The Berlin crisis of 1948 is the first confrontation of former allies

Since June 24, 1948, the former capital of Germany has experienced a blockade. It lasted almost a year. The city lacked food, fuel and all those household items, without which people's lives are very difficult.

The war ended three years ago, the need becamea familiar state in its second half, but what the Berliners had to endure was not much easier than the one experienced during the collapse of the Third Reich. The country is divided into zones controlled by the military occupation administrations of the USSR, the United States, Great Britain and France, with each sector having its own problems and own laws.

Former allies were on the brink of war. The reason for what later became known as the "Berlin Crisis" was the mutual desire of the countries of the Western Coalition and the USSR to expand their sphere of influence. These intentions were not concealed, Truman, Churchill, and Stalin openly spoke about them. The West was afraid of the spread of communism to the whole of Europe, and the USSR did not want to put up with the fact that in the center of the sector assigned to it under the conditions of the Yalta and Potsdam conferences there is an island of capitalism.

The Berlin crisis of 1948 was the first seriousthe post-war clash of the Stalinist regime with the countries of the market economy, and primarily with the United States, was almost outgrown in the military phase. Each of the parties sought to show its strength, and did not want to compromise.

The Berlin crisis began with quite routinemutual reproaches. The plan for economic assistance to countries affected by World War II, known for its initiator George Marshall, then secretary of state, suggested a series of economic measures, in particular the introduction of a new brand in the territory occupied by Western allies. Such "economic" behavior irritated Stalin, and the appointment of General W. Clayton, known for his anti-communist views, to the post of head of the US occupation administration, only added fuel to the fire. A number of clumsy and uncompromising actions by both sides led to the fact that the communications of western Berlin with sectors controlled by Western allies were blocked by Soviet troops.

The Berlin crisis reflected irreconcilablecontradictions between former allies. However, his reason was Stalin's strategic mistake in assessing the potential of his likely adversaries. They managed in a short time to establish an air bridge, which supplied the besieged city with everything necessary, including coal. At first, even the command of the US Air Force was very skeptical about this undertaking, especially since no one knew how far Stalin would go in the event of an escalation of the confrontation, he could well give orders to shoot Down the Douglas transport.

But that did not happen. The deployment of the B-29 bombers at West German airfields had a sobering effect, although there were no atomic bombs on them, but, again, this was a big secret.

The Berlin crisis is unprecedented, for less thanyear pilots, mainly British and British, carried out two hundred thousand sorties, delivering 4.7 million kilograms of assistance. In the eyes of the inhabitants of the besieged city, they became heroes and saviors. The sympathies of the whole world were not on the side of Stalin, who, convinced of the unsuccessful blockade, ordered her to withdraw in mid-May 1949.

The Berlin crisis led to the unification of all the occupation zones of the Western allies and the creation of the FRG on their territory.

West Berlin remained the outpost of capitalism andhis "showcase" during the entire Cold War. It was separated from the eastern part of the city by a wall erected thirteen years later. Located in the heart of the GDR, it caused many complications, in particular the Berlin crisis of 1961, which also ended in the strategic defeat of the USSR.