cold+war+I.S.

Berlin Airlift:

President Truman and his advisers belived that western Europe's prosperity depended on Germny's recovery. The Soviet Union still wanted Germany to pay reparations, this dispute led the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of war. In response to this threat, the United States, France, and Great Britain, announced that they were merging their zones in Germany. Known as West Germany and the area that the soviets controlled was known as East Germany. This convinced the soviets that they would never get the reparations they wanted. in response to West Germany, East Germany cut off road and rail traffic to West Germany, hoping to force the U.S. to reconsider its decision or to abandon West Germany. This provoked a crisis, so president Truman sent bombers with atomic weapons to bases in Britain. Now the challenge was to keep West Berlin alive without provoking a war with the Soviets. Instead of ordering troops to fight, with the Soviet Union, Truman ordered the Airforce to fly over supplies into Berlin instead. This began in June of 1948 till spring of 1949 supplying Berlin with over 2 million tons of supplies to the city. Stalin finally lifted the blockade on May 12, 1949. The airlift symbolized American determination to contain communism and not give in to the Soviet demands. media type="youtube" key="fQ30Rgc5Prc" height="349" width="425" Why did president Truman send atomic weapons to Britain?