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All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce lesson material for classroom use only.
ISBN 1-59884-000-0 EAN-978-1-59884-000-0
COVER PHOTO: Berliners dance on top of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 after East Germans
were given the right to visit West Berlin. In the weeks that followed, the wall was almost entirely
demolished. Germany was reunified less than a year later in October 1990.
ii
Contents
About the Development Team
Series Introduction
Introduction
Need to Know
Timeline
6
What If?
6
Handout A
Activity 2
v
1
Defining Moment
Activity 1
iv
1
3
9
10
27
Student Handout B
28
Student Worksheet Speech A
30
Student Worksheet Speech B
31
Pairs Worksheet
32
Ready Reference
33
National Standards Correlations
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iii
About the Development Team
LEE W. EYSTURLID
ILLINOIS MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE ACADEMY
Lee W. Eysturlid is a history/social science instructor at Illinois Mathematics and
Science Academy. Dr. Eysturlid has a PhD in history from Purdue University and
is a member of the Citadel Historical Association. He has published on
numerous military history topics and is an ABC-CLIO History Fellow.
JEREMY GYPTON
EMPIRE HIGH SCHOOL
Jeremy Gypton is a history/government teacher at Empire High School in
Tucson, Arizona. Gypton received his Masters from American Military
University and Bachelors from the University of Arizona. He was named
Arizona’s Outstanding American History Teacher by the Daughters of the
American Revolution, and is an ABC-CLIO Fellow.
CHRIS MULLIN
SANTA YNEZ VALLEY UNION HIGH SCHOOL
Chris Mullin graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a
degree in classical Greek and Latin and received his Master’s degree in education
from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Chris teaches Latin,
Advanced Placement European history, and Advanced Placement United States
history. In 2003, Chris was named California Teacher of the Year for his
passionate and innovative approaches to teaching history.
BRETT PIERSMA
SANTA YNEZ VALLEY UNION HIGH SCHOOL
Brett Piersma received his BA in History and his Masters of Education and
teaching credential at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He teaches AP
European History, AP American Government, and College Preparatory World
Cultures. He has facilitated the California History—Social Science Project at
UCSB twice and is a MetLife Fellow for the Teacher’s Network Leadership
Institute.
Portions of this workbook were drawn from ABC-CLIO's Turning Points—Actual and Alternate Histories series, edited by
Rodney P. Carlisle and Geoffrey Golson. For ordering information, please visit www.abc-clio.com
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iv
Series Introduction
This packet is part of a 34-part series of primary source—based lessons for high school American History
courses. Each packet focuses on one defining moment in our history, with specific background information
and key concepts to help teachers become more knowledgeable in the history they are charged with teaching.
To help with classroom lessons, two activities are included in the packet: one based on the real history, the
other on a “counterfactual”—alternate—history. Both activities are rooted in student analysis of primary
source material, and both will help teachers meet standards-based requirements through varied and stimulating
teaching methods.
Every packet is arranged in the same manner. Teachers need to read the Introduction, which provides a “big
picture” survey of the period of history in question. The Defining Moment is a short passage that focuses on
a single, key event that was a turning point in history—a fork in the road after which the behaviors and fortunes of individuals, peoples, and places changed. The Need to Know section provides a more detailed discussion of the events leading up to and including the Defining Moment; this is followed by a short Timeline
of events. These first several pages are concerned entirely with history as it actually happened. The What If?
section supposes what might or could have taken place if events within the Defining Moment turned out differently.
The final components are the two Activities, each based on primary source documents. Activity 1 is based
on the real history and is intended to help students learn the facts and understand the concepts—enabling
teachers to meet the requirements of standards-based lessons. Activity 2 is based on the counterfactual history.
Both lessons require creative, analytical thinking and include work across the spectrum of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
To help teachers, each lesson also includes explicit lesson objectives, materials needed, and specific instructions.
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Introduction
Introduction
Mikhail Gorbachev became the general secretary of
the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU)
on March 11, 1985. At the Central Committee
plenum on January 27, 1987, Gorbachev introduced
reforms that were ultimately instituted over the
course of the next five years during what became
known as the Moscow Spring. Bundled together
under the umbrella term “perestroika,” Gorbachev’s
reforms included arms reduction and a verbal commitment to world peace.
At the same time that Gorbachev was instituting
perestroika in the Soviet Union, the United States
was restructuring its own economy under the hand
of President Ronald Reagan’s economic reforms. In
the summer of 1987, Reagan headed for Venice, Italy,
to attend the annual meeting of the Group of Seven
where global economic policies were to be established.
