Say hello to our blog post on the Berlin Blockade during Cold War! As a final note, if you essentially have no background on this historical event, welcome to the page, you are in the right place. And in this article we shall be interested in the understanding of the following questions: what was the Berlin Blockade; its role during the Cold War; and its implications for the world. Let’s get started!
What was the Berlin Blockade?
The Berlin Blockade was one of the significant events that took place in the backdrop of the Cold War. In layman’s terms, it was a kind of embargo by the Soviet Union on West Berlin – a city situated in the East Germany. The Soviet Union together with its comrades in the communism was determined to blockade the ground, sea and rail transports in order to pressure into receiving full soviet control of the entire city of West Berlin.
The Context
After World War II, Germany was divided into four military zones occupied by the Allied forces: countries, namely the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and France. Likewise the German capital city, Berlin, was also divided in to four sectors even though it was located right in the heart of the Soviet zone. The Western powers aimed at the regain of Germany that led to the introduction of a new currency the Deutsche Mark in the West Germany.
The Importance of the Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was a major incident which helped to build up the tensions between the Soviet Union and the West at the time of Cold War. Here are a few key reasons why it was such a critical moment in history:
Crisis between East and West: Soviet Union and the western powers were already poles apart and this blockade took the relations to the worse level. It also depicted conflict of ideologies and goals of these two parties; communism and Capitalism.
Berlin’s Symbolic Importance: Berlin particularly of great importance as being the capital city of Germany and had an immeasurable symbolic importance. The blockade contributed to place a division of this significant city and as a result the cold war received more attention worldwide.
Precursor to the Cold War: The problems arising from the situation are best described regarding the Berlin Blockade as the first significant Cold War conflict. It paved the way on the other excitements and struggles amid the Soviet Union and the Western powers during the rest of the Cold War era.
Formation of NATO: It also led to the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949 after understanding that it was not sensible to rely on the American umbrella alone against communism.
The Aftermath of the Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade therefore had serious implications that defined the face of the world during the Cold War era. Let’s explore some of its significant impacts:
Airlift operations
As a result of the blockade, the western powers began an enormous air drop of supplies including food and fuel to West Berlin. The Berlin Airlift was one of the largest humanitarian operations in history that allowed to deliver necessities to people of West Berlin.
Failed Soviet objectives
It is necessary to remark that the goals of the Berlin Blockade were not met. Instead of pushing the western powers out of West Berlin it brought them closer together; instead of weakening the Western Powers’ commitment to the defense of West Berlin it consolidated it. In it the West was trying to show its readiness to counter the Soviet advances in Europe.
Division of Germany
It intensified the problem of the east and west Germany split. With the failure of the blockade, the division became more permanent, leading to the creation of two separate German states: In the world of today the country is divided into two parts: the Federal Republic of Germany also known as West Germany and the German Democratic Republic also referred to as East Germany.
Escalation of the Cold War
The Berlin Blockade, looking at it from this point of view, was a qualitative increase in the confrontation between the Soviet Union and the western allies. It paved way to increase in the production of arms and ammunition, higher spying activities and formation of new military pacts. This period was marked as one of peak of Cold War.
Conclusion
The Berlin Blockade is another important subject of studying Cold War where the difference between the Soviet Union and the Western countries is depicted most vividly. Indeed it split the city of Berlin but also preceded more conflicts and determined the political map for several years.
We expect that this article has given you many interesting facts about the Berlin Blockade in the Cold War period and has helped you to realise its importance. Anyone who wants to gain more information about this intriguing historical event will find quick references and detailed descriptions in books and on the Internet.