Berlin, a crucial issue for the USA during the Cold War

« control of the city.

The United States responded with an airlift that went on for 300 days, with nearly 2 millions of tons of supplies until Stalin finally backed off and signed an agreement with the other three powers, guaranteeing 3 Western airlifts and roads access to the enclave. Over the 50's decade, West Berlin had grown free and prosperous while East Berlin had stagnated under the Soviet boot.

Easterners were emigrating to the West in droves, using West Berlin as their transit point.

By the fall of 50's, East Germany had lost 2 to 3 million people, with continued losses of 10,000 per month, including some of its best-educated peoples, such as a « brain-drain ».

Khrushchev needed to stop the hemorrhage. Finally, on August 13, 1961, Khrushchev ordered East German troops to occupy the border separating the two majors parts of the city and to lay the first layers of brick and barbed wire of what would become the Berlin Wall. In this way, the wall marked the end of Khrushchev's crisis.

But the US President John F.

Kennedy took the move as the possible beginning of a wider threat.

He gave money into the defense budget of West Berlin for conventional military forces if Khrushchev try to occupy West Berlin.

As we can see in the text, it was not only because of the wall, but also to respond to the increase of Soviet military budget, announced by Khrushchev, after a meeting in Europe several weeks ago. By October, the Soviets had closed off all but one single border crossing.

On October 27, 1961 in a now-forgotten crisis (because of the Cuban missile crisis, one year later), Soviet and American tanks faced each other along that checkpoint, at short range, until negotiations were held and the Soviet tanks backed off.. »