While in Europe, Reagan visited Germany, where
on June 12, 1987, in a broadcast heard throughout
North America and Europe, including East Berlin,
he spoke directly to the people of Germany, insisting that there was only one Berlin in the eyes of the
rest of the world. Speaking in front of the Brandenburg Gate, Reagan referred to the Berlin Wall as a
“scar” that was a blight on the cause of freedom. In
typical Reagan rhetoric, the president charged
Mikhail Gorbachev with proving that he was committed to world peace by opening the gate to freedom. While Gorbachev did not accept Reagan’s
challenge and did not at that time express any interest in ceding East Germany, the fall of communism
and the rise of nationalism set off a chain of events
that led to the opening of the Berlin Wall at midnight
on November 9, 1989.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev is pictured during a visit
with U.S. president Ronald Reagan at the Geneva Summit
in Switzerland on November 11, 1985. (Ronald Reagan
Library)
Defining Moment
For hard-liners who blamed Gorbachev for rising nationalism, the fall of the Berlin Wall proved to be the
turning point that motivated them to fight the Soviet leader openly and initiate the August Coup (in which
hard-liners attempted to oust Gorbachev), which set off a chain of events that ultimately led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. After World War II, Germany had been divided to prevent the belligerent nation that
had initiated both world wars from being in a position to start a third world war. The capital city Berlin had
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Defining Moment
also been divided, with the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union each taking over a section of the city. After order was restored, West Berlin was returned to Germany. However, East Germany fell
under the long arm of the Soviet Union.
In most of the Soviet republics, reform movements were made up of dissidents who rejected totalitarianism and its restraints on personal liberties. These dissidents were not only instrumental in maintaining ongoing opposition to totalitarian tactics but were also heavily involved in building new economic and political
systems after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In East Germany, however, the intelligentsia was largely
prosocialist and sought reforms within the existing system. Ultimately, the East German intelligentsia was left
out of the reunification reform process.
The East German communist party reinvented itself as the Party of Democratic Socialism. By the time the
Berlin Wall was destroyed, the party boasted assets of around $2 billion. After informants told the German government that at least $70 million of those assets had been funneled to European accounts belonging to the Soviet Union, officials raided party offices around the country. Party leaders insisted that the remittances had
taken place before reunification and were legitimate payments earmarked for education and training.
Despite Reagan’s demand to tear down the wall, neither Gorbachev nor East German officials were initially eager to reject socialism or to distance themselves from the Soviet Union. Even West Germany saw the
reunification of the two Germanys as highly unlikely. However, tens of thousands of East Germans felt differently. To prevent its citizens from escaping to West Germany, the East German government had built the 28mile long Berlin Wall in August 1961. Made of barbed wire and concrete, the wall rose to almost 12 feet at
some points. For decades, freedom-seeking East Germans had sought ways to leave the country despite the restrictions imposed by the wall.
Keeping dissatisfied East Germans within the country became more difficult after an independent Hungary
opened its borders, providing access to West Germany via Austria. In the first six months of 1989, 44,263
refugees left East Germany by this route. Tens of thousands of others escaped to Czechoslovakia or to West German refugee camps in Budapest, Prague, and East Berlin. Bowing to the inevitable, at the stroke of midnight
on November 9, 1989, East German officials opened the Berlin Wall, and thousands of Germans flowed together
from either side with tears and jubilation. Celebrants took up hammers and chisels and began chipping away
at the wall. Members of the East German Cabinet and Politburo subsequently resigned, and East Germany
began the slow process of instituting a liberalized political system fueled by a market economy.
By early 1990, Gorbachev had reversed his position on East
Germany, acknowledging that reunification was becoming increasmarket economy: An
ingly likely. The move was partially motivated by promises of Gereconomic system based on
man financial aid to help to shore up the failing Soviet economy.
the division of labor in which
Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze, however, warned that
the prices of goods and
the Soviet Union was not yet ready to concede its influence in Gerservices are determined in a
many. Even if Gorbachev had not been supportive of German uniopen price system set by
fication, he was unwilling to use military force to protect Soviet
changes in supply and
interests. To hard-liners, this was further proof of Gorbachev’s weakdemand. This is often
ness and of the failures of perestroika.
contrasted with a planned
With qualified support from Gorbachev, East German foreign
economy (USSR), in which a
minister Hans Modrow expressed support for a reunified Germany.
central government
He advocated a gradual process by which the two countries could
determines the price of goods
become one. When Modrow and West German Chancellor Helmut
and services using a fixed
Kohl began negotiating a reunification agreement, Kohl totally reprice system.
jected Modrow’s stipulation that a reunified Germany would with-
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Need to Know
A landmark today shows where the Berlin Wall once stood. (Shutterstock)
draw from NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Meanwhile, the George H. W. Bush administration refrained from actively supporting reunification, believing the United States would be better served by gradual
reunification accomplished over a period of years. The United States was directly affected by the changing situation in Germany because of American military bases located in Germany and the presence of American nuclear weapons positioned to protect West Germany from communist invasion during the Cold War.
