Grade 12 The Cold War

SOURCE 1A The source below is an extract from a book titled The Berlin Wall: How It Rose and Why It Fell (1992). It highlights the agreements that were reached by the victorious powers regarding the administration of Germany after the Second World War. Even before the guns of war were silenced, the European Advisory Commission – a group formed by the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union – had begun to plan for the occupation of Germany. At that time, it was decided that Germany would be divided into three zones, one for each country, except France. Later at a conference held in February 1945 at Yalta, US President, Franklin D Roosevelt and the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, were able to convince Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader, to create a zone for France, which had suffered three invasions and two defeats at the hands of Germany within seventy years. Each of these four zones would be administered by the country occupying the area. On 12 April 1945 President Roosevelt died and the presidency of the United States of America passed to Harry Truman. On 17 July 1945 Truman, Churchill and Stalin met at Potsdam near Berlin. It was at this meeting that the final decisions were made regarding how Germany should be organised and where its borders would be drawn. The Allies agreed on a border in the west; a temporary line for the east was to be the Oder and western Neisse rivers. Each occupying country had to ensure that the Germans were not able to build up a military force again. The city of Berlin, 110 miles inside the eastern zone of the Soviets, became a special area for joint four-power control … Before the Soviet Army officially took control of its zone, there was a last-minute rush of people from east to west. They feared that the Russians would establish a more secure border, one that would be impossible to get through. [From The Berlin Wall: How It Rose and Why It Fell by DM Epler] 1.1.2 Why, according to the source, was it decided at Yalta in February 1945 to also create a zone for France in Germany?

SOURCE 1A The source below is an extract from a book titled The Berlin Wall: How It Rose and Why It Fell (1992). It highlights the agreements that were reached by the victorious powers regarding the administration of Germany after the Second World War. Even before the guns of war were silenced, the European Advisory Commission – a group formed by the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union – had begun to plan for the occupation of Germany. At that time, it was decided that Germany would be divided into three zones, one for each country, except France. Later at a conference held in February 1945 at Yalta, US President, Franklin D Roosevelt and the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, were able to convince Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader, to create a zone for France, which had suffered three invasions and two defeats at the hands of Germany within seventy years. Each of these four zones would be administered by the country occupying the area. On 12 April 1945 President Roosevelt died and the presidency of the United States of America passed to Harry Truman. On 17 July 1945 Truman, Churchill and Stalin met at Potsdam near Berlin. It was at this meeting that the final decisions were made regarding how Germany should be organised and where its borders would be drawn. The Allies agreed on a border in the west; a temporary line for the east was to be the Oder and western Neisse rivers. Each occupying country had to ensure that the Germans were not able to build up a military force again. The city of Berlin, 110 miles inside the eastern zone of the Soviets, became a special area for joint four-power control … Before the Soviet Army officially took control of its zone, there was a last-minute rush of people from east to west. They feared that the Russians would establish a more secure border, one that would be impossible to get through. [From The Berlin Wall: How It Rose and Why It Fell by DM Epler] 1.1.3 Explain why you think the occupying countries had 'to ensure that the Germans were not able to build up a military force again'.

SOURCE 1A The source below is an extract from a book titled The Berlin Wall: How It Rose and Why It Fell (1992). It highlights the agreements that were reached by the victorious powers regarding the administration of Germany after the Second World War. Even before the guns of war were silenced, the European Advisory Commission – a group formed by the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union – had begun to plan for the occupation of Germany. At that time, it was decided that Germany would be divided into three zones, one for each country, except France. Later at a conference held in February 1945 at Yalta, US President, Franklin D Roosevelt and the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, were able to convince Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader, to create a zone for France, which had suffered three invasions and two defeats at the hands of Germany within seventy years. Each of these four zones would be administered by the country occupying the area. On 12 April 1945 President Roosevelt died and the presidency of the United States of America passed to Harry Truman. On 17 July 1945 Truman, Churchill and Stalin met at Potsdam near Berlin. It was at this meeting that the final decisions were made regarding how Germany should be organised and where its borders would be drawn. The Allies agreed on a border in the west; a temporary line for the east was to be the Oder and western Neisse rivers. Each occupying country had to ensure that the Germans were not able to build up a military force again. The city of Berlin, 110 miles inside the eastern zone of the Soviets, became a special area for joint four-power control … Before the Soviet Army officially took control of its zone, there was a last-minute rush of people from east to west. They feared that the Russians would establish a more secure border, one that would be impossible to get through. [From The Berlin Wall: How It Rose and Why It Fell by DM Epler] 1.1.4 Comment on the implications of having the city of Berlin in the Soviet zone in the context of Cold War tensions between the USSR and the USA in 1948.

SOURCE 1B The source below is an extract from The Berlin Crisis: A Report on the Moscow Discussions, 1948 by the US Department of State delivered to the representatives of the USSR in Washington, London and Paris on 6 July 1948. It indicates the US's reaction to the Berlin Blockade. The Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and France decided to make formal representations to the government of the USSR. The Soviet Government was informed that the United States regarded the blockade measures as a 'clear violation of existing agreements concerning the administration of Berlin by the four occupying powers'. The United States Government categorically (firmly) asserted that it was in occupation of its sector of Berlin with free access thereto 'as a matter of established right derived from the defeat and surrender of Germany and confirmed by formal agreements among the principal Allies'. The United States also emphatically (forcefully) declared that it would 'not be induced (pushed) by threats, pressures or other actions to abandon these rights'. This consideration, together with responsibility for the physical well-being of the population of its sector of Berlin, including hundreds of thousands of women and children, obliged (forced) the United States to insist that 'in accordance with existing agreements the arrangements for the movement of freight and passenger traffic between the western zones and Berlin be fully restored'. The United States emphasised again its willingness to settle by negotiation, or by any of the other peaceful methods provided for in article 33 of the Charter of the United Nations. Specifically, the United States offered, once blockade measures were lifted, to participate in negotiations in Berlin among the four allied occupying authorities. [From The Berlin Crisis: A Report on the Moscow Discussions, 1948] 1.2.1 Define the term blockade in your own words.