Soviet Carelessness, Russian Legacy

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At the end of the Second World War, relations between the allied nations and one of the allied member states, the U.S.S.R., had begun to deteriorate rapidly. As the Soviets and Americans marched through Germany and cut a swathe of violence through the country in their race to take Berlin, the cultivation of America and England’s fears seemed to be near at hand; Soviet Russia was intent on taking as much of Germany as possible, as much of Germany’s former territory as possible, and thus: as much of Europe as possible.

The United States and England saw the U.S.S.R. as a tentative ally at best; an enemy of the Nazi Third Reich was an ally to peace and democracy, but only for the time being. Once the Soviets marched on Berlin, the Cold War had truly begun. After the fall of the Third Reich, the original landmass of Germany was split into different sections of occupied zones. Eastern Germany was controlled by the Soviets, whereas Western Germany was controlled essentially by the Allies. Berlin was deep within the Eastern German border, but was further split into four sections respectively controlled by France, the U.K., the United States, and Soviet Russia. The city was fenced off at the “Allied” sections, preventing Soviet citizens from escaping to the “west.”

Furthermore, the Soviets used this fencing as an advantage to be used to prevent Allied “transgressions” and travel through Soviet airspace. The Soviets restricted all travel in and out of the “Western” section of Berlin, and essentially choked that part of the city’s supply line. Soon the German citizens began to starve, and Allied soldiers began to run dangerously low on supplies. It seemed as if soon, they would be forced to abandon Berlin entirely to the Soviets. This would be both a crushing blow to the Federal West Germans, and the Americans who did not want to give Moscow the pleasure of the political victory. The American government was in no way interested in standing down to a Communist Dictatorship. The American Air force, and the Royal Air force (UK), began coordinating supply drops into Western Berlin. They provided the civilians and soldiers with food, supplies, and in some cases chocolate. The American and English defiance marked the first “battle” of the Cold War, but Russia would refuse to be shown up.