Need to Know
When Russian revolutionaries overthrew the Russian monarchy in 1917, they gained control of a vast empire
with a wealth of resources. Bolshevism soon evolved from a doctrine of revolution to a form of socialism based
on the ideas of German economist and political theorist Karl Marx, who designed his political system in response to the rampant inequalities and injustices of capitalism brought on by advancing industrialization. At
the time the Communist Party imploded in the Soviet Union in 1991, 15 million rank-and-file Soviets claimed
party membership. The Party boasted 300,000 apparatchiks (party loyalists) and for decades had controlled
virtually every aspect of life.
Most of the Western world was caught by surprise when the Soviet Union dissolved, even though a wealth
of data had indicated groundbreaking changes in the Soviet Union over a period of years. Gorbachev’s reforms had been studied in great detail. Both the U.S. Congress and the State Department had copious files on
the changes, and the New York Times and Washington Post regularly reported on massive Soviet shifts that
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Need to Know
included increasing urbanization, growing Muslim populations in Central Asian republics, and major improvements in social and health indicators. Soviet watchers point to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the declaration of independence by Lithuania in 1990 as major influences on the renewed activism of Soviet hard-liners.
Predictably, as Gorbachev’s reforms had become more liberal, the hard-liners had turned against him, precipitating the very thing they were trying to avoid: total dissolution of the Soviet Union. This dissatisfaction
that led to the August Coup gave Russian president Boris Yeltsin the power that he had lacked before. As long
as Gorbachev was in control of the state and the party, Yeltsin, who had publicly renounced his membership
in the Communist Party, had limited power. However, the coup provided Yeltsin with the support of the people, and he became the key factor in precipitating the independence of Russia. While Gorbachev was out of the
public eye, Yeltsin stepped forward to rally the military in support of democracy in the face of totalitarian tactics. The result was that Yeltsin was seen as a positive leader even as Gorbachev was perceived as being unable
to control his own advisers and the government. Yeltsin’s popularity
had begun to soar as Gorbachev’s approval ratings plummeted. In
totalitarianism: A political
March 1991, some 200,000 people marched on the Kremlin carrying
system in which power is
posters with Yeltsin’s face demanding the resignation of Gorbachev.
concentrated in the hands of a
The protest was in response to the referendum initiated by Gorsingle person or party. The
bachev asking the people to express their opinions on whether the
intention is to use this
Soviet Union should continue as a republic of equal sovereign states.
absolute authority to change,
Detractors argued that a vote in favor of the referendum would erase,
or bring into line, every aspect
according to the prophetic prediction of the state newspaper Pravda,
of society to conform with a
the Soviet Union from all world maps.
specific ideology.
In May 1991, the election of Yeltsin as president of Russia (RussCommunist Party: Any
ian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic), carrying 61% of the vote,
political organization that
proved to be a watershed in the events that led to the eventual
includes those that advocate
breakup of the Soviet Union. In November, Yeltsin outlawed the
the application of the social
Communist Party from Russia, the birthplace of the Soviet Union.
principles of communism
Unfortunately, the euphoria that followed the collapse of the
through a communist form of
Communist Party and the dissolution of the Soviet Union did not
government. The name
last. Having become well aware of Western lifestyles since glasnost,
originates from the 1850 tract
the citizens of the various republics believed they would soon be able
Manifesto of the Communist
to afford items that were seen as luxuries in the Soviet Union but acParty by Karl Marx.
cepted as necessities in the West. When economic collapse instead of
prosperity followed independence, many people continued to blame
Gorbachev although he had resigned four months after the failed coup. In Russia, a number of advisers demanded that the government resume its former authoritarian position. Indeed, by 1996, a somewhat rejuvenated Russian Communist Party had begun calling for the resurrection of the Soviet Union.
In the Baltic States, the scenario was far different. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, along with Georgia, Armenia, and Moldova, had already summarily refused to take part in the Gorbachev-initiated referendum on
the issue of establishing a new union. The referendum had been intended as a vote of confidence in Gorbachev
and was designed to bolster support for the proposed Union Treaty. On August 20, the day of the scheduled
signing of the treaty, the Soviet Union was in crisis as the events of the August Coup unfolded.
The negation of the need for the Union Treaty after the failure of the August Coup and the reunification
of Germany led to independence for all the former Soviet republics. Ultimately, the 15 post-Soviet sovereign
republics were Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania,
Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine. In addition, with the breakup of
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Need to Know
Russian President Vladimir Putin greeting NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson in the Kremlin in 2003. (NATO)
Yugoslavia and the emergence of noncommunist governments in the satellite nations, the so-called satellites
or Iron Curtain countries became quite independent, with varying degrees of democratization.
