How the Berlin Wall Started - Berlin Crisis 1961 - Cold War DOCUMENTARY
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Our historical documentary series on the history of the Cold War continues with a video that will cover the Berlin Crisis of 1961. In this video we will talk about the tensions between the USSR and the US, UK, and France alliance (NATO) and how this tension led to the beginning of the construction of the Berlin Wall.
The script for the video was researched and written by Chronology Cast. Check out his channel if you want to see more fun historical videos: / @chronologycast
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Dad was stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany, and in 1965 when I was 14, my parents decided we should see Berlin. It was an eerie feeling on a rainy night to ride in a train that was enclosed on both sides by walls with barbed wire on top. West Berlin was full of life, lights and modern enthusiasm. By comparison, East Berlin still displayed the bombed out buildings and the buildings were lit very sparsely. Mom told me we were going shopping, but I found myself on a tour bus going to East Berlin. "I couldn't tell you because we are not allowed here because of your Dad's top secret clearances, so I didn't want to tell him until after we do this." "But, why does that matter?" I asked. "Well, if they were to apprehend us for some reason they feel your dad could be compromised." And with that we were on a bus crossing Check Point Charlie. The tour consisted of a drive around the lonely streets, a brief stop at a tired diner and a visit to a war memorial. It was an experience I'll always remember, made more vivid by seeing the guards with long rifles everywhere we went. I had been raised on bases around the world, but not encountered seeing service men walking about with huge guns.
That's FASCINATING. I love getting to know first-hand experiences in Cold War divided regions such as yours, they're the invaluable little monuments of insight into the period.
Yup. I also went to east Berlin in 1970 on a tour bus and remember exactly like you've said. The contrast of the west and east is tremendous. The buildings, people are not smiling and guards everywhere. I was only 13. I don't know how my dad got that tour tickets but I'm glad he did
The seeds of the Berlin wall began with the CIA and the KGB. The USSR did not build the wall, East Germany did. The USSR paid for it. And Kennedy did not challenge it.Why would he if he actually led to it's construction. But it was the company who masterminded it not JFCK. East Germany had lost several million inhabitants since the end of the war, a tremendous drain on it's labor pool. How do you agitate that, hurry it up, make it worse. That was the company's job. The USSR was still reeling from the propaganda failure of the blockade and were not necessarily eager to face another failure. It was the idea of the mayor of East Berlin to build the wall. The USSR told him that's OK as long as the Amis don't complain. That was the word on the street and the intelligence communities. JFCK profited from this politically. It was East Germany who was suffering economically not the USSR. I knew a Mormon missionary who was there who told me some of the word on the street. JFCK was a joke to the young people of Berlin, who renamed a pastry after him. Some of my best buddies in the Navy were Mormons, crazy MFs.
Had to rewind that part: "Yeah, he said it."
I did not see that F-Bomb coming haha. Nicely done David
i paused and rewinded like what
FAFO...
I was about to say something very similar but I see that has already been covered lol 😂
@@TheColdWarTV ...FAFO is probably the best short summary of the Cold War as a whole.
@@mikebaker2436 It sums up the origins of several wars. Somebody just had to f*ck around.
18:32 Oh my... Did NOT expect that one
"This kind of fucking around, however...."
'Bout fell out of my chair hearing that.😁😁😁
The F-bomb was so unexpected and yet so refreshing to hear! Thanks David and the The Cold War team.
Correctly used for comedic purposed haha
12:30 Walter Ulbricht was not "Mayor of East Berlin" but head of the SED (East Germany's ruling party) and head of state of the GDR.
Also, although many east german politicians and their supporters believed in communist ideas and ideals, the GDR was socialist, not communist. And yes, there is a difference.
In 1978 I was in the Marine Corps Reserves and looking for a job. I briefly flirted with going full time Marine Corps and the Army recruiter offered me MP duty in West Germany. I turned it down, and my life turned out pretty good in the ensuing years, but I often wished I had got to experience some of that. I didn't realize that I was living through historical times and would have liked to experience what it was like in the Eastern Bloc. Now that I'm older, I am enthralled by Cold War history. What amazes me are some of the things that are just now coming to light that I lived through, without having any clue that they were going on. I just remember being taught to fight the USSR, then 20 years later going to a training class, which was held at the FBI academy, with a Russian citizen. It was all so surreal.
