One place which can be said to represent the division between East and West, communism and democracy, the stand-off between the USA and the USSR with their atomic weapons, is the city of Berlin during the Cold War. At the end of World War II, Berlin was divided into four zones and the Russians, Americans, British and French each controlled one zone. Allies during the war because of necessity, the Communist Soviet Union had little in common with the other three countries and these differences soon led to the Russians blocking road, rail and waterway access to Berlin in an attempt to assume control over the city and force the Allies to leave. The response from the Allies was to start organizing airlifts to keep their sectors supplied with food and fuel. The blockade by the Russians lasted from 24th June 1948 until 11th May 1949. West Berlin then became part of the German Federal Republic, and East Berlin part of the German Democratic Republic. Over the next decade tensions increased and to stop the increasing numbers of East Germans escaping to the West, in the early hours of 13th August 1961 East German and Russian workers started to build a wall, first of wire and then of concrete, which completely separated West Berlin from the rest of the city. The Berlin Wall, about 12 feet high and 87 miles long, was to symbolize this separation and distance between the two superpowers, East and West, for nearly 30 years until its fall in 1989 and the end of the Cold War. 1 What was the situation in Berlin at the end of the Second World War?
2 Why did the Russians organize a blockade?

3 What was the Allies’ reaction?

4 When was the Berlin Wall constructed?

5 What did it represent?

6 When did it collapse?