Berlin Airlift Research Paper

784 Words2 Pages

Grace Mani
Period 4
Berlin,Korea,Cuba
3/26/15

Just when you think the war is over, and there will be peace between countries, the aftermath of the war begins. The Cold War began after World War II in Europe. The conflict between the United States and their allies (capitalist) and the Soviet Union and their allies (communist). The Cold War was political and military tension that remained even after the war was over. The power struggle between capitalism and communism was fierce with each trying influence other countries. Fearing communist invasion, the United States felt the need to keep communism under control and within limits. The United States began their battle for containment. There are three prime examples of how the United …show more content…

The Berlin Airlift was a direct response to The Berlin Blockade that was instituted by Stalin. The blockade was created to stop any food and supplies from entering West Berlin. Stalin wanted to prevent the efforts in rebuilding West Germany with capitalist ideas. The United States and their allies began the Berlin Airlift. This huge movement was to provide West Berlin with food and necessities as needed. The Berlin Airlift lasted from June 27, 1948 to May 12, 1949. More than 200,000 flights were made during this time which delivered 8,893 tons of necessities daily. Since neither side wanted a war, the Soviets did nothing to disrupt these flights. Each side did as much as they could passively without force. The Berlin Airlift was extremely successful. The blockade was a failure. It had no success in limiting the redevelopment of West Berlin. The USSR lifted the blockade on May 12, …show more content…

In 1962 America became aware that the Soviet Union was building nuclear missiles in Cuba from photos secretly taken by a spy plane. Kennedy created a naval blockade around Cuba to prevent more military supplies being brought in by the Soviet Union. Since both sides knew the devastating possibilities of a nuclear war, they publicly agreed to unarm the missiles and the United States would not invade Cuba. The United States also agreed to unarm U.S. missiles in Turkey, however this remained secret for more than 25 years. Although this stopped the missile crisis, the arms race was still going on. The Soviet Union unarmed the missiles but continued to build

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