The Causes and Consequences of the Berlin Crisis 1948
After the collapse of Germany in 1945, the Allied Powers of Russia,
France, Britain and the United States divided the city of Berlin among
themselves. However, relations began to go sour and the British,
French and American zones merged in 1947. A series of events after
that led to the Blockade of Berlin and the Berlin Airlift.
The Berlin Blockade represented the first heightening of Cold War
tensions. There was a series of key events that led to the Soviet
blockade of Berlin, the first of which concerned reparations. Russia
wanted Germany to pay for the killing of 20 million Russians and
widespread destruction it had caused to the USSR in the war. Stalin
wanted ten million dollars from Germany. At Potsdam the Allies agreed
that Russiashould be given a quarter of the industrial goods made in
the Western zones, in return for food and coal from the Soviet zone.
Russia was also given permission to strip factories from the Soviet
Zone and bring their machines to Russia. The British and Americans
kept to their word and sent the industrial goods to the Russians, as
agreed in Potsdam. However, Russiafailed to send back food and coal.
So in May 1946, the British and Americans stopped sending industrial
goods to the Russian zone.
Secondly, in response to communist revolutions in Greece and Turkey in
March of 1947, President Harry Truman announced that Americanow
promised to "support free people who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures (with U.S.
military aid)." This policy meant that America was prepared to send
money, equipment and ad...
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... the Warsaw Pact. This was also a military treaty in
which the Communist countries of Eastern Europe (and later China) all
agreed to help each other - and the Soviet Union - in the event of
armed attack from the West.
Later, in 1954, the West formed the South East Asia Treaty
Organisation (S.E.A.T.O.) which was aimed at preventing attacks by
communists, and also in 1959, they formed the Central Treaty
Organisation (C.E.N.T.O.) helping prevent the spread of communism in
the Middle East.
So after the Berlin crisis, East-West relations entered a deadly new
phase. On the one hand, the Soviet Union had exploded their first atom
bomb late in 1949 (much sooner than the West had expected) and 350 000
American troops still remained in Western Europe. The whole world was
now divided and was on the brink of a nuclear war.
The Potsdam Conference occurred from July 17th to August 2nd, 1945. The conference took place between US president Harry Truman, Soviet’s Joseph Stain, and England’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The major goal of the Potsdam meeting was what would happen with Germany postwar. They wanted to be able to ensure the “eventual reconstruction of Germany’s democracy and peace.” At that time, the Soviet Union occupied a lot of the Eastern part of Germany and wanted a “unified, but unarmed Germany.” However, President Truman did not trust Stalin’s motives. In addition, Truman had found out that they had tested their atomic bomb and it was ready to be used in battle. Truman seeing the immense advantage the US had from a military standpoint knew he had leverage.
Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union had started since the early conference in World War Two and increased further at the War’s conclusion. These tensions developed further during the Berlin Blockade and Airlift during 1948 and 1949, China becoming communist in 1949, and the Korean War between 1950 and 1953. The events, have been labelled as the early crisis of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and greatly increased tensions between the two superpowers and further led the countries into a Cold War.
"The Premier of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the President of the United States of America have consulted with each other in the common interests of the peoples of their countries and those of liberated Europe. They jointly declare their mutual agreement to concert during the temporary period of instability in liberated Europe the policies of their three governments in assisting the pe
The foreign and domestic policies during the Cold War lead to both the separation of world powers and the fear of political and social systems throughout the world. After World War 2 had ended, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union heighted. The agreements made at the Yalta Conference between Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt , were not being followed by the Soviets. The Soviet Union kept the land they reconquered in Eastern Europe and did not enforce a democratic government in those countries, as they promised. Instead, the Soviet Union decided to continue spreading communism in their reconquered lands. The United States’ feared the spread of communism and attempted to do anything in its power to stop it. Before the United
...il finally the USSR issued a deal. The deal seemed to work out more for the Soviets as they insured the safety of Cuba and got the U.S. missiles removed from Turkey. If the United States issued a deal first, like they planned to, they might’ve gotten a better deal.
