Hello, my name's Mr. Williams and I'm going to be your history teacher today.

This lesson is part of a unit of lessons about Cold War crises that took place between 1958 and 1970.

I'm really looking forward to teaching you today, so let's get started.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain how disagreements about Berlin led to an increased in tension between the USA and the USSR between 1958 and 1961.

There are four key words that are essential to understanding today's lesson.

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

Prosperous, which means wealthy and successful.

Ultimatum, a demand that if rejected will bring about the end of peaceful talks and could lead to forceful action.

And summit, a meeting between leaders to discuss significant issues or make important decisions.

Today's lesson is going to be split into three parts.

In this first part, we're going to be learning about the refugee problem that had developed in Berlin by 1958.

In 1949, Germany had been divided into two.

The German Federal Republic, which became known as West Germany, was a democratic country that joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation or NATO in May, 1955.

The German Democratic Republic, which became known as East Germany, was a communist satellite state controlled by the USSR and a member of the Warsaw Pact.

By the late 1950s, West Germany was a prosperous country with a high standard of living.

This was largely because West Germany had received millions of dollars of American aid as part of the Marshall Plan to support its economic development.

As well as a good standard of living, people in West Germany enjoyed a high level of personal freedom and were able to choose their own government.

In contrast, East Germany received relatively little aid from the USSR, and unsuccessful economic policies meant that it was far less prosperous.

People in East Germany had a very low standard of living compared to the West, and there were often shortages of the most basic necessities.

In addition, people in East Germany enjoyed severe restrictions on their freedom and were monitored by a secret police force known as the Stasi.

Let's take a moment now to check your understanding.

On the screen, there is a table comparing West Germany and East Germany, but it's incomplete.

I want you to complete the table.

Pause the video now, complete the table and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work there.

You were asked to complete a table comparing West Germany with East Germany.

Let's go through the table row by row.

So East Germany was also known as the German Democratic Republic.

Well done if you got that correct.

It was a member of the Warsaw Pact.

The political system in West Germany was democratic and the standard of living was high.

And then finally the level of freedom in East Germany was a low.

Great effort there, and well done if you got all of that correct.

Let's do another check for understanding.

West Germany was more prosperous than East Germany.

Is that true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that was true, but we need to be able to justify our answer.

So on the screen are two justifications.

A says West Germany was more prosperous as it had received American aid as part of the Marshall Plan, whereas B says West Germany was more prosperous because it had received more aid from the USSR than East Germany.

Which of those is correct? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Again, very well done if you said that justification A was correct, West Germany was more prosperous than East Germany because it had received American aid as part of the Marshall Plan.

Berlin had also been divided since 1949.

West Berlin acted as a window to the West, which meant that people in East Berlin could clearly see the differences in the quality of life between East and West.

Unsurprisingly, many East Germans chose to leave and seek a better life in West Germany, and the easiest way to do this was through Berlin.

From 1949, an estimated 2000 East Germans crossed the border every day, and by 1958, 3 million people had left East Germany, which amounted to over one sixth of the country's population.

Many of these refugees were young, skilled workers and professionals, which were exactly the type of people that were essential for the country's development.

Some even referred to the huge numbers of skilled workers leaving as a brain drain in East Germany.

This was a propaganda disaster for the communist authorities 'cause it seemed to suggest that communism was a weaker political system, and that given a choice, people preferred to live in democratic capitalist societies.

Let's take a moment to check your understanding.

I want you to discuss this question with a partner.

In what way did West Berlin encourage people to leave East Germany? Pause the video now.

Discuss with a partner and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, I hope those conversations were useful.

Welcome back.

You might have said the following, "West Berlin acted as a window to the West.

It allowed people in East Berlin to see the highest standards of living enjoyed by people in the West, and as a consequence, it encouraged people to leave East Germany to seek a better life in the West." Well done if your conversation covered those points.

Let's do another check.

By 1958, how many refugees had left East Germany to seek a better life in West Germany? Was it A, 1 million, B, 2 million, C, 3 million, or D, 4 million? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, very well done if you said that it was C.

By 1958, 3 million refugees had left East Germany to seek a better life in West Germany.

We're now ready for the first practise task of today's lesson and it's split into two parts.

In this first part, I want you to answer the question, between 1949 and 1958, why did many people leave East Germany to live in West Germany? I'd like you to answer that question in one paragraph explaining your answer, and I want you to try and use the following words: prosperous, freedom, living standards and shortages.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see a model paragraph.

Okay, great effort there on that first task.

You were asked to write one paragraph answering the question: between 1949 and 1958, why did many people leave East Germany to live in West Germany? And you might have written something like this.

"Between 1949 and 1958, 3 million people left East Germany to live in West Germany.

