Pre-reading & Questions

Pre-reading & Questions • PGS 160-164 QUESTIONS : • Why is Sputnik important? • Describe the “Second” Berlin Crisis of 1958-1961 • How successful were the Paris and Vienna Summits? • Why was the Berlin Wall built? • Why was Khrushchev removed from power, and who replaced him

Sputnik News Report

Sputnik: (World’s first satellite launched into space - 1957) • Launched first by USSR not US, gives USSR its first lead in the arms race - in delivery of nuclear weapons across distances • Makes up for USSR’s lack of airbases • USA develops own ICBM system in response • In reality, US still has nuclear superiority • {BUT – it is PERCEIVED that the USSR is catching up, or had caught up}

West should: • Recognise GDR • Withdraw troops from West Berlin (demilitarization) OR • He will hand their access routes over to the East German government and hand East Berlin over to the GDR. West refused and Khrushchev suspended the ultimatum before the deadline. 1958-Soviet Ultimatum

Khrushchev wants to reopen negotiations He fears a nuclear-armed West Germany He is pushed to act by GDR’s Ulbricht Why the Ultimatum?

Spy-planes used by US (discovered USSR not at parity with ICBMs) • US plane shot down over USSR, Eisenhower originally denies, then later refuses to apologize • Dooms the Paris Summit Eisenhower and Khrushchev U-2 Incident May 1960

East – West rivalry • Berlin divided – contrast the two halves. WEST: Prosperous, helped by US, attracted people from the East. Seen by USSR as infection in the heart of Communist East Germany. EAST: Much less prosperous and under Communist control Another Cold War crisis

The West • Prevent USSR from gaining control of East Germany • To see a united, democratic Germany The East • Maintain control over E Germany • Make the West recognise it as an independent state • Stop the flood of refugees especially the skilled and professional ones – much needed in E Germany What they wanted

THE DIVISION OF BERLIN

June-Vienna Summit • Khrushchev pressured new American President John F Kennedy • Demanded withdrawal of Western forces from West Berlin – Kennedy refused • July – Western powers reject Khrushchev’s Vienna demands • July 23 – Increased migration, Ulbricht and Warsaw Pact want the border secured; flow of refugees from East to West = 1000 a day • July 25 – Kennedy repeats support for West Berlin and announced increase in arms spending Events of 1961

Khrushchev and East German gov’t. order barbed wire barrier across Berlin (August 3-5): no West reaction - followed by a wall of concrete blocks (August 13) • All of West Berlin encircled apart from access points • This was against the Four Power agreement reached in Paris on 20 June 1949. Events cont’d

1949-129,245 1951- 165,648 1953- 331,390 1955- 252,870 1957- 261,622 1959- 143,917 1961- 207,026 1962- 21,356 1963- 42,632 1964- 41,876 Focus on refugees from East Germanyor East Berlin to West

Important results for Berlin, Germany and the Cold War • Berlin was divided, free access ended between East and West, many families split, many attempted to escape to the West-between 1961 and 1989, 86 people died trying to cross the Berlin Wall Results

CONSTRUCTION OF THE BERLIN WALL Histoire des relations internationales – 1945 à nos jours – Christopher Goscha

SEPARATION OF FAMILIES Histoire des relations internationales – 1945 à nos jours – Christopher Goscha

THE BERLIN WALL

Kennedy accepted the Soviet action. He refused to use US troops to pull down the wall to avoid war. • Kennedy looked weak but turned the incident into propaganda – why was a wall needed if Communism was so attractive? • 1963 – Kennedy visited West Berlin – pledged continued support – ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ (I am a Berliner) – famous speech • Khrushchev lost face by failing to remove the West from Berlin Results cont’d

KENNEDY AT BERLIN (1963): Ich bin ein Berliner Histoire des relations internationales – 1945 à nos jours – Christopher Goscha

Berlin Wall First Anniversary

Pre-reading & Questions