The Berlin Wall

• In 1950's, thousands of people living in East germany went into West Berlin and never came back( most were skilled workers which caused problems for USSR)
• By 1961, JFK came into power for USA and krushchev thought he could bully the young president
• Khrushchev demanded that USA withdraw troops from Berlin, Kennedy refused
• At two o clock in the morning on Sunday 13th August 1961, east German soldiers built a barbed-wire barrier along the entire frontier between east and west berlin
• The barbed-wire fence was quickly replaced with concreate wall and all crossing points between east and west berlin were sealed, except one "checkpoint Charlie"
• In October 1961, US diplomats and troops constantly crossed into East berlin, to find out how soviets would react
• on the 27th October 1961, soviet tanks at checkpoint Charlie refused any further access into east berlin, for 18 hours US and soviet tanks were in a stand-off. Eventually the tanks slowly moved back, avoiding an outbreak of war
• Berlin wall was dismantled on the 4th November 1989 and Germany became unified October 3rd 1990