💼 1959
Foreign ministers met in Geneva but found no answer on Berlin. Khrushchev then visited the USA in September 1959 and talked with President Eisenhower. Tension eased, but nothing was settled.
The Berlin Wall Crisis, 1958-63 » Ulbricht, Khrushchev and the Decision to Build the Wall
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section A, Investigation A5, Key topic 1
- Why Khrushchev issued a Berlin ultimatum in 1958 and why it failed
- How Ulbricht pushed the Soviet Union to act
- How the decision to build the Wall was taken and carried out on 13 August 1961
- How to answer a "How far does Source A support Source B?" question
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Unlock This CourseKhrushchev's ultimatum, 1958
Germany was split into two states in 1949: the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), or West Germany, and the German Democratic Republic (GDR), or East Germany. Berlin lay 110 miles inside the GDR, yet its western half was still run by the USA, Britain and France. Each year thousands of East Germans escaped through it to the West. This was the refugee problem.
Key terms:
- Ultimatum: a final demand that comes with a deadline and a threat of action if it is not met.
- Summit: a meeting of the top leaders of different countries.
- Free city: the Soviet idea of making West Berlin a separate city with no Western troops in it.
Nikita Khrushchev led the Soviet Union. West Berlin was a problem for him. It was a Western outpost deep in Communist territory, and it let East Germans flee. In November 1958 he spoke of ending the "remnants of the occupation regime" in Berlin. On 27 November he sent notes to the Western powers. They had six months to agree to turn West Berlin into a free city. If they refused, the Soviet Union would sign a separate peace treaty with the GDR and hand it control of the routes into Berlin.
The Western powers said no. They would not give up West Berlin or let the GDR control access to it. When the deadline passed in 1959, Khrushchev did not carry out his threat. He wanted talks instead. This was the start of the Berlin crisis.
Summits that failed
Khrushchev still wanted a deal on Berlin, so he tried talking.
✈ 1960
A summit was planned in Paris in May 1960. It collapsed after the Soviet Union shot down an American U2 spy plane. Khrushchev walked out.
In June 1961 Khrushchev met the new American president, John F. Kennedy, in Vienna. Khrushchev again threatened to sign a separate peace treaty with the GDR. Kennedy refused to give way over West Berlin. Khrushchev left with no deal, and the refugee numbers kept rising.
Ulbricht pushes for action
Walter Ulbricht, the leader of the GDR, had even more reason to worry than Khrushchev. Every refugee was a lost worker, and the GDR was in danger of collapse. Ulbricht pressed Khrushchev again and again to let him close the border. Khrushchev feared that closing it might lead to war with the West, so for a long time he held back.
Ulbricht also hid his plans. At a press conference on 15 June 1961 he was asked about a wall and replied that nobody had any intention of building one. Then he waited for Soviet approval.
Ulbricht had a strong hand. The Soviet Union could not afford to lose the GDR, and Ulbricht knew it. The more refugees left, the harder it was for Khrushchev to say no.
The decision, August 1961
On 25 July 1961 Kennedy made a speech about Berlin. He said the USA would defend three things: the Western presence in West Berlin, Western access to it, and the freedom of its people. He said nothing about East Berlin. Khrushchev took this to mean that the West would not fight over closing the border inside the city.
In early August 1961 Khrushchev agreed to Ulbricht's plan, and the Warsaw Pact leaders meeting in Moscow backed it. The GDR would do the work, with Soviet troops ready in the background.
In the early hours of Sunday 13 August 1961, East German troops and police closed the border between East and West Berlin. They tore up streets, put up barbed wire and stopped the trains between the two halves of the city. Within days builders began replacing the wire with concrete blocks. The Western powers protested but did not use force.
The Wall solved Khrushchev's and Ulbricht's biggest problem, the refugee flood. But it also cost the GDR much of its reputation. What it meant for ordinary people is the story of the next lesson, Living With the Wall: Security, Escapes and East Berliners.
Common mistakes
- Saying Khrushchev built the Wall in 1958. The ultimatum was in 1958; the Wall went up in August 1961.
- Thinking Ulbricht acted alone. He needed Khrushchev's approval, and the other Warsaw Pact leaders agreed.
- Saying the West went to war over the Wall. The Western powers protested but did not use force.
- Leaving out Ulbricht. Good answers show that he pushed and that Khrushchev decided.
Exam-style question
This is a Paper 2 Section A (b) question. Study Sources A and B.
Source A
From a speech by Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, at a Soviet-Polish meeting in Moscow, 10 November 1958 (translated).
"The time has obviously arrived for the signatories of the Potsdam Agreement to renounce the remnants of the occupation regime in Berlin and thereby make it possible to create a normal situation in the capital of the German Democratic Republic."
Source B
From a radio and television report by John F. Kennedy, the American president, to the American people, 25 July 1961.
"For West Berlin lying exposed 110 miles inside East Germany, surrounded by Soviet troops and close to Soviet supply lines, has many roles. It is more than a showcase of liberty, a symbol, an island of freedom in a Communist sea... We cannot and will not permit the Communists to drive us out of Berlin, either gradually or by force."
How far does Source A support the evidence of Source B about the position of the Western powers in Berlin? Explain your answer. [8 marks]
Model answer
Both sources link Berlin to the GDR and the Soviet side. Source A calls Berlin "the capital of the German Democratic Republic", and Source B places West Berlin "110 miles inside East Germany" and "surrounded by Soviet troops". Both also suggest that the position of the Western powers in Berlin is a major issue.
However, they differ sharply about whether the Western powers should stay. Source A calls their position "remnants of the occupation regime" and says the signatories should "renounce" it. Source B says the opposite: West Berlin is "an island of freedom" and the West "cannot and will not permit the Communists to drive us out of Berlin". Source A treats Berlin as a matter for the GDR, while Source B treats it as "a showcase of liberty", which Source A does not mention.
Overall, Source A supports Source B only a little. They agree on where Berlin lies and that its position matters, but they disagree completely about whether the West should stay.
What lifts it to the top level: it cross-refers short quotations from both sources for the agreement and for the difference, and ends by judging the extent of support.
Exam tip
Use only what the two sources say. Give one agreement and one difference, each with a short quotation from both sources, then finish with a sentence that says how far, such as "only a little" or "to a large extent".