This paper will be a guide to the roots of the Cold War scenario and the Berlin Airlift in particular. If you are a beginner in this field, you probably heard about the “Berlin Airlift” and the ‘Cold War’ in history class or during your research. Here in this blog post, the reader will be afforded the opportunity to learn more about the history of the United States and USSR leading up to the Cold War, as well as the nature of the Berlin Airlift, and the importance of this event. Let’s dive in!
What was the Cold War?
Cold war was a post World War II event, in which America and soviet union become two superpowers and adversary. It can be described on political, economical and militarily competition where both super powers competed for world supremacy. Because Germany pretended not to aspire to world domination, the intervening international conflict did not involve war between the two nations directly, but it inarguably changed the world and caused Europe to split east and west.
The Context: World War II and Division of Germany
Europe was physically and politically destroyed during World War II. In the light of this victory, the decision of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France NATO Allies was made to administer Germany into four zones of occupation. Likewise, the capital city of Berlin, despite being situated a long way in the rear of East Germany was also divided in four zones. This division has created the path for hostility and conflict within the occupying powers.
The Soviet Union’s Motives
During the early period of the Second World War, Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin had major objectives of establishing communism and exercising power in East Europe. Stalin aimed at creating a buffer zone in order to avoid further invasions of the Soviet Union after the damage done by the Second World War. This desire for security was in conflict with another major aim of the Western Allies, in their respective zones in Germany, which was the reconstruction of the economies, and the setting up of parliamentary systems of government.
The Truman doctrine and The Marshall plan This paper focuses on the Truman doctrine and its relation to the Marshall plan.
In 1947 the United States introduced the Truman Doctrine which stated that America would support with aid those countries that the Soviet Union was trying to subdue. This was a policy doctrine that was an international policy where America was diplomatically and militarily standing up for its political policy of preventing communism from proliferating even in war ravaged Europe. Besides, the United States began the Marshall Plan-an elaborate economic rehabilitation program whose goal was to reconstruct Europe’s economies. All these programmes raised the political and competitive conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union.
The Berlin Blockade
In 1948 the situation became tense and then the Soviet Union began to act and seize the zone in Berlin that the Western Allies have. Stalin then resolved to seal off West Berlin off from the western sectors in Germany altogether with the sealing off of all roads, rail and water transport. That is according to historians, the aim of the blockade was to make the Western Allies withdraw from West Berlin and let the Soviet Unite take full control.
Enter the Berlin Airlift
Germany, further the Western Allies particularly the United States counter the blockade move through a move rarely seen before, the Berlin Airlift. In June 1948 to September 1949, the west formed an airplane carrying people food, fuel and general commodities into West Berlin. This guarantee that the city remained productive and its people were not deprived of food or used by the Soviets.
The Significance of Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift can be viewed as a critical moment in the history of the Cold War. It outlined how the Western Allies were determined and would stand as one against Soviet expansionism. The success of these airlifts was proven that United States and its allies not faltered on their decision to protect democracy as well as contain communism influence.
The Aftermath and the Legacy
Certainly, the experiences gained during the Berlin Airlift demonstrated high results, so the Soviet union decided to remove the blockade in May 1949. However it fixed the separation of East and West Germany which later gave way to the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961. The Cold War dragged on for many years up to the early nineteenth nineties when the Soviet Union disintegrated.
Additional Terminology Used on Quizlet and Other Need to Know Resources
Perhaps you would like more details regarding the occurrence of the Cold War and the event Berlin Airlift now that we have covered a little background information as a beginning. In this view, we suggest Quizlet – an incredibly popular online tool that provides users with flashcards and quizzes in multiple subjects. You can always turn to sets of flashcards, created by users, if you look up “Berlin Airlift Quizlet” on your choice of search engine. These flashcards will let punctilious the volume of knowledge you have acquired and perhaps, be a handy platform to read from.
If you prefer more in-depth reading materials, we encourage you to check out the following resources:
Haydock, Michael.D “The Berlin Blockade and Airlift”
“The Cold War: A New History” by John Lewis Gaddis provides an understanding on how Cold War unfolded in the twentieth century.*
“The Cold War: This is part of a series of booklets titled, “A Very Short Introduction” authored by Robert J. McMahon.
We believe that this blog post has offered you a good grounding in the history of the Cold War – with more specific reference to the Berlin Airlift. Such events are very important as to realize all the Modern world havoc, it is necessary to know it. Lastly, do not forget that we must always keep on searching, always keep on learning, and always increase our informations’ share. Knowing what has taken place in the past makesit easier to worktowards achieving better things in the future.
