Big Crisis Dbq

In post-war Berlin during November of 1948, various conflicts between the big Western Powers and the Soviet Union created tension between the two dominant powers. The United Nations created more tension than what was already present when they called on the leaders of Russia, United States, Great Britain, and France to “enter into “immediate conversations” to end the Berlin dispute” (UN ‘Big Crisis’). The United Nations tried to step in and demand the ending of the Berlin dispute, but this created tension between the Soviet Union and the big Western Powers because they both vetoed the decision of the Security Council. This demonstrates that neither side was going to surrender; therefore, the countries involved became tenser. In London, it was believed that the Berlin problem with the Soviet Union is only “one of many symptoms of the existing world tension” (UN ‘End Crisis’).
Between the United States and the Soviet Union, there was conflict regarding the Soviet zone of Berlin’s currency. The Soviet Union pretended that the Berlin blockade was “imposed solely to protect the Soviet zone currency,” but in reality, the Russians had begun to impose “restrictions on land communications between Berlin and the West long before the currency reform” (Soviet Claims in Berlin). This caused the Western powers to have to meet to discuss an agreement on the Berlin currency. Because there was no previous agreement before this dispute, the two main powers had tension regarding the currency and their disagreement on it. In the end, during the Berlin blockade, tensions were evident between the Soviet Union and the Western