Berlin Crisis 1958-61

A divided Germany
● Germany was permanently divided in 1949 between West Germany and East
Germany with Berlin maintaining its 4-power occupation
❖ West Germany: Larger population, economically larger, greater industrial
output, receipt of marshall plan aid, democratic
❖ East Germany: Forced collectivisation of farls stagnated agricultural
production; no free elections since 1946; workers revolt in 1953 suppressed
by soviet tanks
● Khrushchev: Berlin is a fishbone on an East Germanies gullet

The Crisis of 1958

● Easy border crossings between East and West Berlin led to the ligation of young,
educated East Germans to the West
● November 1958-Khrushchev petitioned that Berlin should be demilitarised and
become a ‘free city
❖ He threatened that this needed to happen within 6 months or he would give
control of access to routes to West Germany to the East German government
❖ Khrushchev ultimately backed down but it forced a conversation about Berlin
❖ Discussions continued in the 1959 Camp David summit but ceased with the
May 1960 U2 crisis
● East Germans continued to flood into the West

The Kennedy Presidency

● Elected in November 1960, Kennedy promised a new foreign policy approach based
on a ‘flexible response’
❖ More spending on conventional forces
❖ Enlarged nuclear arsenal
❖ Continued to aid to countries resisting communism
● A move to Brinkmanship’s “massive retaliation”
❖ “We intend to have a wider choice than humiliation or all-out nuclear war”
● Khrushchev hoped he could push the inexperienced Kennedy
Migrations Escalate & The Wall is Built

● With no resolution to the Berlin questions, 10s of thousands of East Berliners

continued to flee to the West
❖ 40 000 alone on august alone 1961
❖ The border was closed on August 13th
❖ West berlin was surrounded, by barbed wire, later by a concrete walln that
locked East Berliners out of the West

The Meaning of the Wall

● For Khrushchev, this was an admission that Soviet propaganda had failed. A wall was
needed to keep people from fleeing the communist East.
● For Berlin, it became a permanent division of the city and between family and
friends.
● This eased tensions during the Cold War, as the biggest question in Europe was
resolved.
❖ Americans protested the building of the wall, but threats of future conflict
eased. The focus of the Cold War again moved from Europe to Asia
● The Wall became a symbol of the division between East and West and for the US, a
propaganda victory.