4 .US influence and 1948 Berlin Blockade

Truman was worried about other countries falling to Communism so tried to stop it
1. Marshall Plan - American aid to European countries to help rebuild their economies - West Germany benefited - USA worried if W. Germany was left weak it would be vulnerable to communism
2. USA would support any nation in threat of Communist takeover, gave $400m to Turkey and Greece to stop communism from taking over. 1946 Civil War in Greece between pro-Western Government and Communists Truman wanted to give government all the help he could
Four Zones in Berlin, Britain and USA combined their sectors in 1947 calling it Bizonia then French joined, new Western zone had one single government and new currency to help economic recovery
1. Soviets opposed - Stalin wanted Germany weak so he blockaded Berlin
  1. he also cut the power in the Western sectors, this raised suspicion since he wanted the allies out and was doing this
2. British zone had the Ruhr so could get that financially up and also had Germany's only harbour for exports and imports, US had most resources didn't suffer as much from war so could supply their sector so could take advantage of their sector, France had no airport and the smallest sector they were also still suffering from the war, Soviet zone kept secret Iron Curtain Stalin paranoid full control of Berlin
Berlin was in the Eastern sector, the USSR controlled sector
Stalin ordered all land communication between West Berlin and the outside world cut off
1. West Berlin was suffering from extreme poverty, starvation lack of resources and jobs cut off
West Berlin survived bc of the Airlift, between June 1948-May 1949 - 8000 tonnes of supplies flown everyday, the allies were really quiet with this meaning if the USSR did anything again it would lead in another failure
1. any force through ground seen as act of war
2. landing every 3 mins supplying were able to deal with it so efficiently
3. people feared planes would be shot by soviets
4. Stalin felt USA's handle on W G provocative, he thought he could stamp authority on Berlin, he thought the Blockade would lead allies of Berlin so it would completely rely on USSR
5. Americans saw West Berlin as testcase and as a challenge and reason to stay trying to prove they're stong and powerful
Two states formed, West Germany and Communist East Germany
1949 - Western powers 12 nations formed NATO against Communist threat, Eastern Bloc formed the Warsaw Pact in 1955 a military treaty to counter NATO
1. 3 purposes - deter Soviet expansion, forbidding National militarism in Europe with presence of North America, encouraging European political integration, an attack on one of them means attack on all of them - article 5
Stalin paranoid about allies taken control of all countries in his grasp

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4 .US influence and 1948 Berlin Blockade

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	Created by tasnimkhan almost 11 years ago