Hello, I'm Mr. Marchin and I'll be your history teacher for today.

I'm really looking forward to starting our learning journey together, and my role will be to make sure that you can meet today's learning objective.

Welcome to today's lesson, which is part of our unit on transformation during the Cold War, where we are asking ourselves, was the world on the brink of nuclear war? By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain the causes, events and consequences of the construction of the Berlin Wall.

There are five key words which will help us navigate our way through today's lesson.

Three of those are refugee, propaganda and espionage.

A refugee is someone who has been forced to leave their home country because of war, persecution, natural disaster, or violence, and seek safety in another country.

Propaganda is information, especially of a biassed nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.

An espionage refers to acts related to spying.

Our other two key words for today are ultimatum and unilaterally.

An ultimatum is a demand that if rejected will bring about an end of peaceful talks and could lead to forceful action.

And if something is done unilaterally, we're talking about a way of acting or making important decisions alone and without waiting for others to agree.

Today's lesson will be split into three parts and we'll begin by thinking about Berlin and Cold War politics.

At the end of World War II, Germany was divided into zones of occupation.

The western zones were controlled by the USA, Britain and France.

The eastern zone was controlled by the Soviet Union, the USSR.

Berlin, the German capital was located in the Soviet zone, but it was also divided between east and west.

This can be seen on the map on the screen where the different zones of occupation are indicated by different colours.

In both the section on Berlin and the divided map of Germany as a whole, the Soviet zone is represented in red, and it shows us very clearly how Berlin was located very firmly in that Soviet zone.

In 1949, the western zones of Germany became West Germany and the eastern zone became East Germany.

Conditions between East and West Germany differed greatly.

West Germany enjoyed much higher standards of living than in the East.

West Germans had more political freedom.

And East Germans faced many restrictions and were constantly monitored by secret police.

So thinking about what we've heard so far, I want you to give one reason why people might prefer to live in West Germany rather than East Germany.

Pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who gave one of the following answers.

The living standards were higher in West Germany, that there were more restrictions in East Germany, and that there was fear of the East German secret police.

All of those things were likely to encourage people who want to move from East Germany to the West.

The differences between East and West Germany created a refugee crisis for the Soviets in the 1950s.

Between 1949 and 1951, over half a million people fled from East Germany to West Germany.

In 1952, Soviet and East German authorities closed down the border between East and West Germany to try and resolve this refugee crisis.

So let's make sure we have a secure understanding of what we've just had.

Which reason best explains why the border between East and West Germany was closed in 1952? Was it because the Soviets and East Germans wanted to stop refugees fleeing to the West? Because the Americans and West Germans wanted to stop refugees fleeing to the East? Or because the Soviet Union and USA were preparing for a nuclear war? Pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was A, the Soviets and East Germans wanted to stop refugees fleeing to the West, and so they closed down the border between East and West Germany in 1952.

And let's try another question.

I want you to study the table.

It shows the number of refugees crossing from East to West Germany between 1949 and 1961.

So based on that data, which inference is most valid that the closure of the border between East and West Germany solved the Soviet's refugee issue? That the closure of the border between East and West Germany did not solve the Soviet's refugee issue? Or that the closure of the border between East and West Germany led to war between the superpowers? Pause a video here and press Play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was B.

From our data, we can infer that the closure of the border between East and West Germany did not solve the Soviet's refugee issue.

That border was closed in 1952.

If we think about the year before 1951, 160,000 refugees fled from the east to the west, the very next year after the border had been closed, the number of refugees was twice as high as it had been in 1951 because 335,000 people fled from east to west.

And we can see that those numbers were higher almost every year after the border was closed, then they had been beforehand telling us that the policy seemingly was a failure.

Refugees continued to flee from East Germany to West Germany after 1952 by travelling through Berlin.

There were no restrictions on travel within Berlin.

That is to say you could move freely from East Berlin to West Berlin and from West Berlin to East Berlin.

Once East Germans were in West Berlin, they could freely travel along air, rail, road and river corridors connecting West Berlin to West Germany.

This was how refugees continued to escape East Germany even after the border was closed in 1952.

So let's make sure we have a secure understanding of what we've just heard.

I want you to write the missing two words from the following sentence.

Refugees continued to escape from East Germany after 1952 because once they reached blank, blank, they could travel freely to West Germany and beyond.