To be fair, had you served there, there would have been no need to cross over to visit, the German archives have a good material on how the foreign intelligence arm of the Stasi sent agents to seduce and observe GIs. Even if you had crossed over on a day trip, until the regular demonstrations in the mid-80s, for two good decades the COMECON spent a good deal of money to prop up the GDR as the Japan of the Eastern Bloc, so at best you would have seen a showcase of a false allure that wasn't a real representation of us.
Hearing David drop "fuck" might be one of the most unexpected things I have encountered as of late.
But did you catch the "and found out" trailer?
@@CUTSCOLOR1 Indeed I did
My uncle was stationed in West Germany in the 1960s. I remember him telling me that when traveling on the access road to West Berlin they were specifically ordered never to accept any East German authority in any form, only Soviet authority.
"Contentious times" - you can say that again.
Damn this channel is amazing. Watching this excellent episode and wishing for the future one on the Cuban missile crisis, i would love to see this channel do an episode on the excellent movie dr Strangelove which, amazingly, got released just 2-3 years after almost nuclear annihilation, mocking both sides. A true masterpiece!
Bro sealed the deal on my heart with the strongest “fuck!ng around” I’ve heard ❤
I took a chunk of the wall in 1967 and passed through Check Point Charlie
I was stationed in Berlin from 1980 to 1985 it is a beautiful city with a rich history but it was also a city that you knew you had to be watchful in and that if the balloon went up chances were you would be be dead 30min later we figured that's how long it would take for a ICBM to get there😁😁😁😁
The Berlin Garrisons were recognised as being just a speedbump...slow em down for as long as possible.
Honestly, Berlin would probably be one of the safer cities to be in when the cold war got hot. I doubt either the USA nor the USSR would be comfortable nuking an allied city like that. After all nuclear explosions dont usually recognize borders so whichever half of Berlin you wanna nuke the other half gets it too. Plus both the Soviets and NATO didnt expect Berlin to hold out very long anyways so whats the point. Ofc "safe" is a relative term, there would still likely be heavy fighting and destruction of the non-nuclear kind....
I was part of a cruise missile unit in the Eiffel region of West Germany from '85 to '90. It would not have been an ICBM. Still, our birds would need about 30 minutes to reach Berlin. 🙃
How many 🎈?
What about 99 red balloons?
Shortly before the wall was built Ulbricht famously declared: „No one has the intention to construct a wall“.
To this day this is arguably the most well known political lie in Germany
Very close second to "Here I am standing across social democrats, Christian socialists and Christian democrats who all feared if I came to power I would close down the Reichstag" and closely follow by "but I love you all" said by Erich Mielke.
The Berlin Wall had several crossing points apart from Checkpoint Charlie, and I can tell you British troops were also deployed at checkpoints so it was not just an American show. There are some great pictures on line of British Centurion tanks of the 4th Royal tank Regiment guarding crossings in Berlin.
What about the French?
The script for the video was researched and written by Chronology Cast. Check out his channel if you want to see more fun historical videos: www.youtube.com/@ChronologyCast
Good script, though there were omissions, and certain mistakes. Others have pointed out that you've mislabeled Ulbricht as mayor instead as SED leader, there was omission on the prelude to reconstructing and expanding the Outer Berlin Ring to allow for the wall be built within the city as traffic could avoid Berlin by early Summer of '61. That's what they were working on.
As for what could have been done, we don't need to speculate. In the fall of 1961, a young German worker got into a fight with his mother, not for the first time. He decided to put his plan into motion and, taking advantage of the fact that railroad works were near his home, he jumped onto an American military train heading toward West Germany. As a simple citizen, he was not privy to the details of transit treaties, and was unaware that in the territory of the GDR, between Checkpoint Bravo and Alpha, the train had to use the Deutsche Reichsbahn, and the conductor, as well as that driver, were East Germans, politically reliable.
Once inside the train, he felt he was safe, but again, he was unaware that the treaty involved a tightly kept manifest. Meaning, once the conductor recognized they had a stowaway, he reported it to the Soviets in Marienborn. This led to a stalemate since the Soviets couldn't board the train, but they were also unwilling to let it pass through. The American officer fighting valiantly for the man's freedom died in 2009, yet he got to meet his refugee before that. I'm saying valiantly, because his failed escape draws parallels with wet feet dry feet. Sure, we put you on the cover of Time magazine jumping over the barbed wire, if you manage to escape on your own, if we need to help, then you're on your own.
