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[[File:Soviet_Tanks_near_Checkpoint_Charlie.jpg|thumbnail|left|250px300px|Soviet Tanks face US Tanks at Checkpoint Charlie, Oct. 27, 1961 - picture from the CIA]]__NOTOC__On November 10, 1958, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev delivered a speech in which he demanded that the Western powers of the United States, Great Britain and France pull their forces out of West Berlin within six months. This ultimatum sparked a three year crisis over the future of the city of Berlin that culminated in 1961 with the building of the Berlin Wall. The division of Germany and its capital city of Berlin among the four victors of the Second World War was frozen in time by the onset of the Cold War despite the postwar agreements to unify the zones.
====Berlin showed contrasts between Communist and Capitalist Systems====
The United States heralded the economic success and political freedom of West Berlin as a symbol of the success of the capitalist system, and it was deeply committed to its security, so a Soviet decision to cut off land access again had the potential to lead to a more serious conflict between the two powers. At the same time, the existence of West Berlin was increasingly becoming a liability for the Soviet Union and the East German government. The divided city highlighted the sharp contrast between the communist and capitalist systems, and the freedom of movement between the sectors had resulted in a mass exodus from the eastern side.
====Khrushchev demands demanded that the US pullout of West Berlin====
Looking for a way to stop the flow of people from east to west and a means to check the growing military power of West Germany, Khrushchev insisted in his November 1958 speech that it was time for the United States to pull out of the city. The west interpreted his speech as an ultimatum, and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower became determined not to give in to Soviet demands. Instead, the two sides opened a foreign minister’s conference at Geneva in the summer of 1959 and made an attempt to negotiate a new agreement on Berlin. Khrushchev wanted the Western garrisons out of West Berlin as a precursor to reunifying the city, but Eisenhower believed that protecting the freedom of West Berlin required an ongoing U.S. presence.
====Conclusion====
The Berlin Wall remained in place until November 9, 1989, when the border between East and West Berlin was reopened and the wall itself was finally dismantled.
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* Republished from [https://history.state.gov/| Office of the Historian, United States Department of State]
* Article: [https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/berlin-crises| The Berlin Crisis, 1958–1961]
[[Category:US State Department]] [[Category:Wikis]][[Category:United States History]] [[Category: Cold War History]] [[Category:20th Century History]] [[Category:Political History]] [[Category:Diplomatic History]] [[Category:German History]] [[Category:Soviet Russian History]]
