The Soviet Union, opposed to the idea of a separated West German state, tried to prevent this by putting pressure on West Berlin by cutting off all roads, rail, and freight traffic to west Berlin on June 24, 1948. The United States on the other hand, responded with the Berlin Airlift, which tons of food, fuel, and other basic items were flown from Trizonia into West Berlin to supply its 2 million citizens.
Point 2: Economic policies were not agreed upon between by the United States and USSR. These disagreements escalated the tension between United States and USSR.
First, Soviet Union is a communist country and it likes countries to remain communist. Germany on the other hand, is not communist, but Nazis. Second, the US is capitalist and wants foreign trade with Germany and Europe. If Germany remains weak, then Soviet Union does not have to worry about protecting its borders from future German Invasions. Many times, Soviet Union was invaded by Germany, so Soviet Union wants to keep Germany as weak as possible. It is only natural to keep the enemies that attacked your country many times weak.
The United States argued that foreign trade is necessary to keep the US economy up. A capitalist country runs on foreign trade and people buying goods. The goals of a capitalist are to make lots of profit and many do them by selling services and goods. If Germany was open for trade, it will become a new place for the US to trade and make profit.
The introduction of the new currency in Germany made Soviet Union very unhappy.
Point 3: The military problems in Germany caused Soviet Union to uproar. The US wanted to rebuild Germany’s military, but USSR does not want Germany’s military to be rebuilt.
USSR was afraid that if Germany was to get hold of weapons, they might attack Soviet Union again. Many of Soviet Union’s policies are very protective and isolated. Soviet Union wanted to protect Soviet land. It is quite normal. Therefore, the Russians want Germany to stay weak, so the Soviet borders will be safe and the Russians don’t have to worry about invasions as much and focus on other things like the economy.
Analysis: If Germany never existed, there might never have been a Cold War. Germany was definitely the major factor in the origins of the Cold War. Germany was powerful at first and likes to attack Soviet Union’s borders and invade the country.
Germany became the center of all the tension because Germany was like the main piece of the game. The game is whether the United States and the west have more power or the Soviet Union has more power. If Germany became a capitalist country, then the United State’s economy would grow instead of crumbing like it was predicted if the United States could not find new market. For a capitalist country, it must gain new markets and traders in order to keep a stable, wealthy economy. On the other hand, if Germany remained weak, it eventually will have to become a communist country. By then, communist control would have spread even further. Germany’s fall to communism control can contribute to the domino effect. Germany exists so the tension about Germany cannot be avoided. The only way to avoid the tension is by Germany not existing, which is also not possible. Germany is not the only country these two superpowers want to fight over. All the countries around the world are influenced by both powers.