The American personnel received orders from Berlin and DC to hand the man over to avoid an international incident, yet those on train kept as long as they could with the official US mantra that they fight for the free world. Eventually they had to turn him over and the man was thrown into an unheated, unlit cell naked in subzero temperatures, catching pneumonia and barely surviving. So if you ask what Western Allies could have done, this is your answer.
The other omission I feel is that the subject wasn't framed through the lens of a recurring fear of global white racism, namely that being actually compassionate instead of a fake one, they would be forced to admit that they never fought to liberate the world of communism, they fought to prevent change at home so they don't need to treat others as human beings. Berlin was a peculiar case for Dixiecrats, since on the one hand it was a society oppressed by communists (similar to Jim Crow, though not comparable in intent), but on the other they were still former enemy, and let's be frank , the Soviets easily exposing the Gehlen Organisation as a Nazi forefather to the BND was a PR blow.
Kim Il Sung: You know something? If the Soviets can build a wall that divides a city, then I can build on to divide my country.
Only he never had such a plan, and with Chinese help almost succeeded in taking the whole country.
Greetings David. The Cuban missile crisis was only the closest point of the Cold War turning 'hot,' up to that moment in time. I would suggest the period during the 'Operation: Able Archer' training exercise, in 1983, was even more closer, hinged on the judgement of a single missileer.
If you are able to find it, the Channel4 documentary '1983' gives you a flavour of how serious it was.
18:30 this time of F"$king around ☠☠☠
Didn't expect a fuck around and find out pun here
Another great episode all. Much appreciated.
Thanks
Great job on the script and the photodocs. Thank you, sir.
Dude do an episode about 99 Luftballoons
Didn't expect that "This Type of of Fucking around..."
Great video, really clear explanation
You sir, are a badass.
Love the channel
Great work, good job
To this very day, in Cuban schools, they teach that the wall was built by the West. I was horrified to find this out while on holiday in Cuba.
.
.
It is so hard to believe how crazy the Cold War era had become..... until we look at our present day outrageous craziness of Russia invading sovereign countries (Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova). When it comes to political craziness - there is only one factor here: Russia.
I remember reading about one black communist woman calling berlin wall anti fascist wall. She was totally against its broking. You would think being black in usa she would sympthaize with them
youre wrong. there was different times back then. Russia lost over 27 million people defeating the Nazis. 80% of the troops who died in ww2 was russian.
you should also not be ignorant towards how russia and most of the world viewed the US after the nuclear bombs they used on civilians in Japan...
Russia was very weak and disabled after ww2. They barely had any men left who could rebuild the country. But they did everything they could to not have nuclear bombs on their boarder.
Also again. you are very ignorant about the US political crazyness. Here you have a country withj almost 800 military bases around the world. Replacing governments. Bombing and killing.
They have killed many many millions. Displaced even more. Leveled countless cities to the ground. No country on earth comes even close to the US killing machine.
Since you are here on a history channel. Maybe you should start to learn some history.
That seems an indefensible assertation; we have hundreds of photos of people wearing East German military reserve uniforms and even active military actually laying the initial wall bricks and barbed wire, while West German soldiers stood meters away watching the spectacle...
18:32 I spit my coffee out when I heard this one 😂
This was an excellent video o the Berlin Wall. I would love to see a video series on the various escapes East German's made to the west during the Cold War. They're all quite interesting stories.
Loved my 3 year tour in W. Berlin.
Here come the 13 days.
The last communist Prime minister of East Germany died earlier today, will you be covering the various aims of both sides of the German divide in the run up to reunification. I know you have previously layed out the status's of the 2 Germanys in a previous video. Great video by the way 👏🏼.
Hell yes love the cold war stuff its interesting. Pls keep doing good work guys it's badass
Just one thing: Walter Ulbricht was Chairman of the State Council of East Germany, not mayor of East Berlin (a job Wikipedia fails to mention)...
I did my military service in Berlin between December 1987 and September 1989, in the same unit as my best friend's father in 1961!
Small Correction: Walter Ulbricht was not the Mayor of East Berlin, but the first Secretary of the Central Committee....
Fantastic episode. I've been to the old wall in Berlin where reminants of it existed (at the time) and it's still quite sobering. What does it say about a political and social system that you have to erect a barrier to keep people IN and not keep them OUT.
God I love this channel
Please do a video on the 1983 Archer Able Exercise
Cold War Conversations coaster...! 😀👍
Kruschov, the ussr's number one kukurusnik.
