Berlin Crisis 1955-1963

How many fled East Berlin in 1960?

190,000

How many fled East Berlin in the first 6 months of 1961?

103,000

What was the punishment of westward migration in 1957?

3 years in prison

What was the Hallstein Doctrine?

This held that the FRG would break diplomatic ties with any country (other than the USSR) which recognised the sovereignty of the GDR

When was the Hallstein Doctrine created?

1955

What prompted USSR to take action over Berlin by 1958?

1. Increasing **emigration** from east to west (concerned with the west 'stealing' the East's skilled workers and educated youth
2. The **scarcity of consumer goods** across Eastern Europe was **undermining confidence in the communist system**
3. West investments in west Berlin demonstrated **high living standards** to capitalist west to east berliners everyday
4. FRG in NATO (may 1955) might place nuclear weapons there

* Poland and Hungary showed Authority was tenuous 
* China challenging dominance of communist bloc
* Khrushchev’s priorities were to strengthen the economy and defences of the USSR, and to spread communism. Berlin became the focal point for the fulfilment of these objectives.

When was the ultimatum given to the USA?

27th November 1958

What did the ultimatum demand? 

* Withdrawal of west troops from West Berlin 
* Berlin to be declared a 'free city' without 4 power control 
* East Berlin was apart of the GDR
* **To be able to get to W. Berlin they would need to discuss this with the GDR - therefore recognising the GDR as a country (against Hallstein Doctrine)**

What was the aim of unltimatum? 

The aim of this was to get the West to negotiate an acceptable settlement of the German problem - if they did not, then the USSR would sign a separate treaty with the GDR - giving the GDR control of Berlin

How would giving the GDR east berlin affect the west?

* This would threaten the Western powers’ access to, and occupation of, West Berlin
* It would also transfer all Soviet rights in Berlin to the GDR, meaning the GDR controlled access to West Berlin and they would block these routes!
* Therefore, the Western powers would be forced to negotiate with, and therefore recognise, the GDR in order to reach West Berlin

When did the USA reject the ultimatum?

31st December 1958

When was the ultimatum abandoned by Khrushchev? 

Camp David in September 1959

How did the Paris Summit affect the Berlin crisis? 

After a U-2 spy plane was shot down over the USSR the day before the Paris Summit in May 1960

* The Paris meeting collapsed and there was no Test Ban Treaty
* There was no discussion about the problem of Berlin - which, ultimately, led to the Berlin Wall

What happened at the Vienna summit 3rd June 1961?

* Khrushchev feels that he was able to dominate the young and inexperienced Kennedy, who is undermined by the fact that a few weeks before the summit the disastrous Bay of Pigs CIA operation had occurred (and also Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space)
* Khrushchev declares after day one to his aides that Kennedy was ‘no match for Eisenhower’
* **On day two he demands US withdrawal from Berlin.** When an amazed Kennedy refuses, Khrushchev bangs his fist on the table and shouts “I want peace, but if you want war that is your problem”
* The two men never met again

How many have fled East Berlin altogether?

2/8 million

(1/6 of Germans)

What did the East German Chancellor, **Walter Ulbricht,** persuade Khrushchev to do?

To begin to physically seal off West Berlin on the **13th August 1963**

Process of the Wall

* At first wire fences, then a concrete wall with deep perimeter defences
* There were 4 recognised crossing points

What did the wall symbolise? 

A physical symbol of Cold War confrontation

What did Kennedy's June speech say to Berliners?

* Declare "all *free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin and therefore as a free man I take pride in the words ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’*
* Berlin was **the acid test of the West’s commitment to defend freedom** by controlling expansionist communism
* **Khrushchev had handed the USA the finest propaganda** tool it could ever have wished for

What was Checkpoint Charlie?

The main crossing point of the Berlin Wall

What happened at checkpoint charlie in October 1961?

* On 27th October Soviet Tanks pulled up to checkpoint charlie and refsued to allow any further access to the East 
* All day soviet and US tanks faced each other, one by one gradually retreating 

What was General Clay's role in Checkpoint Charlie in October 1961?

* East German officials had begun to deny US diplomats the unhindered access to East Berlin that was part of the agreement with Moscow on the postwar occupation of Germany
* General Clay, the pugnacious American hero of the 1948-49 Berlin Airlift who had been sent by Washington to deal with the Russians after the erection of the Berlin Wall, ordered that the next American diplomat entering East Berlin was to be escorted by armed US army military police in jeeps. The manoeuvre succeeded, but the East Germans continued to attempt to assert their claim to control western allied officials entering East Berlin
* Clay ordered American M48 tanks to head for Checkpoint Charlie. There they stood, some 75 metres from the border, noisily racing their engines and sending plumes of black smoke into the night air
* General Clay was reminded by Washington that Berlin was not so "vital" an interest to be worth risking a conflict with Moscow

What was the short term impacts of the Berlin wall?

* It caused a major military confrontation


* Tanks facing each other in close range on the streets of Berlin

What were the long term impacts of the Berlin wall?

The **GDR’s immediate economic crisis was resolved** as people could not leave

USA tolerance of the wall symbolised what?

The west had reached a degree of recognition of the GDR

How did the Berlin solve cold war tensions?

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* It ceased to be a source of tension 
* Soviets and east Germans accepted the existence of West Berlin
* Led to cold war equilibrium over Germany