This is because West Germany was much more prosperous than East Germany as a result of American aid.

People in West Germany enjoyed high living standards compared to East Germany where there were often shortages of basic goods.

In addition, people in West Germany had much more freedom than they did in East Germany.

West Berlin acted as a window to the West encouraging people to leave East Germany to live in West Germany." Well done if your paragraph looks something like the one that we've just gone through.

For the second part of this practise task, I want you to write a paragraph to answer this question.

Why was the large number of refugees leaving East Germany such a problem for the communist authorities? In your paragraph, you should try and include the following words: population, skilled workers, propaganda and choice.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to go through a model paragraph.

Okay.

Great effort.

You were asked to write a paragraph to answer the question, why was the large number of refugees leaving East Germany such a problem for the communist authorities? And you might have written something like this.

"The large number of refugees leaving East Germany was a problem for the communist authorities because it led to a huge reduction in the country's population.

The people that left were often skilled workers and professionals that East Germany could not afford to lose.

Some even called it a brain drain.

In addition, the large number of refugees was a propaganda disaster for the communist authorities, as it suggested that if people had a choice, they would prefer to live in a capitalist society over a communist one." Fantastic effort on this first practise task, and well done if your second paragraph looks similar to the one that we've just gone through.

Let's move to the second part of our lesson now, and in the second part of our lesson, we're going to learn about Khrushchev's response to the refugee crisis in Berlin.

Soviet and East German leaders were determined to stop the flow of refugees to the West.

In 1958, the East German authorities closed the border.

However, this approach failed and many people continued to escape to West Germany.

Khrushchev believed that the only way to stop the movement from East to West was to ensure that all of Berlin became part of East Germany.

To achieve this, he knew that it would be necessary to force the USA, Britain and France to abandon West Berlin.

Khrushchev was also motivated by the belief that West Berlin, which was deep inside East Germany, was a military threat and a challenge to Soviet authority in Eastern Europe.

On the 27th of November, 1958, Khrushchev issued the Berlin ultimatum.

Khrushchev argued that by keeping their armed forces in West Berlin, the USA, Britain and France were violating the Potsdam Agreement, the 1945 agreement that divided Germany and Berlin.

Khrushchev demanded that the Western powers removed their troops from West Berlin within six months or the Soviet Union would transfer control of access to West Berlin to East Germany.

Let's check your understanding.

Lucas has said, "The only reason Khrushchev wanted to force the Western powers to leave Berlin was to stop the flow of refugees leaving East Germany." This is not correct and I want you to explain why.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay.

Welcome back.

Lucas had argued that the only reason Khrushchev wanted to force the Western powers to leave Berlin was to stop the flow of refugees leaving East Germany, and your task was to explain why he was incorrect.

You might have said something like this: "Khrushchev also wanted to force the Western powers to leave Berlin because he believed that West Berlin posed a threat to the USSR.

He also believed that West Berlin challenged Soviet authority in Eastern Europe." Well done if you covered those points in your answer.

Let's do another quick check for understanding.

The paragraph on the screen is incorrect, and I want you to identify and correct the mistakes.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to go through the corrected paragraph.

Okay, you were asked to identify and correct the mistakes in the paragraph, and the corrected paragraph should read something like this.

"In the Berlin ultimatum, November, 1958, Khrushchev accused the Western powers of breaking the Potsdam Agreement and demanded that they remove their troops from West Berlin within six months or the Soviet Union would transfer control of access to West Berlin to East Germany." Well done if you identified and corrected all of those mistakes.

By issuing the Berlin ultimatum, Khrushchev hoped to restrict the flow of people and essential supplies to West Berlin.

Khrushchev also believed that it would force the Western powers to talk to the East German authorities and acknowledge the legitimacy of East Germany.

Since 1945, countries in the West had refused to recognise East Germany as a separate country 'cause they did not want to give up on the hope that Germany could be reunited as a democratic capitalist country.

Khrushchev's plan would mean that the Western powers would have to acknowledge East Germany's authority, and doing so would mean accepting the division of Germany and the permanence of the East-West divide in Europe.

Khrushchev's ultimate aim was to pressure the Western powers into withdrawing their troops from West Berlin and allowing the city to be reunified under East German control.

The USA, Britain and France were outraged by Khrushchev's ultimatum and refused to comply, viewing it as further evidence of Khrushchev's attempts to spread communism.

The ultimatum significantly increased tension between the USSR and the USA.

However, by 1958 as a result of the arms race, both countries had amassed huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons and did not want to risk war.

Therefore, between 1959 and 1961, a series of four summit meetings were held in an attempt to resolve the crisis peacefully.

Let's check your understanding.

