Berlin, a cause of tension : blockade, airlift, the wall. (cours de
M.GERARDIN) 
Introduction: Why did Berlin become a cause of tension?
In 1948,
Soon after this division, trouble began. Several attempts
were made to reunite the four occupied zones of
1 . The blockade ( 1948- 1949)
The USSR feared that a reunited,
rebuilt Germany might threaten and some day attack the Soviet Union. Russia
wanted Germany to remain weak and divided. Stalin, by that time, had set
up a communist government in Eastern Germany, tied to Moscow, and
removed as much wealth as he could from German economy to help rebuild the
USSR.
Stalin accused the West of interfering in East Germany. Hoping to force the
Western powers out of Berlin, in June of 1948, the Soviet government threw up a
blockade around Berlin, cutting the city off from all land traffic (road and
rail lines, canals ) from the West.
The United States saw the blockade as a threat to the
freedom of Western Europe. President Truman wanted to show the USSR that he was
very serious about his policy of containment. If supplies could not be
sent to the Berliners living in the three Western sectors, the Allies would
have to withdraw . Since the two million West Berliners depended on trade with
Western nations, a blockade would leave them without food and they would become
at the mercy of the USSR. Stalin wanted to make Berlin entirely dependent on
the USSR.
2. The airlift ( 1948 - 1949)
a-How did it work?
Instead of sending an armed
convoy to break the blockade, the USA and Britain decided to organize a massive
airlift of essential supplies. American and British planes brought every day,
for almost a year, 2.5 million tons of food, fuel, coal, clothes, medicine,
machinery and even Christmas presents to Berlin in 277, 000 flights, even in
rough weather . At the peak of the airlift, planes were landing in Berlin at
the rate of one every three minutes. The USSR could not stop the planes without
starting a war. Stalin saw the blockade had failed and ended it in May 1949 :
the USSR reopened the communications .
The West had won, but the crisis deepened hostility between the two camps .
b-The consequences of the crisis.
The crisis in
Berlin convinced the Western powers of the need for military cooperation.
During the blockade, they formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO)
: if a member of the alliance was attacked, the others would help it. The USSR
was alarmed by this alliance because NATO could launch atomic weapons against
communist countries.
When West Germany joined the NATO alliance in
1955, the Soviet Union responded by forming its own military alliance, the
Warsaw Pact, including the USSR and communist countries of Eastern Europe. With
the formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the division of power in Europe was
made clear : Western Europe formed the democratic bloc as Eastern Europe formed
the communist bloc; both camps were armed : the formation of NATO intensified
the arms race between the two sides.
Shortly after the Berlin Blockade was lifted, Germany was
divided into two separate states : the three Western zones were joined to form
the Federal Republic of Germany ( or West Germany), a parliamentary democracy ;
the Eastern sector became the German Democratic Republic (or East Germany) , in
which a communist regime was set up by the Soviets.
3. The wall (1961 - 1989)
a- Differences between the two sectors
of
Berlin became a
symbol of the split between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, as the city was
divided between democratic West Berlin and Communist East Berlin.
From 1949 to 1960, West Berlin served as a gateway for
thousands of East Germans to escape to the West. They wanted a higher standard
of living (the Marshall Plan helped a lot rebuild West Germany, shops were full
of various goods, the West poured massive investment into West Berlin),
economic and political freedom, or to be reunited with their families in the
West. This flow was disastrous for East Germany and created a labour shortage
in the country as many highly skilled workers had defected to West Berlin.
b-The building of the wall.
During 1958- 1961, Khrushev
tried to push the West out of Berlin. The Vienna meeting in June 1961 between
Khrushev and Kennedy was a failure. Kennedy told the American people that the
crisis could lead to war. Rather than attack West Berlin, the Communists
decided to wall it off. On 13 August 1961, to stop citizens from leaving to the
West, East German soldiers started to build a 15 mile barrier that separated
the two sectors of the city. Soon, the barbed-wire fence patrolled by guards
was replaced with a wall. Nobody was allowed to move between East and West
Berlin. Only a few well-guarded check-points where authorized people could
cross existed along this new border,
that became a frightening symbol of the cold war's division of Berlin,
of Germany, of Europe. Contacts between people in East Berlin and people in
West Berlin were cut off : families were suddenly divided, some people could
not go any longer to work ( 60, 000 East Berliners lost the jobs they had in
West Berlin). The flood of refugees to the West stopped : the wall kept East
Berliners "at home". East German soldiers obeyed orders to
"shoot to kill" anyone trying to cross into West Berlin.
Kennedy decided to increase the number of American troops
in West Berlin. In 1963, he visited the city, gave a very famous speech :
"Ich bin ein Berliner", showing his support to the determination of
the West Berliners to remain non-communist.
The communists said that the wall was like a protective shell around East
Berlin. The Western powers considered it as a prison wall.
Berlin remained a source of tension between the two blocks
till the end of the Cold War. Opposition to Soviet control in Eastern European
countries increased in the 1970's and the 1980's : the standard of living in
the Eastern block was much lower than in the West, many people wanted
more freedom; trade unions were formed in Poland : Solidarity was the most
important one , wanting better wages and making political demands ( free
elections, end of the only one party system).
c- The opening of the " wall of shame ".
In 1985, Gorbachev became leader of
the USSR and understood that reforms were needed. In 1988, he announced that
the USSR would not interfere any more in Eastern Europe. A year sooner, President
Reagan standing near the Berlin Wall had made a speech calling out to the
Soviet leader " Mr Gorbachev, open this gate ! Tear down this wall !"
In October 1989, huge demonstrations broke out in many
cities across East Germany. The protesters demanded the right to travel freely,
demanded free elections and new leadership. Meanwhile, thousands of East
Germans fled to the West through Czechoslovakia and Hungary (whose own reforms
included loosened emigration), allowing vacationing East German tourists to
cross the border into Austria, and to reach then West Germany. .
On November 9, 1989, the East
German guards opened the gates wide. Crowds on both sides cheered, thousands of
East Germans poured into West Berlin, bands played rock music. Joyous celebrations
took place in the two sectors of the long divided city of Berlin.
Conclusion
The Berlin Wall was a symbol both of the Cold
War and its end. For many, the fall of the wall proved the triumph of
capitalism over communism. East German communist leaders were forced out of
office. Negociations began for the
complete reunification of Germany.
West German Chancellor H. Kohl assured the world that a united Germany would be
no threat to peace. In October 1990, he became the first Chancellor of a reunited
Germany.