The First Berlin Crisis: Directly After World War II

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Soon after Germany’s surrender in World War II, many undesired events occurred that ended up obstructing the progress that was hoped for within the country. Four countries--the United States, Britain, France and the USSR--ended up coming together in an attempt to rebuild Germany. However, they had conflicting viewpoints which steered Germany down a complicated path. Sides ended up being taken, the country was being split between different political views, the economic divide was increasing between the east and west, and other tension-generating situations were forming. Each of the four countries got to be the leader of a certain section of Germany and its capital (Berlin) in order to move Germany away from being a superpower. In this essay …show more content…

Each of the four countries wanted to lessen Germany’s power, which it had obtained over the course of the war. Reparations ended up being paid as a result of Germany’s surrender and what it did to those countries during World War II, such as Operation Barbarossa, as payback as well. However, it didn’t end there as the conflict was only beginning. The First Berlin Crisis ended up occurring just three years after the war. The US, along with France and Great Britain, made plans to create a new country where it was just West Germany. This was supposed to be kept secret, but the USSR spies found out about this soon after, which strongly angered them. Also, the three allies wanted to create a new currency as the present currency’s value was quickly dropping. These two factors led to the USSR constructing a blockade in West Berlin from West Germany; they blocked off roads, railroads, waterways, etc. At first this seemed easy to the Soviets as West Berlin was surrounded by East German territory, but West Germany got around this by using airplanes to deliver the necessary food and supplies, which was called the Berlin Airlift. This first crisis shows how much the distrust escalated between the three countries, specifically the US, and the USSR. Each country wanted to do whatever it took to get their way, which is very common throughout history. Germany would continue to be a place full of unease as more disagreements and tensions would sprout for the next several

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