Berlin in the cold war
the berlin problem
west berlin was an island of capitalism in a sea of communism
Khrushchev hated this and viewed it as an embarrassment
the west viewed it as a strategic and symbolic victory
it was the only place in east Germany where people could freely travel to the west.
once in the western sector of berlin, east Germans could defect to the western side of Germany.
citizens of the west enjoyed freedom and luxuries but the citizens of the east lived in a tightly controlled state
blockade and airlift
the western allies were keen for Germany to be rebuilt and unified - Stalin didn't like this
the USSRs ultimate aim was to get rid of all westerners from east berlin
the blockade
from April 1948 the blockade began.
it included blocking military supply routes, traffic restrictions, and closing bridges for "maintenance"
on 24 june 1948 the full blockade was put in place
for the 2.5 million inhabitants of west berlin, the situation became very dangerous.
transport links into west berlin were blocked, this meant no food, fuels or medical supplies could reach people in the non-Soviet part of the city.
The consequences
Western Response
Truman and Atlee were very determined not to give in.
the wests first response was a counter blockade that stopped trains from leaving west berlin. this had a limited effect.
on 26 June 1948, British and American planes started delivering supplies to west berlin.
a plane was arriving every 3 minutes
around 4000 tonnes of supplies were delivered each day
war seemed a real possibility as neither side was willing to back down.
on the 12th of may 1948, Stalin gave in and ended the blockade
the blockade and airlift had pushed east-west relations to its breaking point. Berlin remained a key point for other events in the cold war.
NATO and the Warsaw Pact were formed because of this.
west Germany united to become the Federal Republic of Germany
east Germany called itself the German Democratic Republic
the berlin wall
on the 13 august 1961, east German troops closed the border to stop people defecting
within a few hours, barbed wire was put up and trains were stopped from crossing the border. the fences went thought the middle of the city, dividing streets and even buildings
over the following week, the fence was replaced with a wall that would last nearly 30 years
it was only taken down on November 9 1989
the 'official' reason was that it was to stop western spies entering soviet territory, but in reality, it was to stop people leaving. it also prevented many people from seeing what life was like in the western sector.
lots of educated people valuable to the USSR were leaving through west berlin.