Introduction

The Berlin Crisis was a part of the Cold War history, which had far-reaching impact on both the Soviet Union as well as the United States. These were two superpowers engaged in the most intense period of tension. In this blog post I want to talk about the Berlin Crisis, and how it affected the course of the Cold War.

Berlin Crisis Background

In the aftermath of World War II, Germany was divided into four occupation zones controlled by the Allied powers: the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain and France. While Berlin, the German capital, was in fact located within the Soviet occupation zone, it also was divided into four sectors like all the others. But tensions started to rise as ideological differences grew between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies.

The Soviet controlled East Germany, which became East Germany at the same time, controlled by communist influence gained more and more. Thousands of people began to abandon East Germany for the freer West Germany in response. As a result this created a ‘brain drain’ west to east and put pressure on the Soviet Union to do something about it.

To try and quell this exodus, the Soviet Union closed all land and sea access routes to West Berlin in 1948. This was to begin the so called Berlin Crisis.

The Berlin Airlift

In 1948, when the Soviet Union implemented the blockade, the United States, Great Britain and France organized the Berlin Airlift between June 1948 and September 1949. During the time of this operation, Western countries flew cargo planes into West Berlin delivering supplies to keep the city provisioned.

The Berlin Airlift was a remarkable feat of logistics. Meanwhile, the delivery of round 2.3 million tons of supplies on approximately 277,000 flights. Determined that the Western powers would not allow them to starve the people of West Berlin, it successfully thwarted the Soviet Union’s effort to do just that.

The latter strategy, the people of the Baltic States recognized, was not achieving its aim, so eventually, and in May 1949, the Soviets suspended the blockade. The Berlin Crisis, however, cut many lasting chips into the Cold War.

Germany divided and tensions escalating.

After the Berlin Crisis, Germany remained divided. One side of the conflict was the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the United States and Western allies and the other was the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and the Soviet Union.

The ideological and political split between the two super powers was reinforced by the division of Germany. East Germany became a socialist state under Soviet control while West Germany, who were closely aligned with the democratic Western bloc. The division accentuated as well as tensions within Cold War became even more obvious during Berlin Crisis.

The Crisis of Berlin

The Berlin Crisis had several significant impacts on the Cold War:

NATO Formation: It was during the Berlin Crisis (which ended in 1949, when NATO was created). The Western countries, here formed this military alliance to protect member states form possible Soviet agression. This vital Cold War institution came to be because of the crisis.

Soviet Loss of Face: The Soviet blockade and the Berlin Airlift weakened the Soviet position and thereby reduced the Soviet’s international prestige. It showed the West’s determination to protect his interests, dissolving the belief in Soviet invincibility.

Migration and Brain Drain: A huge wave of migration from East to West in Germany followed the Berlin Crisis. A drain of talent and resource followed many of the highly skilled professionals and intellectuals who fled the East. This had long term economic and social consequence to East Germany.

Nuclear Arms Race: Inevitably, the Berlin Crisis exacerbated the fears of a superpower armed conflict. It helped prompt the kind of nuclear arms race between the Soviet Union and the U.S. which would escalate.

Conclusion

The Berlin Crisis had a vital role to play in shaping the direction of the Cold War. It dried up relations between the states, formed NATO, and elevated the arms race between the United States and Soviet Union. The event cast doubt on the strength of the Soviet Union’s international standing and undermined the West’s determination to stand by its allies. The Berlin Crisis had a wide ranging impact and was a key memory of the Cold War.