The Berlin Blockade
By 1948, with Europe was firmly divided into communist and capitalist, Russian supported and American supported, Germany became the new ‘battleground’. Germany was divided into four parts and occupied by Britain, France, America and Russia; Berlin, situated in the Soviet zone, was also divided. In 1948 Stalin enforced a blockade of 'Western' Berlin aimed at bluffing the Allies into renegotiating the division of Germany in his favour, rather than them declaring war over the cut off zones.
However, Stalin had miscalculated the ability of airpower, and the Allies responded with the ‘Berlin Airlift’: for eleven months supplies were flown into Berlin. This was in turn a bluff, for the Allied planes had to fly over Russian airspace and the Allies gambled that Stalin wouldn’t shoot them down and risk war. He didn’t and the blockade was ended in May 1949 when Stalin gave up. The Berlin Blockade was the first time the previous diplomatic and political divisions in Europe had become an open battle of wills, the former allies now certain enemies.
More on the Berlin Blockade
NATO, the Warsaw Pact and the renewed Military Division of Europe
In April 1949, with the Berlin Blockade in full effect and the threat of conflict with Russia looming, the Western powers signed the NATO treaty in Washington, creating a military alliance: the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The emphasis was firmly on defence from Soviet activity. That same year Russia detonated its first atomic weapon, negating the America advantage and reducing the chance of the powers engaging in a ‘regular’ war because of fears over the consequences of nuclear conflict.
There were debates over the next few years among NATO powers over whether to rearm West Germany and in 1955 it became a full member of NATO. A week later eastern nations signed the Warsaw Pact, creating a military alliance under a Soviet commander.
A Cold War
By 1949 two sides had formed, power blocs which were deeply opposed to each other, each believing the other threatened them and everything they stood for (and in many ways they did). Although there was no traditional warfare, there was a nuclear standoff and attitudes and ideology hardened over the next decades, the gap between them growing more entrenched. This led to the ‘Red Scare’ in the United States and yet more crushing of dissent in Russia. However, by this time the Cold War had also spread beyond the boundaries of Europe, becoming truly global as China became communist and America intervened in Korea and Vietnam. Nuclear weapons also grew more power with the creation, in 1952 by the US and in 1953 by the USSR, of thermonuclear weapons which were vastly more destructive than those dropped during the Second World War. This led to the development of ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’, whereby neither the US nor USSR would ‘hot’ war with each other because the resulting conflict would destroy much of the world.
By 1948, with Europe was firmly divided into communist and capitalist, Russian supported and American supported, Germany became the new ‘battleground’. Germany was divided into four parts and occupied by Britain, France, America and Russia; Berlin, situated in the Soviet zone, was also divided. In 1948 Stalin enforced a blockade of 'Western' Berlin aimed at bluffing the Allies into renegotiating the division of Germany in his favour, rather than them declaring war over the cut off zones.
However, Stalin had miscalculated the ability of airpower, and the Allies responded with the ‘Berlin Airlift’: for eleven months supplies were flown into Berlin. This was in turn a bluff, for the Allied planes had to fly over Russian airspace and the Allies gambled that Stalin wouldn’t shoot them down and risk war. He didn’t and the blockade was ended in May 1949 when Stalin gave up. The Berlin Blockade was the first time the previous diplomatic and political divisions in Europe had become an open battle of wills, the former allies now certain enemies.
More on the Berlin Blockade
NATO, the Warsaw Pact and the renewed Military Division of Europe
In April 1949, with the Berlin Blockade in full effect and the threat of conflict with Russia looming, the Western powers signed the NATO treaty in Washington, creating a military alliance: the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The emphasis was firmly on defence from Soviet activity. That same year Russia detonated its first atomic weapon, negating the America advantage and reducing the chance of the powers engaging in a ‘regular’ war because of fears over the consequences of nuclear conflict.
There were debates over the next few years among NATO powers over whether to rearm West Germany and in 1955 it became a full member of NATO. A week later eastern nations signed the Warsaw Pact, creating a military alliance under a Soviet commander.
A Cold War
By 1949 two sides had formed, power blocs which were deeply opposed to each other, each believing the other threatened them and everything they stood for (and in many ways they did). Although there was no traditional warfare, there was a nuclear standoff and attitudes and ideology hardened over the next decades, the gap between them growing more entrenched. This led to the ‘Red Scare’ in the United States and yet more crushing of dissent in Russia. However, by this time the Cold War had also spread beyond the boundaries of Europe, becoming truly global as China became communist and America intervened in Korea and Vietnam. Nuclear weapons also grew more power with the creation, in 1952 by the US and in 1953 by the USSR, of thermonuclear weapons which were vastly more destructive than those dropped during the Second World War. This led to the development of ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’, whereby neither the US nor USSR would ‘hot’ war with each other because the resulting conflict would destroy much of the world.