The Soviet Union, the United States, and Great Britain were allies during the war, and this unity covered underlying ideological differences. indications of the future difficult relationship between the United States and Russia surfaced at the February 1945 Yalta conference. The conferees agreed that the government of Poland would include the leadership of both Communists and non-communists until democratic elections could be held. However, the Communists soon took over and controlled the Polish government for the next four decades. Yalta's outcome aggravated American and British representatives as they felt increasingly betrayed by Soviet actions in Europe. But President Roosevelt unlike his British counterpart Churchill remained willing to work with the Soviets.
Just as the United States was alienated by events in Eastern Europe, so too were the Soviets hedged out of Japan after the U.S. atomic attacks there in August 1945. The official explanation for the use of the bomb was to end the war with Japan. However, many argue that the chief purpose of the attacks was to get Japan to surrender before the Russians promised invasion. Others argue that the bomb had the effect of beginning the Cold War. The Russian government interpreted the bombing as atomic blackmail against Russia, as a threat to unleash a new, even more terrible war. Russian leaders, moreover, believed that the attacks would cause the British and Americans to renege on the Yalta agreement.
These essential World War II events, Yalta and the Atomic bomb, did not cause the Cold War, but they surely contributed to it. Americans and Soviet leaders remained in a cooperative relationship through 1945. Instead it was Britain and the Soviet Union who were in conflict, mainly in the old British colonial area of the Middle East. Yet by early 1946, with the Soviet hold on Eastern Europe tightening and its push into the Middle East, that a more distrustful attitude arose in Washington. U.S and Britain both addressed the danger of the Soviet expansion and the Cold War heated up.
In the first half of 1947 the United States publicly announced two major initiatives designed to further containment: the Truman doctrine and the Marshall Plan. The Truman doctrine and its heated rhetoric made the Cold War an ideological contest rather than merely a balance of power struggle. The Marshall Plan brought much more financial assistance to Europe in order to counter sever economic problems that made Communist solution attractive to many Europeans. Together these two programs brought a far greater American role to the world than any previously (contemplated), both in resisting Communism and in helping the economies of countries that were in danger of falling under communist influence. At the same time, hearings on Communist influence in American entertainment began, calling forth a series of witnesses and sending some artists to jail. The newly created CIA widened its work from intelligence collection to covert operations, including attempts to destabilize Soviet regimes in Eastern Europe.
The United States and their allies wanted Germany to become a democracy and rule themselves. The Soviets wanted to take over Germany and make it into a communist machine to starve and punish the beaten country further. This was the current political situation of the area at the time of the Berlin Airlift.
The Berlin Airlift occurred from June 27, 1948 to May 12, 1949. In the time leading up to the Airlift the Western German government announced a currency reform. The Russians were dead set against this and so they blocked all traffic by land or water to Berlin. The Soviets simply claimed technical difficulties. They were trying to starve West Berlin in order to make the rest of the Trizone Buckle.
The Trizone was the other ѕections of Berlin held by United States, France, and Great Britain. The United States, Great Britain, and France were left with three options: They could airlift supplies in to Berlin, They could send armed conveyors of supplies on trucks, or they could withdraw from Berlin. The Soviets wanted the United States and there allies to withdraw from Berlin. They figured that they would never be able to airlift enough supplies into West Berlin.
the airlift began on June 27, 1948 when 80 tons of food was brought in, far below the 4,500 tons needed to maintain existence. There were three separate 20-mile wide air spaces in which the goods had to be sent. The planes flew exact routes at predetermined speeds and altitudes. They landed at about a rate of one plane every 3 minutes. There were some dangers to flying at this rate. Planes that were unable to land the first time had to return to West Germany. The Soviets caused more difficulty by jamming radio channels, using searchlights on aircrafts taking off at night, and barrage balloons allowed drifting into air space.
The total casualties were around 70 people. The Soviets tried to nudge the other countries because they thought the airlift would never work and they didn’t want to trigger a war. On May 12, 1949 the Soviets lifted the blockade.
The Soviets had lost the confrontation. The two main reasons were that they could not survive another war soon due to their own state after the War but also due to the Atom bomb. The second reason was they were getting bad press. The Foreign press saw it as trying to starve 2 million people. This made the Soviets look like murderers and the United States and its allies look like heroes. The Berlin Airlift showed how far the United States and their allies would go in order to defeat communism.
The Berlin Airlift became a symbol of United States’ fight against communism. If the United States, Great Britain, and France had just pulled out of Berlin, the Soviets would have had free rein to take over West Berlin. The United States proved that they could sustain a foreign policy against communism.
This foreign policy showed the United States as a world leader. By stepping up to the plate and taking responsibility for freedom and peace, by defending the West Berliners the United States and its allies made the world a safer place. The German people wanted freedom and peace and the United States, Great Britain, and France defended that right, therefore defending and preserving democracy. The Soviets of course saw this as a further insult and quickly responded throughout the 50’s
The Relationship of the allies was always due to eventually crumble. The ideological bases were too different, before the war Stalin expected it to be Germany allied with Europe against them. However the relationship only fell apart when Stalin’s true aspirations began to be revealed and the US without a war to fight turned its eyes to its next great foe.
