The Berlin Blockade And The Cold War

One of the biggest events in the cold war, the Berlin Blockade or Berlin crisis, was on the brink of starting World War 3. This was the time between June 24th 1948 to May 12 of the next year. Through this period the Soviet Union blocked off part of Berlin in an effort to limit the Western Allies’ access to the part of Berlin under allied control. While under the U.S.S.R’s control the Berliners were in terrible conditions. They had next to no food, were being killed for no apparent reason, and arrested for no reason as well. The Allies heard their call for help and began the Berlin airlift in effort to help the West Berliners get food and other materials under the Soviet’s control. The Berlin Blockade was one of the most tense times during the …show more content…
Tamara Eidelman and Sam Roberts state that the Truman doctrine was designed to ‘contain’ the USSR, which had already taken control of East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and the other nations of Central and Eastern Europe. This concept was introduced by the President of the United States to the Congress calling upon the body to provide aid to Turkey and Greece so that they wouldn’t fall under the communist influence of the Soviet Union (Eidelman 22, Roberts 1). This further states that the U.S. wanted to stop or slow down the growth of communism in Europe. This shows that Americans did not like the idea of communism. Eidelman further states that 400 million dollars was donated to the fight against communism (Eidelman 23). This matters because it shows how far the president was willing to go to fight the spread of communism. The Truman Doctrine is the start of the beginning of the Berlin