BERLIN: THE FIRST COLD WAR CRISIS

In 1948 the Americans, French, and British announced that they were to combine their areas of occupation in German and create the Federal Republic of Germany. West Berlin (located within the eastern zone of Germany) was supposed to join this Federal Republic. Berlin was already a “problem city” for communist authorities: Many residents of East Berlin (and other residents of Eastern Europe) escaped communism by passing from East Berlin to West Berlin.

In June 1948, Soviet and East German military units blocked off transportation by road into West Berlin. Historians of Soviet foreign policy note that this was the first real test by Stalin of Western Cold War resolve. Truman authorized the institution of the Berlin Airlift; for nearly 15 months, American and British pilots flew in enough food and supplies for West Berlin to survive. The Americans and British achieved at least a public relations victory when Stalin ordered the lifting of the blockade in May 1949. Shortly afterward, the French, English, and American zones of occupation were joined together into “West Germany,” and the Americans stationed troops there to guard against further Soviet actions.

One month earlier the United States, Canada, and 10 Western European countries announced the formation of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). The main provision of the NATO treaty was that an attack on one signatory nation would be considered an attack on all of them. The NATO treaty placed America squarely in the middle of European affairs for the foreseeable future, NATO would expand in the early 1950s, and in 1955 as a response to NATO, the Soviet Union and its satellite countries created the Warsaw Fact.