The Berlin Crisis 1961 (Berlin Wall)

To solve the refugee crisis which was damaging the economy and the USSRs public reputation Khruchshev decided to build a wall separating the east and west of Berlin, this being The Berlin Wall
1. Secret work started on the night of 12and the 13 of August 1961 and within a few months the fence became a heavily guarded 50km wall
The USA protested the wall but did nothing to stop it, it had not violated the west of Berlin and Kennedy did not want to risk a devastating war
The Berlin wall did stop the refugee crisis
Khruchshev was relived that the wall stopped people leaving with only 5000 escaping in the years after it was made
Khruchshev also look strong in the eyes of other communist leaders
The USA could use the wall as a piece of propaganda against the soviet bloc
JFK visited in 1963 and made a point of touring the wall and condemning it in his famous speech
It was a important symbol of the iron curtain for the rest of the cold war
It made west Berlin seem secure now that the wall separated them and there were no more stand off due to Berlin

Resource summary

	Created by Sophia Hinchliffe over 7 years ago