1. Background to the Crisis

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About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we take a look at the background to the crisis in the years that preceded it. In particular, we will focus on: (i) how the Berlin Crisis is remembered today, including its relation to the Cuban Missile Crisis (ii) the dynamics of the Cold War in the years 1945-58 and how Berlin was split after the Second World War; and (iii) how Berlin was meant to operate after the Second World War and the issues this caused, including the Berlin Blockade of 1948.

Course

In this course, Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman (King's College London) discusses the Berlin Crisis. In the first module, we take at the background to the crisis in. the years that preceded it, including the Berlin Blockade. We then turn to look at the early years of crisis from 1958 to 1960. After this, we take a look at Nikita Khrushchev's ultimatum (of 1961) to President John F. Kennedy over the status quo in Berlin. In the next module, Kennedy's response to Khrushchev's ultimatum and the construction of the Berlin Wall. In the final module, we take a look at the aftermath of the crisis all the way up to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Lecturer

Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman is Emeritus Professor of War Studies at King's College London (KCL). He was Professor of War Studies from 1982 to 2014 and Vice-Principal from 2003 to 2013. Before joining King's he held research appointments at Nuffield College Oxford, the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1995 and awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 1996, he was appointed Official Historian of the Falklands Campaign in 1997. In 2003, he was awarded the KCMG (Knight Commander of St Michael and St George). In June 2009 he was appointed to serve as a member of the official inquiry into Britain and the 2003 Iraq War. He has written widely on international history, strategic theory and nuclear weapons, as well as commenting on current security issues. Among his books are Kennedy's Wars: Berlin, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam (2000), Strategy: A History (2013), the Future of War: A History (2017), Ukraine and the Art of Strategy (2019) and, with Jeff Michaels, the 4th edition of The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy (2019).