Have people in your life that look at you the way Nikita looks at corn.
@@TheColdWarTV and someone who kisses you like Breshnev kisses a communist cadre. Love the channel. Been here since day one.
@@TheColdWarTV Well, way better than Rákosi pissing that got photoshopped into Rákosi looking at grain.
What happened to the Baltic States history series (if it was intended to be such trilogy). This channel released one episode about initial occupation and the second about the life under it (not, that I need to know such things, I am Lithuanian, but I like when others know it so they understand why we distrusted and now fear and hate Putin’s Russkya/Moskovia). So where is the third part talking about singing revolution and independence movements. Was it not popular enough, ran out of research, fear of algorithm gods?
Sorry for bad English and “essay” comment
Cool video also
We will come back to the subject a bit later, when we start getting into the Soviet collapse...the Baltic states play such a key and integral part of that process, but because it comes close to the end of the story, we don't want to jump really far ahead.
@@TheColdWarTV Okay, thanks, I was starting to believe this was due to algorithm.
@@TheColdWarTV Interesting choice considering how the anticommunist resistance fighting ended in Lithuania in 1958, and given how much time has passed, current political climate or not, it's still worth looking into who was a non-fascist anticommunist and who were remainers, which weakened resistance. I mean, kind of hard to tell people "Here's this CIA money to buy guns, and once the Soviets are gone, things go back as they were". A large factor in the lack of uprising from the agrarian class was the valid fear, based on centuries of experiences, that with the Soviets gone, the old ruling class comes back.
I will, to my dying breath, not ignore that our demonstrations happened in the 1980s exactly because theirs was the first generation from a literal new society that didn't want toi go back to the old ways.
Great documentary - as all yours are- but please: WHY THE "F"-BOMB at 18:33? I5 means I can't show this to my classes at school. : (
Please do a video on hundred flowers campaign
Correction: Walter Ulbricht was East Germany's leader _not_ the mayor of East Berlin.
cold war in a nutshell: "Who's crazier? The one about to shoot themselves? Or the person about to shoot the person about to shoot themselves?"
Correction: Walter Ulbricht was never the mayor of East Berlin, but the secretary general of the SED and therefore and the president of the ZK, and therefore the de facto head of state of the GDR. His nickname was "Billy Goat".
Oh, I'm so glad the bell button abuse is back
👏👍
I think we all just found out
The Cold war really began!!
F**k around and find out! Great video.
Did France not participate in the Berlin airlift or you just didn't mention them? It's very interesting you talking about Kruschev seeing negotiations as the use of force and strength. You could easily put that sentence in today's Russia and Vladimir Putin's and by extension the Russian people's view of the world. We know Putin is obsessed with his role as a strong man and the masculine view of governing as strength and bullying of weaker-real or perceived powers.
France only participated with a small number of aircraft but they did help in the airlift by building larger runways at Tegal airport, so not directly helping much in the airlift they did majorly help with the overcrowding at Tempelhof
Greetings from Berlin!
Kind like north and south Korea, one side is better than the other.
🙂
Nordhafen isn't the river that runs through Berlin. The Spree runs through Berlin.
what is the purpose of your 2nd camera?
Informative and enjoyable documentary about those pages of cold 🥶 war.. thanks for sharing..during WW2 whole Berlin occupied by Soviet troops...besides of half of German land...it seems idiot & weaknesses behavior of USSR leaders in Potsdam negotiations ( conversations)...USSR leaders always losses USSR interested by deceiver power of westerner negotiating 🤣..after awhile USSR leaders realized they were deceived..they showed vacuum solidifying attitudes against NATO ...USA realized USSR weaknesses through flying spying airplanes ✈️ even satellites 🛰 ...this recycling ♻️ negotiation deceives & falsely strength 💪 shows continued during cold War years
13 days is to come "sloopers"
Wonder what the TH-cam comment of the week will be 🧐
The bomb caught me off guard unironically lol. Cursing is so much more effective when not used liberally.
Any planned video on why "the West" was so adamant in co-occupying Berlin, a half city in the heart of Soviet union and what made Stalin accepted this situation?
History matters did one
They did not want to give one inch of ground to the Reds that they didn't have to.
@@NikkyElso On the already occupied territory I get that. But the allied forces halted at the Elbe river, 60 miles/100km from Berlin. That's where I'm not sure how they managed, after the war ended, to push their forces into Berlin West.
