levo

Conflict and Tension Between East and West, 1945–1972

The building of the Berlin Wall

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1 section B

Overview

Why West Berlin troubled the USSR, the refugee drain, Khrushchev's ultimatum of 1958 and the Vienna summit, the barrier of 13 August 1961, Kennedy's response, Checkpoint Charlie and the results for the Cold War.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Roughly how many people left East Germany through the city between 1949 and 1961?

Key term

Why did it matter so much who was leaving rather than simply how many?

Key term

What happened when Kennedy and Khrushchev met in Vienna in June 1961?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why was the western half of the divided German capital such a problem for the USSR?

    Model answer

    It was a prosperous, well-stocked western island deep inside the communist state, and anyone who reached it could walk out of the east for good.

  2. 2

    Roughly how many people left East Germany through the city between 1949 and 1961?

    Model answer

    About three million, which was something like one in six of the whole population.

  3. 3

    Why did it matter so much who was leaving rather than simply how many?

    Model answer

    A large share were young, skilled and professional people such as doctors, engineers and teachers, so the east was losing exactly the workers its economy needed.

  4. 4

    What ultimatum did Khrushchev issue in November 1958?

    Model answer

    That western troops should leave the city within six months and it should become a free demilitarised city; he backed down when the West refused.

  5. 5

    What happened when Kennedy and Khrushchev met in Vienna in June 1961?

    Model answer

    Khrushchev renewed his demand that the West pull out, Kennedy flatly refused, and Khrushchev came away thinking the new president young and easily pushed.

  6. 6

    What was done overnight on 13 August 1961?

    Model answer

    East German troops sealed the boundary with barbed wire and roadblocks, cutting the city in two and stopping people crossing to work or to leave.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

See a huge jump in your memorisation

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

America, 1840–1895: Expansion and Consolidation
America, 1920–1973: Opportunity and Inequality
Conflict and Tension Between East and West, 1945–1972
Conflict and Tension in Asia, 1950–1975

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

11 1918.
NovemberOctoberDecember

Blank Blitz consolidates the facts

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

ABlight destroyed the potato crop the poor lived on.
BThe Great Famine drove around a million people to emigrate.
CBritain was the nearest and cheapest place to go.

Build It trains answer structure

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

James Burbage opened The Theatre at Shoreditch in 1576.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Conflict and Tension Between East and West, 1945–1972, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.