Lula Teunissen, 11H 07/05/07
Why was Berlin such a trouble spot in the period 1945 – 1963?
After the end of WWII the victorious powers decided to split defeated Germany into four occupied zones, British, French, American and Russian. However Britain, France and America felt that having Berlin, Germany’s capital, in the Soviet zone would give Stalin too much power, so Berlin was also split into four zones. Stalin felt this was unfair, as there were no Soviet troops in the other zones, yet from their zones in Berlin the British, French and Americans could easily keep an eye on what was happening in the Soviet zone. This suggested, even early on, that their was going to be conflict over Berlin, as the East and the West felt differently about the West’s right to be there.
Part of the reason the Western powers wanted to be in Berlin in the first place was that they knew how Stalin’s intentions towards Germany differed from their own. Whilst the West intended to build Germany up and make it prosperous once again, the USSR still saw it as a threat and wanted to make sure that Germany was never again in a position to invade Russia. However Stalin felt threatened by the West’s opposing view, and this was increased by the fact that Britain and the USA merged their zones in 1948, with plans to include the French zone. Economic recovery was also increased with reformation of the currency in the Western zones. Stalin felt that the West was directly opposing him, and he very much feared the prospect of a strong Germany. He particularly resented the fact that Western forces could be inside his zone and possibly influence people that were supposedly under his control. As the Cold War was raging strongly at the time, Stalin was not willing to show the USA any sign of weakness from the Soviet Union. Since Berlin was the place where both the USSR and the USA had major equal influence, this was the place where action undertaken by Russia would most affect the USA. Stalin hoped that if he acted strongly enough America and her allies would be forced to leave Berlin and would therefore be less of a threat to the USSR, as they would be less physically close. These thoughts prompted him to begin the Berlin blockade, which meant that he closed the rail, road and canal routes between West Germany and West Berlin, stopping all traffic. The Allies responded by flying supplies into Berlin, as they were not willing to allow Communism to spread any further. They believed, correctly, that Stalin would not be willing to risk war by shooting down their planes, and in May 1949 Stalin called off the blockade. However the Berlin Blockade was very significant as it created further divisions between the East and the West, and prevented the possibility of a united Germany. There was such aggression over Berlin in particular because it was the most important city in Germany, and particularly East Germany, and both the Eastern and the Western powers felt that having control of it would show them to be more powerful than the other. It would also give them more influence over the rest of Germany, allowing them to spread their ideology. The Berlin Blockade represented the huge power struggle going on between the USA and the USSR, and Berlin was a particular trouble spot because it was the area in which they both had control, yet neither was very willing to accept the other.
