297
See also: Russia emancipates the serfs 243 ■ The October Revolution 276–79 ■
Stalin assumes power 281 ■ Nazi invasion of Poland 286–93THE MODERN WORLD
never escalated into direct military
conflict. The struggle over the
future of Berlin became the first
major crisis of the Cold War.A plan to starve Berlin
In June 1948, the three Western
Allies announced plans to merge
their zones and introduce a new
currency. Stalin’s response was
swift: his blockade sought to
starve Berlin into surrender
and wrest power away from the
West. The Western powers did
not want to give the Soviets
control of the Western sector
and were determined to stay.
The Berlin Airlift was a success,
and Stalin lifted the blockade in
May 1949. Spurred by the Berlin
crisis, Western European countries
formed a defensive alliance—theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO). The communist states of
Eastern Europe organized a rival
alliance in the Warsaw Pact in 1955.
The crisis over Berlin
exacerbated the animosity
between the US and the USSR.
After World War II, Korea had also
been split—into a Soviet-occupied
northern zone and an American-
occupied southern one. The north,
backed by the USSR, invaded
the south in June 1950. The US
provided troops for a United
Nations army, which went to the
support of the South Koreans.
The Korean War ended in 1953,
but it, the conflict over Berlin, and
the Soviet testing of their first
atomic bomb in 1949, created a
climate of fear in the West over
communist expansion. ■After World War II, the communist East and democratic West
disagree over the future of Germany.The Western Allies plan to turn their occupied zones
into a separate German state.The Soviets cut road and rail links into West Berlin
to force the capital into surrendering.The West is determined to have a presence
in Berlin but cannot risk another world war.The Berlin Airlift is a peaceful solution.
Joseph Stalin
The dictator of the USSR
from 1927 until his death,
Joseph Stalin (1878–1953)
was notorious for his ruthless
repression of dissent. His rise
to power began in 1903, when
he became a friend of Vladimir
Lenin, the first leader of Soviet
Russia. During and after the
Russian Revolution (1917), he
played a prominent part in
the Communist Party’s rise
to power, and in 1922 he
advanced to become general
secretary of the Russian
Communist Party.
He became supreme
leader in 1927 and aimed to
transform the Soviet Union
into a major industrial force.
In 1928, he launched an
industrialization program
and introduced collective
farming. Millions died of
starvation, in labor camps,
or in a wave of purges directed
at his supposed opponents.
In the post-war years,
Stalin led the Communist Party
into a period of confrontation
with his former World War II
allies. Following his death,
Stalin was condemned by his
successors for his campaigns
of terror and murder.US_296-297_Berlin_Airlift.indd 297 15/02/2016 16:45