I want you to discuss this question with a partner.

Why had the Western powers refused to recognise East Germany as a separate country? Pause the video, discuss the question with a partner and press play when you're ready to see a model response.

Okay, welcome back.

I hope those conversations were useful.

You might have said something like this.

"The Western powers had refused to recognise East Germany as a separate country 'cause it would involve accepting the division of Germany and they still hoped that Germany could be reunited as a democratic catalyst country." Well done if your discussion covered those points.

Let's do another quick check.

I'd like you to answer this question.

What did Khrushchev hope to achieve by issuing the Berlin ultimatum? Try and list three things he hoped to achieve.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to go through a model response.

You were asked to list three things that Khrushchev hoped to achieve by issuing the Berlin ultimatum, and you might have written the following: he wanted to restrict the flow of people and essential supplies to West Berlin.

He wanted to force the Western powers to acknowledge the legitimacy of East Germany.

He wanted the Western powers to accept the division of Germany.

And he wanted to reunify Berlin and the East German control.

Well done if you managed to identify those aims. We're now ready for the second practise task of today's lesson, and I'd like you to write an account analysing why Berlin led to an increase in tension between the USA and the USSR in the years 1949 to 1958.

You should aim to write about three key events and may wish to write about the following two plus one of your own.

So you could write about the Berlin ultimatum and you could write about the response of the USA.

Try to organise your answer in chronological order.

Pause the video now, have a go at this question, and when you are ready to go through a model response, press play.

Okay, you are now ready to attempt the second practise task of today's lesson.

I'd like you to write an account analysing why Berlin led to an increase in tension between the USA and the USSR in the years 1949 to 1958.

You should aim to write about three key events and may wish to write about the following two plus one of your own.

So you could write about Berlin ultimatum and you could write about the response of the USA.

Try to organise your answer in chronological order.

So pause the video now, attempt the question, and press play when you're ready to go through a model answer.

Okay.

Welcome back.

For the second practise task, you were asked to write an account analysing why Berlin led to an increase in tension between the USA and the USSR in years 1949 to 1958.

You are asked to write about three events in three paragraphs, and in your first paragraph, you might have chosen to focus on the refugee problem in Berlin, and you could have written something like this.

"By 1958, over 3 million refugees had left East Germany, mostly through Berlin to seek a better life in West Germany, which was more prosperous and allowed people more freedom.

The vast number of refugees was a problem for the communist authorities because as well as losing skilled people necessary for the country's development, it also made communism appear like a weaker political system.

As a consequence, Khrushchev came to believe that the only way to solve the issue of refugees leaving was to ensure all of Berlin became part of East Germany." In your second paragraph, you might have written about the Berlin ultimatum, and you might have written something like this.

"In response to the brain drain and concerns that West Berlin was a military threat to the security of the USSR, Khrushchev issued the Berlin Ultimatum in November 1958.

He threatened that the USSR would give control over access to West Berlin to the East German government unless the Western powers removed their troops from the city.

Khrushchev's ultimatum led to increased tensions between the USSR and the Western powers, particularly the USA." For your final paragraph, you might have chosen to focus on the American response to Khrushchev's Berlin ultimatum, and you might have written something like this.

"Khrushchev believed that the ultimatum was necessary to solve the issue of people leaving West Germany and to protect the security of the USSR.

However, the USA and other Western powers viewed the ultimatum as another attempt by Khrushchev to spread communism.

This led to tensions between the USA and the USSR during the Cold War, as the US response was to refuse to comply with Khrushchev's ultimatum, ultimately resulting in a crisis over the future of Berlin." Very well done for all of your hard work on that second practise task, and well done if your answer looks like the model answer that we've just gone through.

We're now ready to move to the third and final part of today's lesson.

And in this final part of the lesson, we're going to be learning about the four summits that took place in an attempt to resolve the future of Berlin, and we're going to be examining the reasons why they failed.

The timeline on the screen provides an overview of the events that we'll be learning about in this final part of the lesson.

Take a moment to read through it now, and you can always come back to it if you need to later on in the lesson.

The first summit meeting took place between the American and Soviet foreign ministers in Geneva in May 1959, and although no agreement was reached, plans were made for Khrushchev to travel to the USA to meet President Eisenhower at Camp David in September.

Khrushchev's visit was the first time a Soviet leader had visited the USA.

The atmosphere at the Camp David Summit was friendly, and although the leaders still failed to reach an agreement, some hope that it might lead to an improvement in US-Soviet relations.

Eisenhower and Khrushchev agreed to a further summit meeting to take place in Paris the following summer.

Let's do a check of your understanding.

True or false, the Camp David Summit, September 1959, increased tensions between the USA and the USSR? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that was false.

