The Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis

After 1949, Germany was split into a Communist East (East Germany / GDR) and a capitalist West. Berlin, deep inside the East, was itself divided — and the border between West and East Berlin was still open.

This open border became a huge problem for the Communists. Between 1949 and 1961, around three million East Germans escaped to the West through Berlin. Many were young, skilled workers — doctors, engineers, teachers — whose loss damaged the East German economy.

The refugee flood was also a propaganda disaster. If communism was so good, why were millions voting with their feet and running to the capitalist West?

Berlin was the one gap in the Iron Curtain that people could still slip through. By 1961, Khrushchev and the East German leader Walter Ulbricht decided it had to be closed.

On the night of 13 August 1961, East German troops sealed the border between East and West Berlin, first with barbed wire and then with a concrete wall. Families were split overnight. Guards were ordered to shoot people trying to cross.

Kennedy's response is often misunderstood. He did not tear the Wall down or send troops through it — that risked war. Instead:

Kennedy's action	Purpose
Accepted the Wall's existence	Avoided a war over Berlin; the Wall did not block West Berlin's access to the West
Sent troops and Vice-President Johnson to West Berlin	Reassured West Berliners the USA would not abandon them
Made propaganda use of it	Presented the Wall as proof communism had failed

In June 1963 Kennedy visited West Berlin and declared "Ich bin ein Berliner" ("I am a Berliner"), turning the Wall into a symbol of Communist weakness.

The Wall was a Cold War paradox: it reduced the risk of war (by stabilising Berlin) while becoming the most powerful symbol of the divided world for the next 28 years.

Cuba sits just 90 miles from the US coast. In 1959, Fidel Castro seized power in a revolution, overthrowing a US-friendly dictator. Castro took over American-owned businesses and, when the USA cut ties, turned to the USSR for support. A Communist ally on America's doorstep was alarming.

In April 1961, the USA backed an invasion by anti-Castro Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs. It was a disaster: the exiles were quickly defeated, and US involvement was exposed. The failure:

• Humiliated the new President Kennedy
• Pushed Castro closer to the USSR for protection
• Gave Khrushchev the opening to place nuclear missiles on Cuba in 1962

Chronology warning: the Bay of Pigs (April 1961) came before any missiles were on Cuba. Examiners note students wrongly assuming missiles were already in place during the Bay of Pigs. Keep the order clear: Bay of Pigs first, missile crisis in 1962.

On 14 October 1962, an American U2 spy plane photographed Soviet nuclear missile sites being built on Cuba. Missiles there could hit most American cities within minutes. This began 13 days of the most dangerous confrontation of the Cold War.

14 Oct  U2 photos reveal Soviet missile sites under construction on Cuba
16 Oct  Kennedy told; forms a crisis committee (ExComm) to decide a response
22 Oct  Kennedy announces a naval "quarantine" (blockade) of Cuba on TV
24 Oct  Soviet ships approach the blockade line, then stop and turn back
26 Oct  Khrushchev letter: remove missiles if USA promises not to invade Cuba
27 Oct  Second, tougher letter demands US missiles leave Turkey; a U2 is shot down over Cuba
28 Oct  Khrushchev agrees to remove the missiles — crisis ends

Kennedy chose the quarantine — a middle path between doing nothing and invading. It was brinkmanship: pushing to the edge of war to force the other side to back down without firing the first shot.

The settlement was a carefully balanced deal that let both leaders claim success:

Side	What they gained	What they gave
USSR (Khrushchev)	US public pledge not to invade Cuba; secret removal of US Jupiter missiles from Turkey	Removed its missiles from Cuba
USA (Kennedy)	Soviet missiles removed from Cuba; appeared to "win" publicly	Secret promise to remove Turkey missiles; pledge not to invade Cuba

The removal of the Jupiter missiles from Turkey was kept secret, so publicly it looked like Khrushchev had backed down. In reality both sides compromised.

Consequences — the crisis actually reduced tension afterwards:

• A hotline (direct phone link) was set up between Moscow and Washington in 1963 to prevent misunderstandings.
• The Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963) banned above-ground nuclear tests.
• Both sides, shocked by how near war they had come, took the first steps towards the later détente.

1. Saying Kennedy destroyed the Berlin Wall

Kennedy did not knock the Wall down. He accepted it to avoid war and used it for propaganda. The Wall stood until 1989.

2. Muddling the Cuban chronology

The Bay of Pigs (April 1961) happened before the Missile Crisis (October 1962). Missiles were not on Cuba during the Bay of Pigs. Get the sequence right.

3. Ignoring the secret Turkey deal

Many students think Khrushchev simply surrendered. The USA secretly agreed to remove missiles from Turkey, and publicly promised not to invade Cuba. The crisis ended in a compromise, not a total US victory.

4. Describing events without explaining significance

For "write an account" and essay questions, explain why these events mattered — the Wall as a symbol of a divided world, the missile crisis as the closest brush with nuclear war and the trigger for the hotline. Do not just narrate.

5. Getting the distance and threat wrong

Cuba is about 90 miles from the USA. The danger was that Soviet missiles based there could strike American cities with almost no warning. This closeness is the whole reason the crisis was so serious.