Berlin Wall

Model answer

First, Kennedy did not try to knock the Wall down, because it did not threaten the Western presence in West Berlin and he wanted to avoid war. Second, he sent Vice-President Johnson and about 1,500 extra US troops to West Berlin to show that the USA would still defend the city.

Model answer

Source A opposes Soviet demands because Kennedy says that the USA 'cannot and will not permit the Communists to drive us out of Berlin'. Since 1958 Khrushchev had demanded that Western troops leave West Berlin and that it become a demilitarised 'free city', and at the Vienna Summit in June 1961 he had threatened to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany by the end of the year, which would hand the GDR control of the routes into West Berlin. Kennedy's words 'either gradually or by force' show that he would resist both slow pressure and an attack. 'We have fought before' is a clear warning that the USA was ready to go to war over Berlin. The provenance supports this: it was a television address in July 1961 in which Kennedy also announced a military build-up, with billions of dollars more for defence, more troops and reservists called up. It was aimed at Khrushchev as much as at Americans, to show the toughness he was thought to lack after the Bay of Pigs.

Model answer

At the end of the Second World War the Allies agreed, at Yalta and Potsdam in 1945, to divide Germany into four zones of occupation. Berlin, which lay about 160 km inside the Soviet zone, was also divided into four sectors. This meant that the Western powers had troops and rights in a city surrounded by Soviet-controlled territory.

The division soon caused conflict. In 1948 the Western powers introduced a new currency, the Deutschmark, in their zones and in West Berlin. Stalin responded with the Berlin Blockade, cutting off all road, rail and canal links to West Berlin, but the West supplied the city by air for almost a year in the Berlin Airlift. The blockade was lifted in May 1949, and in the same year two German states were created: the Federal Republic of Germany in the west and the communist German Democratic Republic in the east. West Berlin remained linked to West Germany.

West Berlin now became a serious problem for the communists. Helped by Marshall Aid, it became a prosperous 'shop window' for capitalism deep inside East Germany, and a base for Western spies and radio propaganda. Above all, it was an escape route. East Germany sealed its main border with West Germany in 1952, but people could still move freely inside Berlin. About 2.7 million East Germans fled between 1949 and 1961, many of them young, skilled workers, and this 'brain drain' badly damaged the East German economy.

Khrushchev tried to solve the problem by forcing the West out. His ultimatum of 1958 demanded that West Berlin become a demilitarised 'free city', and he renewed the demand at the Vienna Summit in June 1961, but Kennedy refused to leave. As the flight of refugees grew, Ulbricht pressed for action. In early August 1961 the Warsaw Pact leaders agreed to close the border, and on 13 August the border round West Berlin was sealed with barbed wire, soon to be replaced by the concrete Berlin Wall.

Model answer

The Berlin Wall was begun on 13 August 1961 by East German forces, on a decision approved by the Soviet Union and the other Warsaw Pact states. Both Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, and Walter Ulbricht, the leader of East Germany, played a part. I think Khrushchev bears the final responsibility, because nothing could happen without his approval, but Ulbricht did more to push for the Wall, so the statement is only partly true.

Khrushchev's responsibility is clear. East Germany was a Soviet satellite state, with about 20 Soviet divisions on its territory, and Ulbricht could not close the border without Moscow's permission. Khrushchev had also created the crisis over Berlin. In November 1958 he issued his ultimatum, demanding that the Western powers leave West Berlin within six months, and at the Vienna Summit in June 1961 he renewed the threat, giving the West until the end of the year. When Kennedy refused to back down and announced a military build-up in July 1961, Khrushchev needed a way to solve the problem of West Berlin without a war. In early August 1961 the Warsaw Pact leaders met in Moscow and agreed to close the border. Soviet troops stood behind the East German forces when it happened. Khrushchev also judged that Kennedy, whom he thought weak after the Bay of Pigs and Vienna, would not fight. Later, in his memoirs, he defended the Wall as the only way to stop the loss of East Germany's skilled workers.

However, Ulbricht's role was very important. For years he had pressed Khrushchev to close the border, because his state was losing its people: about 2.7 million East Germans fled between 1949 and 1961, many of them young, skilled workers. His own policies, such as collectivising farms and relying on the secret police, had made many people want to leave. Khrushchev at first preferred a peace treaty that would force the West out of Berlin, and some historians argue that Ulbricht pushed a reluctant Khrushchev into accepting a wall. On 15 June 1961 Ulbricht publicly denied that anyone intended to build a wall, which only made more people flee, increasing the pressure for action.

Ulbricht's government also planned and built the Wall. The operation was organised by Erich Honecker, and it was East German soldiers, police and workers' militia who sealed the border with barbed wire on the night of 12-13 August and then built the concrete wall. Ulbricht continued to push for tighter control afterwards, for example by having his guards demand to check the papers of American officials, which led to the stand-off at Checkpoint Charlie in October 1961.

Other factors also played a part. The refugees themselves created the crisis, and the West's signals made the Wall possible. Kennedy's 'three essentials' concerned only West Berlin, and Senator Fulbright said that East Germany had a right to close its border, suggesting the USA would not resist.

In conclusion, I agree only in part. Khrushchev was ultimately responsible, because he created the Berlin crisis, made the final decision with the other Warsaw Pact leaders and provided the Soviet power that made it safe. But Ulbricht was the driving force: he pressed for the Wall for years, his policies caused the flight that made it necessary, and his government planned and built it. It is most accurate to say that Khrushchev took the decision, but Ulbricht made it happen.