The Berlin Blockade was an extremely delicate situation during the Cold war that almost lead to real military conflict between The Superpower nations of USA and USSR in mid 1984. After the war Germany was split up between France, UK, USA and USSR. Its capital Berlin, which was deep inside the Soviet zone, was also divided between the four. Problems arose when the UK and US combined their zones to form Bizonia. Stalin, the head of the Soviet Union, was very displeased and felt threatened by this as Bizonia had its own new form of currency and was in a much better state than Soviet controlled Germany. In an act to re-establish his authority, Stalin blocked all routes in and out of Soviet Germany under the guise of “reparations”. Since the only way for the allies to get to berlin was through the Soviet zone, an isolated West Berlin could not support itself for very long without supplies from outside. Stalin had done this in hope that the Allies would just give Berlin up and later claimed that Berlin had been part of Soviet territory all along. 2.5 million Berliners had only five weeks worth of food and this led the Allies to try and make a quick decision in order to avoid starvation. Knowing that any wrong step they took could probably lead to war, America and Britain decided to Airlift supplies into the city using the air corridors that had been previously allotted to them after the war. By doing this they had shifted the decision of war in USSR’s hands. If Stalin shot down any of the airlift planes he would be responsible for war and be seen as the villain in the scenario. This period can be called one of the most intense during the cold war as actual war was a huge possibility and international relations were at stake. In the end the airlift became one of the most successful operations and the blockade was lifted. As a consequence of the blockade, many Germans were now severely opposed to the Soviet regime as they were furious Stalin left so many citizens to starve for his own personal gain. Also as a result NATO and the Warsaw pact were introduced and relations between the superpowers got considerably worse.
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