While the Soviet Union might have been able to withstand German reunification and the secession of the
Baltic states, the system could not withstand the blows struck by declarations of independence in Russia and
Ukraine, issued on August 24, 1991. As Yeltsin seized public attention in Russia, Leonid Kravchuk renounced
the party and became the president of Ukraine. In addition to its significance as the second largest Soviet republic, Ukraine was the home of an arsenal of nuclear weapons. After independence, Kravchuk and Yeltsin
joined with Belorussia (now Belarus) in a commonwealth of states that negated any necessity for a central
government in Moscow or for a continued political role for Gorbachev. Subsequently, eight other former Soviet republics joined the commonwealth.
Yeltsin served two terms as president of Russia, but the hero who had played a key role in felling one of the
world’s superpowers was unable to lead his country to economic stability or to end the widespread corruption
that linked both government and business to organized crime. In December 1999, Vladimir Putin was named
acting president of Russia and was duly elected to the presidency in May 2000, thereafter using that office to
follow an itinerary of reformist politics on his own terms.
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Timeline
TIMELINE
1985–1989: Soviet leader Gorbachev institutes a series of economic and political reforms,
aimed at preserving the Soviet Union.
1987: Ronald Reagan reasserts American desires to have the wall removed, and to end Soviet
dominion over Eastern Europe.
1989: Eastern European states begin moving away from Soviet control, many as a result of
popular demonstrations and antigovernment movements.
1989, November 9: Berlin Wall comes down, ending almost 30 years of Communist-instituted
separation within the traditional German capitol.
1991: Soviet hard-liners, throwbacks to an earlier era, attempt a coup in order to replace
Gorbachev.
What If?
If the Berlin Wall had remained intact, Soviet hard-liners might never have been motivated to act on their desire to remove Gorbachev from office. If they had been victorious in the August Coup of 1991, the entire history of the world would have been different, but nowhere would life have been more different than in the
Soviet Union. After the hard-liners had experienced a period of liberalism, they would have pulled even further to the right after the coup, becoming increasingly authoritarian. After the Communist Party had been restored to full power, a Stalin-like purge would likely have rid the country of all reformers. Leaders of the reform
movement, particularly Gorbachev and Yeltsin, would probably have been executed, imprisoned, or exiled.
The hard-liners would have dedicated themselves to reinstating completely free education and other social
services and to undoing what was seen as the major “failures” of perestroika: rising inflation, unemployment,
and racial and national discrimination.
In the past, reforms instituted by Soviet leaders were generally overturned by their successors, as was the
case with the reforms of the Nikita Khrushchev era. Consequently, the likelihood is that all elements of perestroika and glasnost would have faded into history, remaining active only in the minds of the intelligentsia
who would probably have been returned to exile along with younger members of the group who had grown
to maturity during the Gorbachev era.
As a communist superpower, the Soviet Union would have continued to solidify its global position through
an expanded nuclear arsenal. With the Soviet Union determined to continue the arms race, the United States
and other nations of the West would have had no other option but to continue to build up their own arsenals,
focusing technological research on the destruction of human life rather than on the preservation and increased
comfort of life as has generally been the focus of other kinds of research.
Since most scholars and other Soviet watchers agree that perestroika would have been impossible without
the leadership of Gorbachev, it is likely that the entire history of the Soviet Union would have been different
if someone else had been in that position. Likewise, if someone outside the party leadership had suggested the
sorts of reforms that Gorbachev instituted, the powerful Politburo would never have allowed the individual
to remain in power. Because party officials recognized Gorbachev’s loyalty to the Soviet system and to socialism as a worldview, they reluctantly endorsed perestroika. As a result of what would be seen as mistaken judgment, party officials would, therefore, be extremely diligent in choosing future leaders of the party and would
shy away from charismatic, forward-thinking leaders. Instead, they would favor reactionary hard-liners for all
leadership positions.
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” What If?
If Gorbachev had followed the pattern set by
Khrushchev and initiated reforms while keeping the
reins of control tightly in his own hands, neither the
central government nor the republics would have
been in a position to question or resist changes that
resulted from the implementation of perestroika.
The single change that might have prevented the dissolution of the Soviet Union would have been for
Gorbachev never to have introduced glasnost, which
created an unfettered and critical media that in turn
fostered a public ready to revolt. Without glasnost,
the actions of Soviet leaders would have remained
free of public reproach, and Gorbachev would have
been able to force the people to comply with his reforms. An uninformed public would have trusted
the Soviet government to act in their best interests.
Aware of what Gorbachev could have done differently, the hard-liners would have been determined
to avoid those same mistakes. With dissidents again
in exile or strictly limited in their contact with the
outside world and with a tightly censored media, the
hard-liners would have been able to control ongoing influences on public opinion. All forms of Western media would have been banned from the Soviet
Union. However, since the people had been exposed
to liberalizing forces, the hard-liners would have
been forced to resort to Stalin-like tactics to stamp
out all dissent and terrorize the population into sub- In an alternate history, the philosophy of Vladimir Lenin
would be resurrected to preserve the Soviet Union. (Library
mission.