But we need to be able to justify our response.

So on the screen are two justifications.

A says, the Camp David Summit decreased tensions because Eisenhower agreed to remove US troops from West Berlin.

And justification B says, the Camp David Summit decreased tensions because it led to another summit meeting being arranged.

Pause the video now, press play when you're ready to see which of these justifications is correct.

Okay, well done if you said it was justification B.

The Camp David Summit led to a further summit meeting being arranged to take place in Paris the following summer, and as a result, this helped to decrease tensions.

In May 1960, as Eisenhower and Khrushchev were preparing for the Paris summit, an American U2 spy plane was shot down by the USSR over Soviet territory.

The Americans initially claimed that it was a weather monitoring plane that had been blown off course, but they were forced to admit the truth when the Soviets revealed they had captured the pilot Gary Powers.

Khrushchev demanded that Eisenhower apologised and promised to end U2 flights over the USSR.

Eisenhower was prepared to end the flights but would not apologise, so Khrushchev abandoned the summit.

Let's check your understanding.

The paragraph below is incorrect.

I want you to identify and correct the mistakes.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to go through the corrected paragraph.

Okay, you are asked to identify and correct the mistakes in the paragraph, and the corrected paragraph should read as follows: "Before the Paris Summit in May 1960, the USSR shot down an American U2 spy plane.

Khrushchev walked out of the summit when Eisenhower refused to apologise." Very well done if you identified and corrected all of those mistakes.

In January, 1961, John F.

Kennedy became president of the USA, and in June he travelled to Vienna in Austria to meet with Khrushchev.

Khrushchev viewed Kennedy as young and inexperienced, and believed that he would be able to force him to an accept an agreement over Berlin that was favourable to the USSR.

At the Vienna Summit, Khrushchev reissued his ultimatum and threatened to make a treaty with East Germany, ending all access rights to West Berlin unless Western troops were removed.

Kennedy refused.

The summit ended with tensions running extremely high, and in the following month, both Kennedy and Khrushchev announced major increases in military spending.

Let's check your understanding.

The Vienna summit, June 1961, increased tensions between the USA and the USSR.

Is this true or false? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said that was true, but as ever, we need to be able to justify our answers.

So on the screen are two justifications.

A says, the Vienna Summit increased tensions because Khrushchev threatened to invade West Berlin, and B says, the Vienna summits increased tensions because Kennedy stood up to Khrushchev and refused his ultimatum.

Which of these justifications is correct? Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done if you said justification B was correct.

Vienna summits increased tensions because Kennedy stood up to Khrushchev and refused his ultimatum.

We are now ready for the third and final practise task of today's lesson.

On the screen is a table, and I want you to complete that table with details of each of the summits.

So for each of the summits in the table, you need to identify the leaders that were involved, and you need to briefly summarise the outcome of the summit.

Pause the video now and press play when you're ready to go through a model answer.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that third and final practise task.

You were asked to complete the table with details of each of the summits, and to do this, you had to identify the leaders involved, and you had to briefly summarise the outcome.

So let's go through the table now row by row.

Let's start with the Camp David Summit in September 1959.

So the leaders involved were Eisenhower and Khrushchev, and the outcome was no agreement over Berlin, but a further summit meeting was agreed.

There was a friendlier atmosphere which led some to hope for an improvement in US Soviet relations.

The Paris Summit in May 1960 also involved Khrushchev and Eisenhower.

Again, there was no agreement over Berlin, and Khrushchev abandoned the summit due to the U2 incident.

This increased tension significantly.

And finally, the Vienna Summit in June 1961, this time the two leaders involved were Khrushchev and the new American president John F.

Kennedy, and the outcome of the Vienna Summit was that there was no agreement over of Berlin, and Kennedy refused Khrushchev's ultimatum.

Kennedy standing up to Khrushchev increased tensions even further, and after the summit, both superpowers increased their military spending.

Very well done for all of your hard work on that final practise task, and well done if you got all of those details correct.

Before we finish today's lesson, let's summarise our key learning points.

By 1958, over 3 million refugees had left East Germany via Berlin to seek a better life in more prosperous West Germany.

Khrushchev was determined to force the Western powers to abandon West Berlin, so he issued the Berlin ultimatum in November 1958.

In the Berlin ultimatum, Khrushchev demanded that the Western powers removed their troops from West Berlin within six months.

The USA and other Western powers refused, and between 1959 and 1961, four summits took place to resolve disagreements over Berlin.

Finally, none of the four summit meetings led to an agreement over Berlin, and the Paris and Vienna summits significantly increased tensions.

Well done for all of your hard work in today's lesson.

It's been a real pleasure teaching you and I hope to see you again in the near future.