Berlin was the capital of a defeated German. Part of the occupation agreement was that the capital would be jointly occupied while a peace treaty was worked out, which would have stipulated what kind of unified German would be formed. No peace agreement was arranged, the occupation went on, the Cold War really kicked off and Berlin became a symbol of the West behind the Iron Curtain.
As for how the Allied troops got to Berlin after the German surrender in May of 1945, it took a few weeks after the surrender but Allied troops were allowed by the Soviets to proceed forward to Berlin.
@@TheColdWarTV Thanks, from your comment and further readings since it does have a vibe of "We'll deal with it later. We never dealt with it". Very human situation in all its imperfection.
Nicely done ✔️ due to (NATO & it's leader USA 🇺🇸)...prospective.....since 1961 ...USA realized USSR too weakness state...that had not serious threats on capitalistic ( democracy) countries....3rd world countries were Devaney in their internal & regional crisis...
7:58 the green screen broke the office illusion
"This type of fucking around" lol
You forgot to mention Bob the Builder built it. It was covered by DocuDubery.
Hier Darcho Jandreoski Pegasus Galaktica 7 ich war hier Planet Erde habe gesagt das hier in Planet Erde keine Menschen überleben / Leben können - ich sagte - keine - Mensch kann hier überleben ohne Maschinen in den Organe.
Algorithm
well it looks like you keep doing it in the second half of the video, don't say i didn't warn you...
talk about brazil or albania
BRAIN DRAIN HAS BEEN SAID BEFORE SO MUST BE RIGHT 👉.
Comercial way to long in your videos 🧐
I always found it ridiculous that France got a corner of Germany as if they was a power country when in reality they collapsed within weeks of invasion of Germany. France should have felt lucky they got liberated and tbh they should have been entitled to NONE of the spoils
You know constant editorializing about "Soviet puppets" under totalitarianism and "western allies" fighting for freedom makes you look childish.
Truth hurts, doesn’t it?
@@Evil0tto The Russians left peacefully, meanwhile the Americans still occupy Europe.
So who are the real puppets?
@@poi2lkj3mnb Having a military presence is not the same as "occupation." The Europeans could kick the Americans out tomorrow if they wanted to. Stop being dishonest. The Soviets ruled the Iron Curtain countries; America doesn't rule its allies.
@@Evil0tto You can throw roses on a pile of shit all you want. It still stinks.
@@poi2lkj3mnb That's it, huh? That was the best defense you could come up with for your claim?
Run along, kid. Grownups are talking.
The F-bomb was unnecessary and disappointing from this channel. Keep it professional.
Ahh don’t be a wuss
The Western exclave not enclave ...
The West is the best, get there snd we'll do the rest.
Did you really stoop to profanity? Be better than that.
First and only one. I can see the point of that saying. Besides, it's just a meme. Loosen up a bit.
This is the freaking Cold War. A lot of things in this time period deserve more than a SINGLE utterance of an expletive...
Chill the F out.
🤓
you don't expand on your imagery, and you stutter over details...
by stutter i mean that you detract from the main dialogue with irrelevant details such as calling Kruschev, Kruschov, which, I am trying to know about the Berlin Wall, I'm not trying to learn the Russian pronounciation of his name... It's a little detail that you use to make yourself seem more intellectual in the face of your interlocutor, but despite knowing who Kruschev is, I have to think about who this Kruschov guy is you're taking about every time, and I'm missing important parts meanwhile. It's also peevey...
So you see what I did there? you "stutter over details", you didn't know what i meant by "stutter", i had to expand at length onto that for you to know what i meant, we don't know each other, and you're not a specialist in whatever I'm taking about. you're not apt to appreciate the nuances of language i could use to express myself. likewise, I'm not a specialist in history, but your video isn't meant for specials, it's meant for a general audience, so you should adapt your text for the audience it's meant for.
and in "you don't expand on your imagery", i mean that using words like "honeymoon" (over the city), and other words that are meant to give a sort of richer context, while using few words, again, I'm not a specialist, this is a standalone video, it's not part of a semester course, i have no idea what you mean by "honeymoon over the city", ...
i have paused your video five times to look at maps, and rewound it at least twenty times because i had to think... you might think "oh that's a good thing", but it's not! i spend my days watching videos like yours, on a plethora of subjects, and i almost never have to pause, and i almost never have to look at maps.
... it's like you're taking revenge for having to go to school, or struggling in your years of training.
i'm going to keep watching, but if you do this again, i'm unsubscribing.