1. The Berlin Crisis
IGCSE History
L/O: To explain why the Berlin Wall was built
To describe the effects of the Berlin Wall

2. Starter
• Events in order race: How well do you
know your Cold War chronology?
• Your teacher will give you a list of events
with your partner; race other groups to
put them in order.

3. Question 1
• With an open border between East and West Berlin. By 1960
Nearly 2,000 refugees a day were fleeing to the West through
west Berlin. What was the largest potential problem this created
for the Soviet Union?
• A) It meant they would lose all the skilled workers
• B) It meant that the East German economy would suffer
• C) It meant that the Capitalist system was more attractive than the
Communist one
• D) The open border allowed Berlin to be a center for espionage
• E) None of the above

4. Question 2
• At the Vienna Summit of June 1961, therefore, Khrushchev demanded that the
US leave West Berlin within six months. Kennedy refused and instead
guaranteed West Berlin's freedom. Which reason would increase tensions the
most?
• A) Berlin would become a flashpoint
• B) Both sides had taken a public stand and would look weak if they backed down
• C) Berlin would become a capitalist island inside the hostile Iron Curtain
• D) A combination of factors of your choice
• E) Something else

5. Summing Up Pt1
• West Berlin was a worry and an embarrassment for the Soviet Union in 1961:
• Nearly 2,000 refugees a day were fleeing to the West through west Berlin - hardly proof
of the Soviet claim that the Communist way of life was better than capitalism!
• Many of those leaving were skilled and qualified workers.
• The Soviets believed (rightly) that West Berlin was a centre for US espionage.
• At the Vienna Summit of June 1961, therefore, Khrushchev demanded that the US leave
West Berlin within six months. Kennedy refused and instead guaranteed West Berlin's
freedom.
• On 13 August, Khrushchev closed the border between East and West Berlin and started
building the Berlin Wall.
• At first, the Russians regarded it as a propaganda success, but as time went on, it
became a propaganda disaster - a symbol of all that was bad about Soviet rule

6. Past Paper Question
• Explain why the Berlin Wall was built ?(7)

7. Effects of the Berlin
Wall

8. What were the major
effects of the Berlin Wall?
• A) suspicion between the two sides heightened
• B) the flow of immigrants to the West reduced
dramatically
• C) anything else?
• D) A combination of factors? (which ones?)

9. Question 3
• What was the most important reason why
the Berlin Wall was significant to the wider
Cold War?

10. Question 4: Effects of the Wall
• It was a concrete version of the Iron Curtain.
• Families were divided.
• People died trying to cross the wall
• It symbolised the divided world.
• It showed that the difference was a real-life physical division.
• It showed that the difference was a military confrontation.
• It was a concrete symbol of the ideological divisions between
the "free world" and the "communist world".
• It was concrete proof that capitalists could never work with
communists.

11. Past Paper Question
• Describe the effects of the Berlin Wall (5)

12. Summing Up 2
• Who wants to summarise the main points
about the effects of the Berlin Wall?