Why Did Stalin Build The Berlin Blockade

Berlin air lift 1948 After world war II, Germany was dived into for parts. Those four pats were divided among Great Britain, the United States, France, and the Soviet Union each governing their own part. As hatred began to grow between the Soviet Union and the West, Stalin decided to create a separate communist state that included Berlin. To maintain that, Stalin surrounded the western half of Berlin and that caused the Berlin airlift, created by Truman. In 1949, Stalin had removed the blockade.

The Soviets original plan of putting up the wall worked for just a short period of time. The airlift plan that President Truman made was obviously better. The change in currency and giving aid to the citizens of Berlin eventually led up to the blockade being taken down and the end of

Berlin was known as the centerpiece of the Cold War. Being the capital city of Germany, the desire to have power over it was extremely high. Germany was split into two, the East, taken over by the Soviet Union, and the West, taken over by the United States, Britain, and France. Tensions rose between each country on who would be able to have power over Berlin. Since the city was on the east side and up to 100 miles inside Soviet-controlled East Germany, the Soviets had power; However, the West would not allow them to take over the capital city so easily.

Communism is the act of seeing everyone equally in the middle class level, which then means the state controlled all means of production. So, when asked the question of how successful it was I would have to say it was not successful even though there was an attempt to contain communism. The dictionary defines communism as a political and economic system in which the major productive resources in a society such as mines, factories, and farms are owned by the public or the state, and wealth is divided among citizens equally or according to individual need. So, if I had to evaluate the containment of communism during the cold war using the definition above as my standard I would have to strongly say they were unsuccessful. Communism is like the ideal society and in no way was the United States perfect. Throughout this essay you will see many supporting evidences towards the containment of communism .

Breaking Boundaries The Berlin Wall was built to separate the Communist east from the Democratic west. This ominous divider was was twelve feet of concrete that stretched for one hundred miles around West Berlin. The infamous symbol of the Cold War was guarded by electric fences and guard posts stationed along it.

The Soviet Union requested substantial reparations from Germany, but the United States recalled the reason that World War II started was because of post World War I reparations. In March and April 1947, the United States, British, French, and Soviet officials met in Moscow to arrange Germany’s future, but failed. After the conference, the Western Allies unified their German occupation zones to create West Germany. In response to this, Soviets built the Berlin Blockade, cutting off railways, highways, and waterways into West Berlin. To counteract this, the United States airlifted food and supplies to the residents, until Soviets finally realized their blockade was not achieving their goals, and tore it down in May 1949.

Their motives were to keep the Western fascists out of East Berlin. This division caused a panic to boths sides of Berlin as it would if any other country split into two because of their political views: communism vs. capitalism. As said in “Document B”, the US, being capitalists, wanted to support their allies and stop any trace of communism and soon became involved in the Berlin division. West Berlin received help from the U.S. and succeeded in their fight against communism when the wall between the two societies was torn

With East Berlin losing its professional class to West Berlin, the Kremlin decided to make sure that no one could get out. The large numbers of Red Army soldiers around construction sites lead many to fear that an invasion was nearing. In response, Kennedy put troops on the other side of the wall, both countries insisted on never backing down. That was, until an agreement had been made, and another world war

On the night of August 12-13, 1961, Berlin began to experience some awful tragedies. They became separated by a wall because of financial reasons. The wall separated the East from the West Berlin. There was many reasonings behind this. America was involved in this also.

The first line of defense was that they sent their troops down to guard the wall. The second was the command to shoot anyone who was escaping on sight, which is why there were hundreds of casualties. The West Berliners desperately tried, again, to get the help of the U.S. The following quote is President John F. Kennedy’s response to the cries of help, “A wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.” When he realized that this aggravated the West Berliners, he made a speech near the wall and tried to comfort them by saying, “Ich bin ein Berliner!” which translates to “I am a Berliner!”

One characterizing feature of the military in the 80 's was the Cold War which lasted from 1983-1988. The most notable product of the Cold War was the Berlin Wall built in 1961 some time after the Second World War. The function of this wall was to divide Germany among the allies. The eastern half went to the Soviet Union, and the western half went to the United States, Great Britain and France. This wall would stop the flow of refugees from the communist east Germany to the west.

Although, Berlin was a symbol of a divided Europe at that time, Europe was divided between East and West throughout the continent. There is a significant risk that it is not enough ways and means in the

Summary of Evidence SOURCE B (THE BERLIN WALL: A SECRET HISTORY) The Berlin Wall separated many families as it divided Berlin into a communist and capitalist state. This division spread anger throughout the world as it became an international crisis. This worldwide anger proves that the Wall did not only cause a physical division but divided communist and capitalist countries throughout the world. This divide was known as the Iron Curtain.

In his speech, President Ronald Reagan addresses the wall separating the East and West sides of Berlin, Germany. He emphasises the strain it puts on the country and how devastating the dividing of the city really is. The wall dividing the city makes contact between families on both sides unnecessarily difficult. Not to mention the message that the wall brings; the remnants of a tense cold war. Despite how strong the Berliners are, the wall puts too much strain on the city, the country, and the rest of the world.

The Berlin Wall falls – the symbolic end of communism in Europe The reunification of Germany was the ultimate cause of collapse of the Soviet control over Eastern Europe. Prior to 1990, the Berlin Wall created the divide between the East Bloc and the West Bloc. It was built around West Berlin to stop East Germans fleeing the Communist State. The wall was also viewed as a protective shell around East Berlin while the west presented it as a prison wall.