. when eisenhower refused to apoligisem khrushchev walked out in the meeting
• when was the vienna summit?

  june 1961
• what happened at the vienna summit?

  khrushchev believed he could get the better of the new american president john kennedy whose reputation was weakened by the bay of pigs. khrushchev renewed the berlin ultimatum. kennedy refused to make any concessions and the meeting ended. as a result, relations between kennedy and khrushchev were strained.
• what did kennedy do the spending on the american armed forces?

  increased it to over $2 billion
• berlin wall narrative account:

  1. east german leader, walter ulbricht asked kennedy to close the border from east to west germany
  2. on the night of 12th august 1961 east german troops built a barbed wire fence between east and west berlin
  3. a concrete wall was then built, which stretch 165 km. over time, reinforced with barbed wire, minefields, etc. the heavily-guarded area immediately next to the wall on the soviet side was called the 'death strip'.
  4. the wall could only be crossed with the correct paperwork, at a few heavily manned checkpoints most famous being checkpoint charlie
• what were the consequences of the berlin wall?

  1. german families and friends were separated
  2. some people engaged in escape attempts
  3. the refugee crisis ended as people could no longer cross the wall
  4. kennedy became very popular in west berlin - ich bin ein berliner speech in 1963
  5. the wall resolved the tension - kennedy said 'a wall is better than a war'