Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling
Before discussing the recent Free Gaza Flytilla and a Gaza Airlift, most people are familiar with the 1948 Berlin Airlift. Three years earlier near the end of World War Two and at the Potsdam Conference, Germany and Berlin were divided into four separate zones. Each zone was to be administered by Great Britain, France, the United States, and Russia (Soviet Union). As the Cold War unfolded, though, tensions increased.
The West began to view a revived Germany as a buffer against the Soviet-controlled East and gradually united their zones. The creation of West Germany convinced the Soviets that they would never get the war reparations they wanted. Therefore, in 1948 the Soviets implemented a blockade against West Berlin, which was entirely in the Soviet's zone. The flow of supplies and people were impeded. Soviet troops cut-off all road and rail traffic.
The blockade provoked a major crisis for the United States. The Soviets believed by obstructing provisions to two-million West Berliners, that the U.S. would have to abandon any plans to create an independent West Germany. President Harry S. Truman decided to send long-range bombers with atomic weapons to bases in Britain, a warning for a possible preemptive war.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment