Quote: "The Cold War began with the division of Europe. It can only end when Europe is whole." -George H W Bush
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Sunday, March 28, 2010,4:48 PM
Before the Berlin Blockade

Before the Berlin Blockade occurred, the relationship between the superpowers, the US and the USSR, was already very strained. This purpose of this post is to look into events that caused tensions between their relationship and eventually led to Stalin's decision to impose the Berlin Blockade.

After Word War Two ended, there was a conflict of interests between the superpowers on how to divide the liberated nations. The Yalta and Potsdam conferences proves this point as after the agreements were made, the actions taken were little or even opposed the original agreements. This can be seen from the actions Stalin took after the Yalta Agreement which stated that he was to expand the Lublin government to include members of the London Poles. Stalin also did not carry out the free elections in Poland as agreed. The relationship between the USSR and the US is further aggravated after the Potsdam conference when the US did not send over all the equipment and supplies they were supposed to. Was this the US's reaction towards Stalin's refusal to hold free elections in Poland?

In addition, the US President, Harry Truman, even told Stalin about the atomic bomb that they have at hand. What is his purpose for doing this? Is it to make it clear who has more power between the two?

When the Marshall Plan was introduced in Europe to help improve the economy there, only the Eastern European countries accepted the aid. Stalin had refused to accept the Marshall Plan as to him, it seemed as though the US was "buying" Western Europe with their money. This led to him refusing to allow the Eastern European countries to accept the Marshall Plan as well even though the economy there was not doing so well. Was Stalin too proud to accept the aid or was he just opposing everything that the US does to show that he can do better?

So who was the one at fault for the deterioration of the relationship between the two superpowers?

Personally, i feel that the USSR was more at fault as they had gained many benefits from the Yalta Conference, but did not hold the free elections in Poland as agreed. This can be further shown by the fact that even though the US was kind enough to offer the USSR and its communist states financial help in the form of the Marshall Plan, Stalin did not accept the aid and even banned other communist countries from accepting it.


-Edwin