Berlin Crises
(1948-9, 1958-61)
What caused the
war, conflict or
dispute?
What was the style
of war, conflict or
dispute?
What were the
types of settlements
which concluded
the war, conflict,
dispute?
USA
East
Berlin/
USSR
• supply air lift
• showed
determination
• West German
blockade
• free food/ food
rations > denied
Soviet offense:
German Blockade
NATO
West Germany in
NATO
Results: divided
Germany, cont'd 4power control,
NATO
4-power continued
Warsaw Pact
FRG (Federal
Republic of
Germany)
GDR (German
Democratic
Republic)
End of 1949
• Germany would not reunite - Soviets
did not recognize Allied nations (visa
versa)
• No peacetime policy for USA - Marshall
Plan (economically), NATO (militarily)
• No formal peace treaty with Germany no formalized borders, Poland in
danger
• More unified Western nations
• Nuclear arms
race
• West Berliners
encouraged East
Berliners to
escape their
hardships
• one sixth of
Germany moved
to west Berlin
• dispute was only
restricted to the
borders of Germany
• However, there were
conferences that took
place outside of
Germany (Geneva,
Paris, US)
• Kennedy wanted to
continue and expand
work of CIA
• There was the use of
spies as espionage
continued
• refugees
What is the message of this political cartoon?
" We intend to have a wider choice
than humiliation or an all-out nuclear
war"
- JFK
This cartoon of 14 July 1948 by EH Shepard for
This cartoon by the British cartoonist
the British magazine Punch shows Stalin
Illingworth appeared in the Daily Mail on 9
watching as storks fly coal and food into Berlin.
September 1948.
3.
WHAT WERE THE TYPES OF
SETTLEMENTS WHICH CONCLUDED THE
WAR, CONFLICT, DISPUTE?
Measure of Victory
• Victory measured by how willing the other
side would make concessions
US & Western Allies
USSR
Berlin Airlift- 1.5million tons of
supplies
Berlin Wall- stopped 200,000
people leaving each year
Reform currency of the three
zones to accelerate economic
recovery
Berlin Ultimatum
Major Players
Result of Berlin Crisis
Stalin
embarrassed
Negotiation
deadlocked
Stalin lifts
blockade
Stalin’s
permission
for Berlin
Wall
Allied
Success
Stalemate
Second Berlin Crisis
Camp David
Sept 1959
Paris Summit
May 1960
Vienna Summit
June 1961
• Eisenhower invited Khrushchev for talks
• Khrushchev withdrew ultimatum
• Soviet missile shot down US U-2 spy plane
• Eisenhower refused to apologize, summit cancelled
• First meeting b/w Kennedy & Khrushchev- failure
• No progress in negotiations
Second Berlin Crisis
June- Khrushchev
gives permission to
prepare for
physical division of
Berlin
Aug 3-5- barbed
wire fence erected
Aug 13- complete
Berlin wall
Re-imposes 6month deadline for
West Berlin to
become an
international
demilitarized zone
Number of
refugees increased
to over 20,000 a
month– double
the rate of 1950s
West did not react
to barbed wires
The United Nations
• “a threat to the peace within the meaning of
Chapter VII of the Charter”
• Oct 4- Berlin question debated in Security
Council
• Oct 5- resolution was voted 9:2 in favour of
raising all restrictions on traffic to Berlin
• Oct 25- vote for resolution- USSR vetoed
• Preoccupation with other issues
• May 4, 1949- agreement signed to lift blockade
Result of the Crises
First Berlin Crisis (1948-1949)
Second Berlin Crisis (1958-1961)
Allied Success
Stalemate
Stalin
The Allies
Berlin Wall
Embarrassed
Germany became
more pro-Western
stopped flow of refugees from East to
West
Lifted Berlin
Blockade
Sped up formation
of FRG/GDR
Consolidated Communist control over
East Germany
Formed NATO in
April 1949
Threat of immediate war disappeared
The Final Result
US was
against it but
didn’t protest
it
Improved East
Germany’s
economy
No longer hot
spot for war
Stable