Berlin Wall Fall & Soviet Collapse - GCSE History Edexcel - Cold War - Lesson 19

This is the final lesson for the unit. It cover the events that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the following consequences. It will also ask the students to explain the importance of the fall of the Berlin Wall for the end of the Soviet Union by 1991.

The lesson resources include:

• 1 x A4 Workbook Style Fact Sheet (PDF & PPT) – Included in every Cold War lesson!
• 1 x Main Power Point Lesson

The main PowerPoint includes:

• RECAP 1: A 10 question multiple choice quiz about why the Berlin Wall was built to help recap prior knowledge from an earlier lesson. Answers revealed on the following slide (see image).
• RECAP 2: Students are presented with 5 images which they must use to identify the actions that Mikhail Gorbachev had taken from the previous lesson to bring about the end of the Cold War (Brezhnev Doctrine, Afghanistan, Perestroika, Glasnost, INF Treaty). Students prompted into discussion and explanation to recap his actions.
• STARTER: Students given two sources (written and visual) and have to infer what each tells them about the immediate impact of the fall of the Berlin Wall on the citizens of East Berlin.
• BACKGROUND SLIDES: Gives a stage by stage overview of the events which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• TASK SHEET: Students prompted through a series of tasks which lead to explaining the main consequences and the importance of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Extension tasks given.
• EXAM QUESTIONS: Three types of exam questions given for this topic.
• FACT SHEETS: A fact sheet has been included for this lesson but also the previous lessons about the erection of the Berlin Wall for any students who may need this catch up.
• PLENARY/EXTENSION: From all of Gorbachev’s actions, students score or shade on a graph, which had the biggest impact on bringing about the end of the Cold War and the collapse of Communism.

All images used in this lesson are in the public domain and are therefore copyright free. Images which require attribution have been attributed in the notes section of each slide where the image appears. If you feel any errors have been made, please contact me at raschoolresources@gmail.com in the first instance to resolve any issues. My lessons are completed using PowerPoint and designed on widescreen formatting. Thank you.

This resource is for personal use only and for copyright reasons should not be copied/amended for commercial use.