how the berlin crisis between east and west impacted the cold war and how it is important to the evolution of the cold war

how the berlin crisis between east and west impacted the cold war and how it is important to the evolution of the cold war

Berlin Crisis

The Berlin crisis occurred between June 4 and November 9, 1961. The Berlin crisis was the last significant political-military incidence of the cold war. The Berlin crisis started in 1958 when the USSR premier Nikita Khrushchev in his speech demanding that the United States, France, and Britain withdraw their military forces from West Berlin within six months. The ultimatum issued by the USSR led to a three-year conflict over the city of Berlin. At the end of the Second World War, Berlin was partitioned into four parts, with each of them occupied by the four allied armies. The division of the East-West had hardened and at the same the division of Berlin into West and East Berlin. The Berlin crisis was a significant turning point and acted as a redefining aspect of the Cold War.

In 1948, the Soviet Union launched a blockade to prevent France, the United States, and Britain from travelling across their sectors of Berlin City. After the Second World War, an agreement was made to partition German and Berlin into industrial zones. The division of Berlin led to further deterioration of the relationship between the Western powers and the Soviet Union. During late 1947, the discussions on Germany collapsed because the Soviet Union argued that the Allies violated the Potsdam Agreement (Harrison, 2014).On March 20, 1948, the Soviet Union pulled away from the Allied Control Council, which was administering Berlin.

Ten days after the Soviet Union withdrew from the Allied Control Council, guards on the East Germany border began to restrain the entry of Western troop trains heading to Berlin. The Western powers later announced their plan to go on with the creation of West Germany. On June 24, the Soviet Union stopped all surface travel between Berlin and West Germany because they argued that if Germany was to be divided, then Berlin could not be a single German capital.

In November 1958, the Soviet leader Khrushchev gave an ultimatum giving the western forces about six to withdraw from Berlin, thereby making it a free city. He also went ahead and declared that the German republic had observed the stipulations of the Potsdam agreement concerning the removal of military and liquidation of the monopolies, while the united stated had permitted the arrival of military and economic imperialism in the German republic. These accusations were nothing new, and the western powers responded by rejecting the statements and continued propaganda. Still, the threat of turning over access to the DDR was to be taken with seriousness and prepared for (Sergunin, 2014). Eventually, the western powers responded to the ultimatum by firmly and resolutely asserting their dominance to remain and to maintain their right to free access to Berlin.

The Soviet Union had started a conflict in Berlin by cutting off surface travel and access between West Berlin and Germany. The restriction cut off supply to the stranded population, thereby prompting the West to airlift the supplies to the people for almost a year. By the start of 1958, however, a similar occurrence would haveaffected the city adversely; it was highly populous and too prosperous to be supplied via air(Harrison, 2014). The United States acclaimed the political freedom and economic prosperity of West Berlin as a reflection of the success of the capitalist system. The United States was much concerned about its security; therefore, so a decision by the soviet to restrict land access again could potentially lead to a more severe conflict between the two powers.

In 1961, John F. Kennedy, the president of the United States, met with Khrushchev in Vienna to address the tension, which was going on in Berlin, the question of disarmament, and the countries’ competing interests in Laos. Although a resolution was reached stating that further discussions were to be held in Laos, the solution to the Berlin crisis was not found (Sergunin, 2014). At the end of the conference, Khrushchev again gave the United States a six months ultimatum to withdraw its forces from Berlin. The United States reacted by activating 150,000 reservists and increasing defense expenses in preparation for potential conflict over the future of the city of Berlin. Khrushchev, on the other hand, prepared to take action because he was not willing to face a potential nuclear escalation over Berlin.

On August 13, Berliners woke up to discover that a barbed-wire fence separating East and West Berlin had been erected overnight on the orders of the leader of East German Walter Ulbricht. The Berlin Wall would restrict the West from further influencing the East, stop the influx of immigrants from the section of the communist, and probably become an iconic reflection of the Cold War (Harrison, 2014). The United States condemned the wall because they argued that it divided families and restricted the freedom of movement.

Soon after the Berlin wall was put up, there was a standoff between the Soviet and the United States troops on either side of the diplomatic checkpoint. A disagreement arose over whether Soviet or East German guards were allowed to patrol the checkpoints or check on travel documents of United States diplomats passing through. Soviet Union was concerned that the U.S. troops would try and take down the wall or force their way through the checkpoint. The concerns made the Soviet Union stage its tanks on the East German side. One bad move during the standoff could potentially lead to war, or risk the escalation of nuclear weapons. As such, Kennedy used the back channels to urge Khrushchev to remove his force, promising that the United States Army would do the same if the Soviet Union complied too. The standoff between the U.S. and the Soviet Union ended peacefully.

References

Harrison, H. M. (2014). Berlin and the Cold War Struggle over Germany. In The Routledge Handbook of the Cold War (pp. 80-97). Routledge.

Sergunin, A. (2014). John F. Kennedy’s Decision-Making on the Berlin Crisis of 1961. Review of History and Political Science, 2(1), 1-27.