The Cold War According to Berlin

The Cold War According to Berlin

After the end of World War II, in 1945, Germany was divided into four

zones, American, British, French on the west side and the Soviet on

the east side. Germany’s capital Berlin was also divided into four

zones. To identify what happen during the Cold War one has to focus on

Berlin as it was the centre of this conflict. Events like the currency

reform, Berlin Blockade and the building of the Berlin Wall show how

close it was to becoming a real war and also reflect the conflict of

East and West in the world in general.

The American and British zones were united to form an economic unit,

the Bizone ( later joined by the French , so that it formed the

Trizone). The Trizone formed the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.

On the 20 June 1948, the Western Allies had decided to replace the

old, worthless Reichsmark with the new Deutschmark in the hope that

this would spur the economic recovery of their zone. The exchange was

1000 Reichsmark = 1 DM. Everybody was given a start sum of 40 DM. The

black market collapsed immediately; miraculously, the shelves in the

shops were filled with goods. The Soviets were furious about this

currency reform, conducted without informing them. The old Reichsmark

currency continued to be used in East Germany. People in eastern

Europe began to change their money into the new western currency,

which they thought was worth more. The introduction the new currency

was the first heightening between the both powers.

On 24 June 1949 the Soviet blockaded Berlin in attempt to isolate

West Berlin, as an island surrounded by the East. Stalin’s plan was to

force the Western allies...

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...lin Wall the relationship between

Russia and America in Berlin as well as in the world became less

tense. This shows how Berlin reflect or represent the situation in the

world.

To judge whether or not the Cold War was getting hot one has to look

at Berlin, the focal point of the Cold War, as was shown in the events

between 1945-1990. This was mirrored in the currency reform, Berlin

Blockade and Berlin Wall, which were caused by the international

affairs between America and Russia.. The difference between the

Western and Soviet policy were such that conflict was bound to break

out there sooner or later. The aims of both counties were too

different to together. Every time if there were tensions or

disagreements between the two powers something happened in Berlin, as

the only place where they were face to face.