Berlin+Crisis

The Berlin Crisis was when the USSR cut all railroads and trading routes that go through their share of the post-war Berlin. The Crisis happened in 1961and was caused by German people living there who wanted to be independent and hated Soviet control. This angered Stalin who built the Berlin Wall and cut off all transportation going out of the city. This was also bad economically, because they cutoff railroads and roads going into East Berlin. After World War II, the Allies realized they need to keep Germany from starting another World War, so they divided all of Germany amongst themselves and divided Berlin amongst themselves too. As I mentioned earlier, German people in East Berlin were constantly leaving to live in western Germany because of the Soviets. Because of this, East Berlin was not importing any food or supplies so the people were starving. The allies couldn't export goods into their part of Berlin because the Soviets cut off all railroads. The Americans dropped in supplies to the civilians which would become known as the Berlin airlift. "...the Berlin airlift, which in 1948-49 humiliated Stalin's Russia." (Time CNN).

The first picture is of one of the planes of the Berlin air lift bringing in supplies to people in East Berlin. The second picture is a picture of Russians building the Berlin Wall. This was Kruschev's idea to keep everything out of East Berlin.

"The Presidency: Berlin Crisis 1961." //Time// 23 June 1961: n. pag. //Time magazine//. Web. 29 Oct. 2009. .