After World War II ended, it seemed that not all conflicts were to be resolved peacefully, even
after the horrifying 6 million deaths that resulted from the countless battles. Post - war, they held
the Yalta Conference, planning the war’s end, and the division of Germany into occupation
zones, hence paving the way to Berlin Blockade.
Following Germany’s defeat in World War II, the country was split between the United States,
France and Britain, as well as the Soviet Union, whom both had different plans for the future of
Germany. The Soviets were found to take the eastern part of Berlin, whilst the Grand Alliance
took control of the western part of Berlin, as they could not agree on a permanent United
german state nor policies.The Grand Alliance wanted a strong, democratic Germany acting as a
barrier against the communist states of eastern Europe, and strengthen Germany into a wealthy
trading partner through industrialism. The Grand Alliance could not afford to repeat the mistake
of Versailles. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, wanted to weaken Germany as a punishment
for the war by helping rebuild the USSR by stealing German industrial technology, and stripping
them of their wealth to make communism seem more attractive to Germans. These conflicting
views and policies inevitably lead to conflict which was bound to break out sooner or later.
Hence, Stalin was then aware of how prosperous and and secure the Western zone was going to
be compared to the Eastern side, and hence was worried that the West would take advantage
other stronger position and unite all their zones and eventually take over the Eastern part. The
Allies were using money from the Marshall Aid to rebuild Germany’s economy, as well as
introducing a new currency, and creating jobs for workers in the western sectors. Stalin rightly
saw this as an attempt to undermine Russian influence in eastern Europe, hence the Russians
started stopping and searching all road and rail traffic into Berlin. With the introduction of the
new currency to boost Bizonia’s currency, Russia stopped all road and rail traffic into Berlin. Stalin
had claimed that the new currency was an attempt to wreck the East German economy. The day
after this, Stalin stopped all road and rail traffic into West Berlin, cutting off any western help to
the 2 million Germans living in West Berlin who only had food and fuel for 6 weeks. This became
known as the Berlin blockade.
Hence, Stalin with the intention to show that the Soviets also had power in Germany which could
match the demonstrations of economic power and unity that the Western part had shown,
began manuvering to drive the United States, Britain and France out of the city for good.
The Berlin Blockade was an international crisis that arose from an attempt by the Soviet Union to
force that Western Allied powers to abandon their post - World War II jurisdictions in West
Berlin. .Effectively, the Berlin Blockade was the first serious clash between the members...
