Impact of the Early Crises Flashcards
unification of West Berlin
in 1948 the Western powers joined their berlin regions, creating a two-way division of Berlin
West introduced a new currency called the Deutschmark
Berlin Blockade
Stalin felt threatened by the prospect of capitalist expansion
June 24 1948 - soviets blocked all land access to Berlin cutting off all electricity and coal supplies
required supplies for West Berliners
in order to live a normal life, West Berliners needed 3600 tonnes of food, fuel and clothing every day
berlin blockade
West launched a massive airlift
in the early weeks of the blockade, a plane was landing on average every 3 minutes for 24 hours a day loaded with up to 1090kg of supplies
at its peak, planes were landing every 45 seconds and almost 12,000 tonnes of resources were distributed every day
blockade lasted for 300 days until stalin called it off on 12 May 1949
over the course, 277,000 flights delivered 1.8 million tonnes of supplies
impact of Berlin Blockade
foreign policy disaster for the soviets
cemented the division of Germany
set the tone for the rest of the cold war
made Berlin a symbol of the cold war
China becoming communist
october 1, 1949 - communists emerged victorious in the civil war
america had supported Chiang Kai-Shek and his nationalist forces
Stalin previously hadn’t recognised Mao’s socialism - “margarine marxism” but they overcame this
expansion of communism into Asia led to the development of Domino theory and the US was dealing with the cold war on two fronts - Asia and Europe
Governance of Korea
issue discussed at Tehran
agreed that Korea would be allowed to self-determine
South Korea was capitalist and north Korea became communist and they were divided by the 38th Parallel
south Korea became a puppet government of the US
Korean War
both north and south korea wanted to unify but each with their own ideology
In June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea
The US entered the war, supporting the south
conflict became a proxy war and a conflict of containment
armistice was signed in 1953
large number of civilian killed and caused significant damage to environment and infrastructure
containment had worked and the spread of communism had been halted
