Several meetings and negotiations between the East and West directly and indirectly contributed to the rise of the Berlin Wall, spanning from the Yalta Conference, introducing Soviet influence and a division of Germany, to the Vienna Conference, which ultimately proved to be the culmination of previously built tension.
Yalta & Potsdam
The earliest of these negotiations was the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences, occurring in February and July of 1945 - a post-WWII and pre-Cold War timeframe. The Yalta Conference fundamentally gave the Soviets power in Germany, as the country was split into four different occupation zones on the agreement of Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill, as Germany had not been defeated at this point in time. Figure 1 demonstrates the way that Germany was split. The Soviet Union would occupy one of these zones, proving to be one of the first instances where they would have major power in the country. Berlin was inside of the Soviet occupation zone. Also at Yalta, Stalin promised free elections in Eastern Europe, a promise that was broken soon afterwards, installing Soviet Union-dominated governments. This was an early sign of rising tensions between the East and the West, helped by the Potsdam Conference that followed later in the same year. This conference produced a lot of disagreement, as Germany had recently been defeated, Roosevelt had died, and Churchill had lost the 1945 election. There were arguments about the borders of the occupation zones, and peace treaties were to be concluded. America and Britain were also concerned about the communists coming to power in Eastern Europe. Author and renowned History teacher, Justin Briggs, concluded about these negotiations that “Potsdam saw relations between the Allies deteriorate as a division in Europe between democratic and communist governments followed a geographic pattern based on Soviet occupation” (Justin Briggs, 2010, pg. 56).
Rising Tensions
As the Soviet influence in Europe was climbing at an alarming rate, President Truman gave a speech calling for the containment of communism to the U.S congress in March 1947, becoming known as the “Truman Doctrine.” The mechanism for this became the Marshall Plan, which was the initiative to aid Western Europe of modernising industry, removing trade barriers, and notably, ridding the region of communism. The USSR rejected this assistance, making sure that none of its familiar countries receive it either. M. Hogan describes how the Truman Doctrine impacted the East Germans, stating that it “…struck the Soviets as an aggressive speech that sought to being Germany into the Western field…” (M. Hogan, 1987, pg 36). The Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan were further elements than added to Soviet and Allied tensions.
Following disagreements regarding reconstruction and a new German currency, the East instituted the Berlin Blockade, preventing food, materials, and supplies from arriving in West Berlin. This was yet another vital event in the building of strained relations between the two sides. Justin Briggs, again comments on the topic of tensions in Germany, stating “In the West, public opinion was outraged at Stalin and the Soviets’ behaviour and there was an outburst of anti-communist feeling at both government and citizen levels” (Justin Briggs, 2010, pg 57).
Following disagreements regarding reconstruction and a new German currency, the East instituted the Berlin Blockade, preventing food, materials, and supplies from arriving in West Berlin. This was yet another vital event in the building of strained relations between the two sides. Justin Briggs, again comments on the topic of tensions in Germany, stating “In the West, public opinion was outraged at Stalin and the Soviets’ behaviour and there was an outburst of anti-communist feeling at both government and citizen levels” (Justin Briggs, 2010, pg 57).
NATO
The friction being felt by both sides that led to the rise of the Berlin Wall took another leap when NATO was formed in April 1949. This stood for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the basis being that an attack on any one of the twelve signatories involved in NATO was an attack on them all. Studier of Anglo-American relations at Cambridge University, Mike Sewell, gives a good insight into why the organisation was formed: “…the NATO alliance was facilitated by fears about Berlin and the changes in government in what were now called the ‘satellite states’” (Mike Sewell, 2002, pg 41). The defence forces of the twelve countries, not including Russia,, were put under joint command. This organisation was a wounding blow for the Soviets, as according to historian Michael Kort, “NATO created a devastating defeat for Soviet Policy in Europe by institutionalising the Cold War and signalling an unnatural division of Europe into a capitalist West and a communist East” (Michael Kort, 1998). West Germany was admitted to NATO in 1954. This saw a clear political division with the creation of the separate states of West and East Germany.
Vienna Conference
The final and most direct negotiation that was responsible for the rise of the Berlin Wall was the Vienna Conference of June 1961, where U.S President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev met to discuss the mass exodus of people emigrating from West to East Berlin. These defections were damaging and embarrassing the Soviet Union, as according to Thomas Flemming, 2,691,270 East Germans had left East Berlin for West Berlin across the years of 1949-1961 (Thomas Flemming, 2011, pg 7) (refer to Figure 2). At the Vienna Conference, Khrushchev proposed to sign a peace treaty with East Germany, which would give the East Germans control of road, rail and canal links. This would also provide the Soviets with continued national security and would guard against a united Germany. Also at this meeting, Khrushchev insisted that the U.S withdraw from Berlin by the end of the year, and brought up the prospect of war, something that was unheard of and damned by Kennedy. Mike Sewell outlines how this was a possibility in his book: “At Vienna… the prospect of ‘a cold winter’ of confrontation, perhaps even war, loomed” (Mike Sewell, 2002, pg 72). The conference toughened Kennedy to the task of avoiding being driven out of Berlin. Khrushchev was dissatisfied with Kennedy’s response of “…the national security of the United States is directly related to that of Berlin”, banging on the table, exploding “We cannot and will not permit the communists of driving us out of Berlin!” (Nikita Khrushchev, 1961). Vienna was a failure, being described by Atlantic Council CEO, Frederick Kempe, as a “poor performance” (Frederick Kempe, 2011, pg 255) from both leaders. This conference was the culmination of rising tensions dating from 1945 to 1961, as shortly afterwards, the Berlin Wall was built.