The Berlin Wall Flashcards

All 10 cards in this deck

What was Khrushchev's Berlin ultimatum (1958)?

A demand that the West withdraw its troops from Berlin within six months, accusing the West of breaking the Potsdam agreements.

True or false? The summit meetings of 1959–61 solved the 'Berlin problem'.

False. The final summit, at Vienna in 1961, ended without agreement — Khrushchev restated the 1958 Berlin ultimatum to Kennedy.

What did East Germany do in August 1961, and why?

It sealed the border between East and West Berlin and began building the Berlin Wall, to stop the flow of refugees — many of them skilled workers — escaping to the West through West Berlin.

How did Kennedy react to the building of the Berlin Wall?

The West was powerless to stop it — Kennedy said a wall was better than a war — but he made a symbolic visit to West Berlin in 1963 to show US support for West Berliners.

Roughly how many East Germans fled to the West through Berlin between 1949 and 1961?

About 2.7 million — around a sixth of East Germany's population, many of them young and skilled.

What happened at Checkpoint Charlie in October 1961?

US and Soviet tanks faced each other across the Berlin crossing point for about 16 hours before both sides pulled back.

What did Kennedy say in his speech in West Berlin in June 1963?

'Ich bin ein Berliner' ('I am a Berliner') — pledging US support and calling the Wall proof that communism had failed.

Why was the flow of refugees through Berlin a propaganda problem for the USSR?

Millions of East Germans choosing to leave made communism look like a system people wanted to escape, and the West used this against it.

How did the East German government justify the Berlin Wall?

It called it the 'Anti-Fascist Protective Rampart', claiming it kept Western spies out rather than East Germans in.

Give one reason Kennedy was privately relieved when the Berlin Wall was built.

By sealing off East Berlin, Khrushchev showed he would not try to seize West Berlin, so the Western presence there was safe and war over the city was less likely.