It would be extremely important for the new of Congress)
government to attempt to resurrect the reputations
of early leaders discredited by the Gorbachev administration, particularly that of Vladimir Lenin, the father
of Soviet political thought. Therefore, an extensive propaganda campaign would have been conducted to extol
the virtues of Marxist-Leninism and to convince the Soviet people how much better off they were under the
new authoritarian government than they had been under perestroika. It would be essential to resume antiWestern, especially anti-American, propaganda that played up the greed and immorality of capitalism. Care
would also be taken to reinstate the “us versus them” mentality that pervaded the Cold War.
Because popular resistance had been a major factor in putting down the August Coup, mass demonstrations in any form would have been forbidden under the more authoritarian government, and workers would
have lost their right to strike. Members of the army who had chosen to remain loyal to the cause of an independent Russia rather than to the hard-liners would have been executed to discourage future mutinies and to
punish those viewed as traitors. If any of the reformers who had joined in the plot against Gorbachev had objected to the new tactics, they would also have been eliminated.
In the revitalized Soviet military, discipline would have been swift and harsh, with military might again deployed regularly in the republics to make sure they paid homage to the central power. Likewise, a revitalized
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” What If?
KGB (intelligence services) would have returned to its earlier role of putting down dissent within the Soviet
Union and in furthering the interests of the motherland by engaging in espionage in other countries. Efforts
to gain state secrets would have been particularly strong in the United States, Great Britain, and France.
With private property again abolished in the Soviet Union, the state would have been able to instigate traditional communist means of controlling production through state-owned businesses and collective farming.
Without glasnost, the Western influence would have been far removed from the average Soviet citizen, and
the widespread dissatisfaction with current standards of living would have been avoided.
After the implosion of the Soviet Union, hyperinflation contributed to rising unemployment rates, and
scores of individuals lost their life savings, facing economic despair with the withdrawal of free social services.
Such services would have been restored under the new regime, and those who bemoaned their loss would have
been given the opportunity to compare their lives under perestroika and under the new government. Before
the breakup of the Soviet Union, 1 in every 25 people lived in poverty. Today the poverty rate is 1 in 5 according to the World Bank. A victorious coup would have given the hard-liners the authority to alleviate
poverty through mandated jobs and available social services and to resume the pre-Gorbachev practice of
choosing to release only data that enhanced Soviet interests. This new leadership, reactionary in every way,
would have looked to maintain itself, and the USSR, at every cost into the future.
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Activity 1
Activity 1
LESSON OBJECTIVE:
Students will gain an understanding of the chronology of the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall from early Yalta
discussions to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
LESSON OVERVIEW :
Students will receive 11 written source descriptions and 11 source images. First, they will match descriptions
with images and then place them in chronological order.
LIST OF MATERIALS:
1 copy of the: Twenty-Two Berlin Wall Sources
TEACHER DIRECTIONS:
Divide the class into 22 groups of 1 or 2 students, depending on class size.
Provide each group/individual with either a Written Source Description Card or a Source Image Card. Now
tell the class that they have 10 minutes to complete two tasks:
1. Each group/individual must combine their Written Source Description Card with the correct Source
Image Card or vice versa.
2. The entire class must form a chronological circle or semi-circle around the room, with partners standing together.
For example: The first pair should be the Source Image Card of FDR, Churchill, and Stalin and the Written Source Description Card starting out “In 1945 . . .”
Once, the students have formed into pairs around the room, each pair will hold up their image and read
their description card in order, until the entire chronological story has been told.
OPTIONS:
You may offer a prize to the class if they get the chronology right the first time.
As a variation, you may have individuals or small groups put together all 22 sources themselves, possibly
in a timed competition with other groups.