So what are the missing two words? Pause a video here and press Play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the missing words were West Berlin.

Refugees continued to escape from East Germany after 1952 because wouldn't they reached West Berlin? They could travel freely to West Germany and beyond.

Refugees fleeing East Germany was treated as a serious issue by the East Germans and the USSR.

East Germany was suffering a brain drain.

That is to say three million East Germans, that's equivalent to a sixth of the entire population of that country, crossed to West Germany from 1949 to 1958.

Many of those refugees were skilled workers, like doctors and engineers.

And so this meant that East Germany lost many of the important people that it needed to help run the country effectively.

Hence why the issue was called a brain drain.

The refugee crisis was also a problem because it created bad propaganda for communism.

As millions of East Germans fled to the West, it suggested that capitalism, which existed in the west and West Germany, was superior to communism, which existed in the eastern block and in East Germany.

So thinking about what we've just heard, what phrase was used to describe the loss of skilled workers from East Germany during the 1950s? Pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the phrase used to describe the loss of skilled workers from East Germany during the 1950s was brain drain.

Factors other than refugees fleeing also contributed to Soviet concerns about Berlin.

Berlin was also an ideal location for western espionage.

Its location far within communist East Germany created lots of opportunities for western spies to gather intelligence.

For example, the US and Britain dug secret tunnels from West Berlin to East Berlin, allowing them to listen to important Soviet telephone lines.

So let's make sure we have a clear understanding of what we've just heard.

We have a statement on the screen that reads, Berlin created security worries for the USSR.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was true.

But we need to be able to justify our response.

So two justifications have appeared on the screen.

The first says that West Berlin was used by the western powers as a base for espionage, and the second says that West Berlin was used by the western powers as a base for nuclear missiles.

So which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct justification was A, West Berlin was used by the western powers as a base for espionage.

So it created security concerns for the USSR.

So now we're in a good position to put all of our knowledge about Berlin and Cold War politics into practise.

I want you to match each factor shown on the screen.

So brain drain, espionage and propaganda to the description, which best demonstrates why it raised Soviet concerns about Berlin in the 1950s.

So pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.

So I asked you to match each factor to the description, which best demonstrates why it raised Soviet concerns about Berlin in the 1950s.

For brain drain, you should have matched it to the description that said many refugees were skilled workers like engineers and doctors.

For espionage, you should have matched it to the description that said the western powers used their rights in Berlin to spy on the Soviets and for propaganda, you should have matched it to the description that said millions chose to leave communist East Germany and fled to the West via Berlin.

So really well done.

You matched each of those factors and descriptions correctly.

And now we're ready to move on to the second part of our lesson for today where we are going to think about building a wall in Berlin.

Soviet concerns about Berlin helped generate an international crisis.

In the years between 1958 and 1961, the USSR and its leader, Nikita Khrushchev, looked for ways to resolve the crisis they faced in Berlin.

In November, 1958, Nikita Khrushchev issued his Berlin Ultimatum.

The Soviet leader demanded that the USA, Britain and France should withdraw from Berlin.

Khrushchev hoped that this would resolve the Soviet's problem of each German refugees fleeing and prevent the western powers from using Berlin as a base for espionage.

To put pressure on the west to agree to his demands, Khrushchev threatened that if they did not do so within six months, then he would transfer East Berlin to the control of the East German government.

It was known that the East Germans would be even less cooperative over Berlin than the USSR was.

Khrushchev successfully forced the western powers to negotiate over Berlin.

However, despite several meetings between Khrushchev and western leaders, including with the new American president John F.

Kennedy or JFK in June, 1961, no diplomatic solution to the crisis over Berlin was agreed upon.

The western powers refused to leave West Berlin.

So let's reflect on what we've just heard, which leader issued the Berlin Ultimatum in 1958? Pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was Nikita Khrushchev.

Nikita Khrushchev was the leader of the Soviet Union, and it was the USSR, which issued the Berlin automated demanding that the western powers withdraw from West Berlin.

As US Soviet relations remained tense, the number of East Germans fleeing to the West increased significantly.

This raised East German and Soviet concerns even further.

Therefore, on the 12th of August, 1961, Soviet authorities closed the border between East and West Berlin and put up a barbed wire fence around the perimeter of West Berlin.

Soon the wire fences were replaced by a concrete wall, stretching 165 kilometres.

