Berlin Crisis 1958

• Refugee Crisis:

  • 2.7 million fled from East Germany to West Germany from 1945 - 1961
• Refugee Crisis:

  • East was under control of communist soviets and received less aid whereas the West received the Marshall aid and were prosperous
  • Communist regime in the east was increasingly unpopular
• Refugee Crisis

  By people freely choosing to go to West Berlin it made it clear they preferred the capitalist west to the communist east
• Refugee Crisis:

  Brain Drain - People who were clever/ skilled workers moved to the west so they could earn more
• Khrushchev's Berlin Ultimatum

  November 1958, Khrushchev demanded that Western countries should officially recognise East Germany as an independent country - they refused as they believed Germany could still be united
• Khrushchev's Berlin Ultimatum

  27th November, issues his Berlin ultimatum that demanded

  1. Berlin should be demilitarised and western troops withdrawn
  2. Berlin should become a free city
• The Summit Meetings

  • Geneva May 1959
  • Camp David September 1959
  • Paris May 1960
  • Vienna June 1961
• The Summit Meetings

  Geneva may 1959:

  • First summit meeting between foreign ministers
  • Both sides put forward proposals on how Berlin should be governed
  • No agreement was made
• The Summit Meetings

  Camp David september 1959:

  • Held in the USA, in Camp David
  • First face-to-face meeting between Eisenhower and Khrushchev
  • No agreements about the way forward with Berlin
  • Soviets agree to withdraw the Berlin Ultimatum
  • Meeting established better relations between the leaders
• The Summit Meetings

  Paris may 1960:

  • Soviets made a announcement that they shot down an american U-2 spy plane as it flew over the Soviet Union
  • Americans claimed it was a weather plane, but the pilot (gary powers) admitted to being on a spy mission
  • Eisenhower was embarrassed but refused to apologise
  • Khrushchev walked out of the meeting, and no decisions were made.
• The Summit Meetings

  Vienna June 1961:

  • John F Kennedy is now president of USA
  • Khrushchev felt he could bully JFK into getting what he wanted as he was inexperienced
  • Khrushchev reinstated the Berlin Ultimatum
  • Kennedy increased US spending in armed forces so they were prepared to fight
• The Berlin Wall

  As tension between east and west grew, more east germans decided to cross to the west - August 1961 40,000 germans crossed
• The Berlin Wall

  12th August 1961, east germany built a barbed wire fence around Berlin between east and west

  • Soon work on a concrete wall would begin
  • The wall would be 165 km
  • This was to solve East Germany's refugee problem
• The Berlin Wall

  Impacts in Berlin:

  • Cut through the streets and even some buildings
  • Many people were still making escape attempts whilst it was being built
  • Families, friends and neighbours separated
  • East German body guards would shoot anyone who tried to cross the wall
• The Berlin Wall

  Impact of the wall on Soviet Union:

  (positive)

  • The wall stopped refugees escaping from East to West
  • Wall sent a message that communism would survive in Berlin and attempts to reunite germany under western control would fail

  (negative)

  • Khrushchev had to abandon plans to untie Germany under soviet control
  • The Wall showed that the Soviet Union had to 'lock' people into east germany to stop them leaving - when given a choice they seemed to prefer capitalism
• The Berlin Wall

  Impact of the wall on the USA:

  (positive)

  • Wall showed how Khrushchev had been forced to accept western control in west berlin
  • Showed he couldn't get away with bullying Kennedy
  • West Berlin became a symbol of freedom and defiance against communism

  (negative)

  • Soviet Union had closed the border without consulting USA
  • People who wanted to escape from communism were no longer able to