Here is the correct order:
7th: Source 10 and Description H
8th: Source 1 and Description B
9th: Source 6 and Description D
10th: Source 9 and Description I
11th: Source 3 and Description J
1st: Source 7 and Description E
2nd: Source 2 and Description C
3rd: Source 11 and Description G
4th: Source 5 and Description K
5th: Source 4 and Description F
6th: Source 8 and Description A
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An East German worker, under the watchful eyes of Communist police, erects a high concrete wall at a sector border
near Potzdamer Platz in Berlin on August 18, 1961. (UPI-Bettmann/Corbis)
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Handout A
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Handout A
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Handout A
Berliners watch a C-54 land at Tempelhof airport in 1948 during the Berlin airlift. The airlift was a massive transfer of
essential supplies flown into Germany during 1948 and 1949 by British and U.S. forces after the Soviet Union
prohibited ground access to West Berlin. (U.S. Air Force)
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Handout A
British military police erect a sign to mark the division of British and Russian sectors of Berlin in 1948. (Library of
Congress)
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A demonstrator pounds away at the Berlin Wall as East German border guards look on from above at the Brandenburg
Gate November 11, 1989. (Corbis)
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Handout A
John F. Kennedy visits Berlin Wall in Berlin, Germany, June 26, 1963. During this visit, Kennedy delivered a speech of
freedom, proclaiming in dramatic fashion, “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner). (National Archives/John F. Kennedy
Library)
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Handout A
Map of East and West Germany. (ABC-CLIO)
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Handout A
Map of four sectors of Berlin. (ABC-CLIO)
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Handout A
President Ronald Reagan delivers a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin on June 12, 1987, calling upon
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. (Ronald Reagan Library)
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Handout A
British prime minister Winston Churchill (left), U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (center), and Soviet leader Josef
Stalin (right) at the Yalta Conference. The “Big Three” met in Yalta, Crimea (in what is now the Ukraine), on February
4–11, 1945, to discuss military and political strategy. (Library of Congress)
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Handout A
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Handout A
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Handout A
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Handout A
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Handout A
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Handout A
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Activity 2
Activity 2
LESSON OBJECTIVE:
Students will compare John F. Kennedy’s 1963 speech at the Berlin Wall to President Ronald Reagan’s speech
at the Berlin Wall
LESSON DESCRIPTION:
Students will read excerpts from John F. Kennedy’s speech and Ronald Reagan’s speech and answer guide
questions about the rhetoric, goals, and themes. Half of the class will read one speech first and half of the
class the other. Then, after completing an analysis, the students will switch speeches.
LIST OF MATERIALS:
1 class set of Student Handout B
1 class set of Student Worksheet Speech A
1 class set of Student Worksheet Speech B
1 class set of Pairs Worksheet
TEACHER DIRECTIONS:
Pass out a copy of Student Handout B to each student in the class. There are two speeches labeled by letters,
one by President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and one by President Ronald Reagan in 1987. Both speeches were
read at the Berlin Wall in East Germany.
Now have the students select partners.
For each pair, give one student Student Worksheet Speech A and to the other give Student Worksheet
Speech B.
Tell the students that they are each going to read a different speech from Student Handout B as indicated
by whichever handout they received.
After the students have completed their speeches, they must individually answer guide questions at the
bottom of the worksheet. In this way, after the students are done, they can fold up the bottom third of the
paper to cover their answers.
Now have the partners trade their worksheets. Each will answer questions about the other speech, this time
on the top of the sheet above the folded area.
After the students are done, invite them to open their sheets and compare their answers.
Now invite the class to take part in a full group discussion. Provide the same guide questions as found on
the student worksheets. Ask the students which speech they think was by Reagan and which was by Kennedy.
Ask them which they felt was more effective and why.
Finally, provide each pair with a copy of the Pairs Worksheet.
Students will now write a quick, 50-word speech combining the rhetoric from both speeches to create a
composite Berlin Wall speech of their own.
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Student Handout B
Student Handout B:
SPEECH A
I am proud to come to this city as the guest of your distinguished Mayor, who has symbolized throughout
the world the fighting spirit of West Berlin. And I am proud to visit the Federal Republic with your distinguished Chancellor who for so many years has committed Germany to democracy and freedom and progress
. . . Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was “civis Romanus sum.” [I am a Roman citizen] Today, in the
world of freedom, the proudest boast is “Ich bin ein Berliner.” [I am a citizen of Berlin] . . . There are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free world
and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of
the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with
the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism
is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass’ sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come
to Berlin. Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up
to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us. I want to say, on behalf of my countrymen, who live
many miles away on the other side of the Atlantic, who are far distant from you, that they take the greatest pride
that they have been able to share with you, even from a distance, the story of the last 18 years. I know of no
town, no city, that has been besieged for 18 years that still lives with the vitality and the force, and the hope and
the determination of the city of West Berlin. While the wall is the most obvious and vivid demonstration of
the failures of the Communist system, for all the world to see, we take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as your
Mayor has said, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together. What
is true of this city is true of Germany—real, lasting peace in Europe can never be assured as long as one German out of four is denied the elementary right of free men, and that is to make a free choice. In 18 years of
peace and good faith, this generation of Germans has earned the right to be free, including the right to unite
their families and their nation in lasting peace, with good will to all people. You live in a defended island of freedom, but your life is part of the main. So let me ask you as I close, to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today,
to the hopes of tomorrow, beyond the freedom merely of this city of Berlin, or your country of Germany, to
the advance of freedom everywhere, beyond the wall to the day of peace with justice, beyond yourselves and
ourselves to all mankind. Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are
free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great
Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West
Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades. All free
men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words “Ich
bin ein Berliner.”
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Student Handout A
SPEECH B
Our gathering today is being broadcast throughout Western Europe and North America. I understand that
it is being seen and heard as well in the East. To those listening throughout Eastern Europe, a special word: Although I cannot be with you, I address my remarks to you just as surely as to those standing here before me.