This meant that neither Germany, nor the Soviet Union, would invade the other country. This pact was made because the USSR wanted to remain at peace with Germany and secure time to build up their military, however, the pact did not last long (“Nonaggression Pact”). On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union without provocation. This lead the Soviet Union to join the Allied side of the fight. They were accompanied by the United States, United Kingdom, France, and many others. Although Stalin had led his country into joining the Allies, there were always underlying tensions between the countries.
and its allies and the group of nations led by the Soviet Union. Direct military
In February, 1945, the United Sates, Britain, France, and Soviet concluded agreement: Yalta Agreement. In January 1945, the Soviet Union invaded Poland and the Soviet Union almost reached to the border of Germany. Thus, the main three countries of Allies: the United States, France, and Britain had a conference. As a result, they decided to concluded with the Soviet Union that dividing Germany, setting the border of Poland, processing of East Countries after the war. The purpose of the Yalta Agreement was for adjusting of interests after the World War II (Morton). Thus, the United States had expected that some political problems would be appeared before the World War II ended. Therefore, the United States used the atomic bombs to restrain the Soviet Union after the World War
Walls are one of man’s oldest defenses; physical barriers that are erected to keep people out, or, in some cases, to keep them in. Walls are physical fortifications that create tension and distain among people on both sides. This is what the Berlin Wall, or der Mauer in German, was; a physical barrier created in Berlin, Germany during the Cold War. It was created by the East Germans in an attempt to stop East German citizens from immigrating to Western Germany. However, the Berlin wall was a crude attempt to separate the political and social variances in Germany during the Cold War, because, while it created a physical barrier, it still was unable separate people in an ethic manor.
the Americans agreed to those terms and conditions. With that this chapter of the Cold War came
The holocaust was a time of destruction or slaughter on a mass scale caused by fire or nuclear war. During the holocaust millions of Jews were killed by the Nazis during WWII. The Berlin Wall was a time in which a barrier was constructed in 1961 to separate East Berlin from west Berlin. I believe that the holocaust and the Berlin Wall made great impacts to many and had many alikes. They both had similar situations and in both the Germans were involved as was the killing.
In November 1955, the USSR managed to come up with a hydrogen bomb, in response to the one tested by USA in 1952. After that, the USA moved its bombers to Europe to threaten Moscow for the first time. In 1955, West Germany, even with much protest by the Allied citizens, was allowed to re-arm and join NATO. The USSR responded by signing the Warsaw Mutual Defense Pact, promising military aid to each other.
The Berlin Blockade What were the main factors that ultimately led to the failure of the Berlin Blockade? Word Count: 1957. TABLE OF CONTENTS A. Plan of the investigation. 3 B. Summary of Evidence. 4 C. Evaluation of Sources............................. 6 D. Analysis.................................. 8 E. Conclusion.
The collapse of the Berlin Wall changed Western Europe as we know it today. The Iron Curtain which had split Europe had ascended and the once divided germans were reunited under one common nation. The causal factors which resulted in the fall of the Berlin Wall were internal — communism imploded upon itself—. Gorbachev attempted to reform communism through Glasnost and Perestroika, which were supposed to incorporate economic reforms and transparency, however, history illustrates that increased liberty is incompatible with communism. Dr. Schmidtke argued that structural deficiencies led along with poor economic growth which led to the collapse of communism in Europe, and consequently the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The alienation of intellectuals and the authoritative nature of communist regimes further contributed to the failure of communism in Europe. However, the collapse of the Berlin Wall would not have occurred had it not been for Gorbachev’s Glasnost, Perestroika, and the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine. Along with German official Schabowski whose actions were the catalyst for the mass exodus of persons from the GDR into West Germany. The Collapse of the Berlin Wall would not have occurred so swiftly had Gorbachev not tried to implement reforms to communism.
After World War II, when Germany was defeated, it was divided into four zones, one for each of the Allies. The eastern part went to the Russians. The other Allied Powers, France, Britain and the U.S. divided the Western portion of the city among themselves.