This became known as the Berlin Wall, and to ensure it succeeded in containing East Germany's population, it was patrolled by armed guards who had orders to shoot anyone trying to cross into West Berlin.

So thinking about what we've just heard, where in Berlin did the Soviets build a wall? Was it around East Berlin, around West Berlin, or around the entire city? Pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the wall built by the Soviets was built around West Berlin.

This was to try and prevent East Germans from getting to that part of the city from which they could escape to West Germany and beyond.

And let's try another question.

Other than building a wall, identify one way the USSR tried to prevent East German refugees crossing over to West Berlin.

Pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that other than building a wall, the USSR also tried to prevent East German refugees from crossing over to West Berlin by having guards who patrolled the Berlin Wall and by ordering border guards to shoot anyone who attempted to cross from East Berlin to West Berlin.

So we're now in a good position to put all of our knowledge about the building of the Berlin Wall into practise.

Aisha has provided a summary of the construction of the Berlin Wall.

She says, "That the Berlin Wall was constructed by the USSR under the instructions of John F.

Kennedy in 1961.

This followed the failure of several phone calls to resolve the crisis over Berlin after Khrushchev's 1960 Berlin Ultimatum.

It was hoped that the Berlin Wall would prevent refugees from entering East Berlin and end the brain drain." Aisha's summary contains four mistakes.

I want you to identify the mistakes in Aisha's summary and then to rewrite Aisha's summary correcting each of those mistakes.

So pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that task.

So firstly, I asked you to study Aisha's summary and to identify the four mistakes it included.

Those four mistakes were that Aisha said the Berlin Wall was built under the instructions of John F.

Kennedy, that she said there were several phone calls to resolve the crisis over Berlin, that she said the Berlin Ultimatum was issued in 1960, and that she said the Berlin Wall was supposed to prevent refugees from entering East Berlin.

And we then needed to correct each of those mistakes.

So your rewritten version of Aisha's summary may have included the Berlin Wall was constructed by the USSR under the instructions of Nikita Khrushchev in 1961.

This followed the failure of several summits to resolve the crisis over Berlin after Khrushchev's 1958 Berlin Ultimatum.

It was hoped that the Berlin Wall would prevent refugees from entering West Berlin and end the brain drain.

It's a really well done if your own rewritten summary looks something similar to that model, which we've just seen there.

And now we're ready to move on to the third and final part of our lesson for today where we are going to think about Kennedy, Khrushchev and the Berlin Wall.

The Soviet construction of the Berlin Wall was significant for Cold War tensions.

President Kennedy, JFK had to choose whether the US would accept the USSR's action or respond with force, although this would risk triggering a nuclear war.

Khrushchev had acted unilaterally by constructing a wall around West Berlin.

In the West, there was initially concern the Soviets might go further and challenge their rights to remain in Berlin.

President Kennedy sent troops to reinforce the western armies already in Berlin.

These troop movements were not blocked by the USSR and the right of American, British and French officials to move between East and West Berlin were generally respected.

However, an armed standoff between the USA and USSR did occur at Checkpoint Charlie, a border crossing in Berlin in October, 1961 when a US official was blocked from entering the east half of the city.

Both superpowers lined up tanks and soldiers at Checkpoint Charlie and the standoff lasted for 18 hours.

In fact, an image of that standoff can be seen on the screen.

Nevertheless, a diplomatic agreement led to both the USA and USSR pulling their forces back.

And so no fighting occurred over the Berlin Wall.

So let's make sure we have a secure understanding of what we've just heard.

We have a statement on the screen that says the USA supported the construction of the Berlin Wall.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was false.

But we need to be able to justify our response.

So two justifications have appeared on the screen.

The first says that aside from a standoff at Checkpoint Charlie, the USA did not fight to block construction but did not support it either.

And the second says that a standoff at Checkpoint Charlie escalated into street fighting between Soviet and American troops in Berlin.

So, which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct justification was A, aside from a standoff at Checkpoint Charlie, the USA did not fight to block construction at a Berlin Wall, however, importantly, the USA did not support the construction of the wall either.

This was a unilateral move by the Soviet Union.

Although President Kennedy criticised the USSR for constructing the Berlin Wall, he was not willing to force the Soviets to dismantle it.

JFK knew that any such attempt could trigger a nuclear war.