For I join you, as I join your fellow countrymen in the West, in this firm, this unalterable belief: “Es gibt nur
ein Berlin.” [There is only one Berlin.] Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part
of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe. From the Baltic, south, those barriers
cut across Germany in a gash of barbed wire, concrete, dog runs, and guard towers. Farther south, there may
be no visible, no obvious wall. But there remain armed guards and checkpoints all the same—still a restriction on the right to travel, still an instrument to impose upon ordinary men and women the will of a totalitarian state. Yet it is here in Berlin where the wall emerges most clearly; here, cutting across your city, where
the news photo and the television screen have imprinted this brutal division of a continent upon the mind of
the world. Standing before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German, separated from his fellow men.
Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar. Where four decades ago there was rubble, today in West
Berlin there is the greatest industrial output of any city in Germany—busy office blocks, fine homes and apartments, proud avenues, and the spreading lawns of parkland. Where a city’s culture seemed to have been destroyed, today there are two great universities, orchestras and an opera, countless theaters, and museums.
Where there was want, today there’s abundance—food, clothing, automobiles . . . From devastation, from utter
ruin, you Berliners have, in freedom, rebuilt a city that once again ranks as one of the greatest on earth. The
Soviets may have had other plans. But my friends, there were a few things the Soviets didn’t count on: “Berliner
Herz, Berliner Humor, ja, und Berliner Schnauze.” [Berliner heart, Berliner humor, yes, and a Berliner Schnauze.]
In the 1950s, Khrushchev predicted: “We will bury you.” But in the West today, we see a free world that has
achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world,
we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind—
too little food. Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself. After these four decades, then, there stands
before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces
the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor. And now the Soviets
themselves may, in a limited way, be coming to understand the importance of freedom. We hear much from
Moscow about a new policy of reform and openness. Some political prisoners have been released. Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer being jammed. Some economic enterprises have been permitted to operate with greater freedom from state control. Are these the beginnings of profound changes in the Soviet state?
Or are they token gestures, intended to raise false hopes in the West, or to strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that
the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can
make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General
Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you
seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
. . . As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words
crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner: “This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.”
Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot
withstand freedom . . .
Thank you and God bless you all.
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Student Worksheet Speech A
Student Worksheet Speech A:
You will receive excerpts of two speeches, one by President Kennedy in 1963 and one by President Reagan in
1987. Both speeches were given in English at the Berlin Wall in Soviet controlled East Germany. Your job is
to read both speeches and answer guided questions about them. Once you are finished reading your first
speech and answering the guide questions, fold the paper from the bottom up to cover your answers. You
will now trade speeches and answer sheets with your partner.
STUDENT 2 QUESTIONS ON SPEECH A:
Who is the intended audience of this speech?
What words or phrases does the speaker use to praise the people of Berlin?
What words or phrases does the speaker use to criticize the Soviet Union?
What words or phrases does the speaker use to describe the wall?
What does the speaker say in German? Why do you think he chose those words?
What is a specific sentence or argument the speaker makes that is especially successful or powerful?
STUDENT 1 QUESTIONS ON SPEECH A:
Who is the intended audience of this speech?
What words or phrases does the speaker use to praise the people of Berlin?
What words or phrases does the speaker use to criticize the Soviet Union?
What words or phrases does the speaker use to describe the wall?
What does the speaker say in German? Why do you think he chose those words?
What is a specific sentence or argument the speaker makes that is especially successful or powerful?
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Student Worksheet Speech B
Student Worksheet Speech B:
You will receive excerpts of two speeches, one by President Kennedy in 1963 and one by President Reagan in
1987. Both speeches were given in English at the Berlin Wall in Soviet controlled East Germany. Your job is
to read both speeches and answer guided questions about them. Once you are finished reading your first
speech and answering the guide questions, fold the paper from the bottom up to cover your answers. You
will now trade speeches and answer sheets with your partner.
STUDENT 2 QUESTIONS ON SPEECH B:
Who is the intended audience of this speech?
What words or phrases does the speaker use to praise the people of Berlin?
What words or phrases does the speaker use to criticize the Soviet Union?
What words or phrases does the speaker use to describe the wall?
What does the speaker say in German? Why do you think he chose those words?
What is a specific sentence or argument the speaker makes that is especially successful or powerful?
STUDENT 1 QUESTIONS ON SPEECH B:
Who is the intended audience of this speech?
What words or phrases does the speaker use to praise the people of Berlin?
What words or phrases does the speaker use to criticize the Soviet Union?
What words or phrases does the speaker use to describe the wall?
What does the speaker say in German? Why do you think he chose those words?
What is a specific sentence or argument the speaker makes that is especially successful or powerful?
