Revision Diary

Berlin Wall

       

Berlin Wall; President Kennedy’s visit to Berlin, 1963.

 

 

In the early 1960s, America and Russia fell out over Berlin.

 

As you revise this, you need to know the story of the Berlin Wall and its importance.

    

  

  

*** COCK-UP ALERT ***

I have never marked a set of exams when some FOOL did not

muddle up the Berlin Wall with the Berlin Blockade.

If you do this - ZERO MARKS!!! - get it sorted.

  

  

The Berlin Wall, 1961

Overview

Berlin was an embarrassment for the Russians because millions of people were leaving East Germany and fleeing to the West - the Russians couldn't pretend that Communism was better than capitalism while that was happening.

In 1961, the Russians demanded that the Americans get out of West Berlin.

When they refused, the Russians built a concrete wall, fortified with barbed wire and guns, which split Berlin in two.

America protested but couldn't do anything.

  

Facts

•   By 1961, 2000 people a day were fleeing to the West through West Berlin.

•   Khrushchev told the Americans to leave West Berlin at the Vienna Summit (June).

•   The Russians built the wall overnight on 13 August 1961.

     

  

Results of the Berlin Wall

•   Cold War tension grew - both sides began testing nuclear bombs.

•   The Wall became a symbol of the division between East and West.

•   MANY East Germans died trying to escape through the Wall - so it ALSO came to symbolise how awful the iron Curtain countries were.

•   In 1963, President Kennedy went to West Berlin and made a speech next to the Wall.    He said the Wall showed that communism must be defeated.   (On the other side of the Wall, East Berliners listened and cheered him).

  

Revision Focus

This is a Paper 1 topic, so concentrate on learning:

1.   WHAT happened

2.   EFFECTS/ Importance

  

Links

e-book on the Berlin Wall

  

  

Online revision sheet  

  

 

Spidergram:

•    The Berlin Wall