Furthermore, the USA, Britain and France believed that Khrushchev's decision to build a wall around West Berlin represented an end to Soviet attempts to control the entire city and force the western powers out.

As a result, the western powers felt much less threatened by the USSR in Berlin.

Despite criticisms about American inaction from West German politicians like Willy Brandt, the mayor of West Berlin, Kennedy reasoned that a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.

The USA also used the wall as a propaganda symbol against communism and the Soviet Union.

When JFK visited Berlin in 1963, he told crowds of West Berliners that unlike people in East Germany and elsewhere in the communist world, they could take pride in their freedom and explain that the Berlin Wall was the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the communist system.

So let's make sure we have a secure understanding of what we've just heard.

Who claimed that a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war? Was it John F.

Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev or Willy Brandt? Pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was A, John F.

Kennedy or JFK claimed that a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.

This helps explain part of the reason why Kennedy and the Americans did not resist the construction of the Berlin Wall.

They thought it actually represented an end of the Soviet threat to the western powers in Berlin.

And so help to make the situation between the two superpowers slightly less tense.

The USSR was satisfied that the construction of the Berlin Wall had helped to end the issue of refugees leaving East Germany and therefore safeguarded the future of the communist country.

Furthermore, the Soviet leader was pleased that conflict with the West over the German capital had been avoided.

Indeed, the construction of the Berlin Wall helped to settle the dispute over Berlin between the superpowers, which had lasted since the end of World War II, and as a result helped to remove a major point of tension from US-Soviet relations.

Nevertheless, the wall also represented a failure of the Soviet Union's attempt to gain control over wall of Berlin, which had initially been Khrushchev's aim.

So we have a statement on the screen that reads the Berlin Wall made war between the superpowers over Berlin more likely.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was false, but we need to be able to justify our response.

So two justifications have appeared on the screen.

The first says that the Berlin Wall was only constructed after a diplomatic agreement was made by the USA and USSR.

And the second says that the Berlin Wall represented the end of the USSR'S attempts to control wall of Berlin and force the western powers out.

So which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct justification was B, the Berlin Wall represented the end of the USSR'S attempts to control wall of Berlin and force the western powers out.

Therefore, it made war between the superpowers over Berlin less likely.

So we're now in a good position to put all of our knowledge into practise.

I want you to study the following statements.

They say only the USA was able to benefit from the construction of the Berlin Wall.

Only the USSR was able to benefit from the construction of the Berlin Wall.

And both superpowers were able to benefit from the construction of the Berlin Wall.

So which statement is most accurate? And I want you to explain your answer.

So pause the video here and press Play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for all of your effort on that task.

So I asked you which of our three statements was most accurate and for you to explain your answer.

Your answer could have included.

It is most accurate to say that both superpowers were able to benefit from the construction of the Berlin Wall, despite its construction being a decision made unilaterally by the Soviet Union.

For the USSR, the construction of the wall prevented East German refugees from fleeing to the West through Berlin.

Therefore, the serious brain drain which East Germany had been suffering was ended and the stability of that country was secured.

Meanwhile, the USA was able to exploit the Berlin Wall for propaganda purposes.

In 1963, JFK claimed that the wall was "the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the communist system" and argued that it proved the freedoms which people valued for their lives could only be securely enjoyed in a capitalist, not a communist society.

So really well done if your own response looks something like that model answer which we've just seen.

And so we've now reached the end of today's lesson, which puts us in a good position to summarise all of our learning about the construction of the Berlin Wall.

We've seen that free travel between East and West Berlin contributed to a brain drain, which threatened the stability of East Germany.

Khrushchev's 1958 Berlin Ultimatum attempted to force the western powers out of Berlin in 1958, but failed to lead to any new agreements.

In 1961, the USSR unilaterally constructed a wall around West Berlin preventing ordinary East Germans from crossing the border.

The USA disapproved of the construction of the Berlin Wall but did not try to fight against it, despite a standoff at Checkpoint Charlie.

And the US used the Berlin Wall as propaganda and as a symbol of the failures of communism and the superiority of capitalist societies.

So really well done for all of your effort throughout today's lesson.

It's been a pleasure to help guide you for our resources today and I look forward to seeing you again in future as we think further about the transformation of the Cold War and continue to ask ourselves, was the world on the brink of nuclear war?.