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Pairs Worksheet
Pairs Worksheet:
Now that you have each completed an independent analysis of the two speeches, you are going to combine
your impressions and quotes to write a 50-word speech of your own. Select English and German phrases
from both texts and together with your own words, create a mini-speech that conveys the same feeling as
those by presidents Kennedy and Reagan. Focus on instilling pride in the people of Berlin while painting a
similar picture of the Soviet Union. Likewise, attempt to use powerful and lofty language of your own that
would serve to inspire listeners. Remember, more than just the people of Berlin are listening.
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Ready Reference
Ready Reference
Berlin Airlift: The Berlin airlift was a massive transfer of essential supplies flown into Berlin, Germany, during 1948 and 1949 by British and U.S. forces in around-the-clock missions.
At the end of World War II, a four-power military commission called the Komandatura had been set up to
administer Berlin, the former German capital well within the boundaries of the Soviet-held territory that became East Germany. As the Cold War rivalries between the Soviet Union and the Western powers intensified,
the Soviet forces in March 1948 began to harass ground transport that connected West Berlin to West Germany.
In June 1948, the Soviet representative left the Komandatura, and Soviet troops halted all railroad traffic between Berlin and the West. At the recommendation of U.S. general Lucius D. Clay, Western allied garrisons remained in the city and were supplied by air.
The dwindling of food supplies for more than 2 million civilians in West Berlin was also key to Operation
Vittles, as the airlift was dubbed in the U.S. military. According to a closely timed schedule, in all weather, and
with frequent harassment from Soviet fighter planes, more than 277,264 flights were made into Berlin carrying 2,343,315 tons of food and coal. The record day was Easter Sunday (April 16, 1949), when 1,298 flights lifted
12,940 tons of supplies into the city.
On July 26, 1948, the Western powers halted all trade with East Germany in retaliation for the blockade. The
Soviets ended the blockade on May 12, 1949 and conceded defeat.
Berlin Wall: The Berlin Wall was a concrete barrier that separated West Berlin from East Berlin throughout
much of the Cold War. During the wave of reform that swept Eastern Europe in 1989, the East German government relaxed border controls and eventually dismantled portions of the wall to the great joy of residents
on both sides.
Berlin occupation zones: At the end of World War II, the Allied Powers—the United States, Great Britain,
France, and the Soviet Union—divided Berlin, Germany, into zones that each country was to occupy. As the
Allies merged their economic strength to repair the damage done to the city during two world wars, the Soviet Union split from them in an attempt to control all of Berlin by blockading three of the city’s western
zones. Although the Soviet Union lifted the blockade in 1949, the move signified the start of the Cold War. By
1988, the Allies had completely dissolved their presence in Germany.
Yalta Conference: The Yalta Conference was a meeting of the leaders of Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and
the United States to decide the fate of post—World War II Germany and resolve various other issues. The
compromises made failed to satisfy completely any of the participants but led to the Allied occupation of Germany, the rise of the iron curtain, and the establishment of the United Nations (UN).
The Allies gathered at the Crimean Peninsula city of Yalta, on the Black Sea, from February 4 to February
11, 1945. The meeting, which was called at the request of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, included British prime
minister Winston Churchill and U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The most important issue discussed at the conference was the fate of postwar Germany. The three leaders
planned the Allied occupation and split Germany into four occupation zones with France as the fourth occupying power. The meeting also ordered Germany to pay the Soviet Union war reparations to compensate for
20 million Russian deaths.
The Soviet Union was given great influence over most of Eastern Europe. The conference agreed that
Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and parts of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia would be granted inde-
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ABC-CLIO, “TEAR DOWN THIS WALL” Ready Reference
pendent governments with free elections, but the governments would have to be Soviet friendly. That decision
was in effect the birth of the “iron curtain,” as Churchill coined it.
The United States seized on the opportunity to promote the establishment of a world organization to maintain the postwar peace. The conference scheduled another meeting in April 1945 at which the UN would be
established.
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National Standards Correlations
EDSTD1642842380: Challenge arguments of historical inevitability by formulating examples of historical contingency, of how different choices could have led to different consequences.
EDSTD1642842420: Formulate historical questions from encounters with historical documents, eyewitness accounts, letters, diaries, artifacts, photos, historical sites, art, architecture, and other records from the past.
EDSTD2097113570: United States History: Era 10 Contemporary United States (1968 to the present): Recent
developments in foreign policy and domestic politics: The student understands major foreign policy initiatives.
(NCSS)
EDSTD1642822230: Evaluate Reagan’s efforts to reassert American military power and rebuild American prestige. (Hypothesize the influence of the past.)
EDSTD1642822240: Explain the reasons for the collapse of communist governments in Eastern Europe and
the USSR. (Analyze multiple causation.)
EDSTD1642822250: Evaluate the reformulation of foreign policy in the post-Cold War era. (Analyze causeand-effect relationships.)
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