After World War II, the Allies reorganized Europe and determined the fate of defeated Germany, which was divided into four occupation zones. Throughout the 20th century, two superpowers clashed: the United States and the USSR, representing American democracy against Soviet communism. Since both powers possessed nuclear weapons, any confrontation could have escalated into a third world war with atomic consequences.
The two “blocs,” each with powerful allies, never engaged in direct combat. However, history could have taken a different turn on several occasions (e.g., the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis). An invisible “Iron Curtain” symbolically divided the two blocs. In Berlin, the main stage of the Cold War, this division was physically represented by the “Wall of Shame.”
1945: The Yalta Conference
From February 4 to 11, Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt met at the Yalta Conference in Crimea to decide the fate of defeated Germany. They established the terms of Germany’s occupation, dividing it into four occupation zones.
Berlin, located within the Soviet zone, was also divided into four sectors. While the Yalta Conference led to the USSR’s entry into the war against Japan and the creation of the United Nations (UN), it was followed in July and August of the same year by the Potsdam Conference, where tensions were higher. The Red Army had installed communist governments in all the territories it had liberated, which was met with concern by the Americans.
March 12, 1947: The Truman Doctrine
U.S. President Harry S. Truman presented his containment doctrine before Congress, aimed at providing financial and military aid to countries threatened by Soviet expansion, such as Greece and Turkey. This doctrine, a response from the “free world” to Soviet aggression, justified U.S. intervention in democratic nations. Truman thus broke away from the policies of his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, redefining U.S. foreign policy. Isolationism was replaced by interventionism.
June 5, 1947: The Marshall Plan
After World War II, Europe was in a dire economic situation. Seeking to revitalize the European economy to secure U.S. exports while also preventing Soviet influence, U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed economic and financial assistance to all European countries in a speech delivered at Harvard on June 5, 1947. This became known as the Marshall Plan. On April 16, 1948, the sixteen countries that accepted the plan signed the agreement in Paris, establishing the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC).
September 22, 1947: The Zhdanov Doctrine
On September 22, 1947, delegates from the communist parties of the USSR, Poland, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Italy, and France met near Warsaw. They established the Cominform, a means for the USSR to exert tight control over Western communist parties.
Stalin’s right-hand man, Andrei Zhdanov, declared that the world was now divided into two camps: an “imperialist and anti-democratic” camp led by the United States and an “anti-imperialist and democratic” camp led by the USSR. The Zhdanov Doctrine was a response to the Truman Doctrine and confirmed a long-term reality: the world had become bipolar.
1948-1949: The Berlin Blockade
In 1947, the British and Americans merged their occupation zones and introduced a unified currency. Concerned about the reconstruction of a potentially hostile Germany, Stalin imposed a blockade on June 24, 1948, to prevent supplies from reaching the two million residents of West Berlin. All land and water access routes were cut off and controlled by the Soviets, except for the air corridors.
In response, U.S. General Lucius D. Clay organized an airlift to supply the city: for nearly a year, over two million tons of food and coal were delivered to West Berlin by air. Stalin ultimately had to admit that his blockade had failed and lifted it on May 12, 1949.
June 25, 1950: The Korean War
Communist troops from North Korea crossed the 38th parallel, which separated the Soviet-influenced North from the American-influenced South. The United States engaged the United Nations (UN) in defending South Korea, forming an international force composed of sixteen countries.
U.S. General Douglas MacArthur wanted to use nuclear weapons against Communist China, which was allied with North Korea and launching numerous counteroffensives. By refusing to use the atomic bomb, President Truman avoided another world war. The Korean War continued until an armistice was signed in July 1953.
August 1961: The Construction of the Berlin Wall
East Germans (GDR) envied the economic prosperity and freedom of expression enjoyed by the people of West Germany (FRG). After the failure of the 1953 uprising, hundreds of thousands fled to the West. In less than ten years, over two million Germans had left East Germany. To stop this massive and continuous exodus, the GDR blocked passage to the West by constructing the infamous “Berlin Wall” overnight on August 12–13, 1961. Strict surveillance discouraged any attempts to cross, though some still risked their lives trying.
October 1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis
Since the revolutionary overthrow of the military dictatorship of Batista in January 1959, Cuba had been governed by Fidel Castro. He moved closer to the USSR by signing various commercial and military cooperation agreements. In April 1961, the United States attempted to overthrow Castro’s regime by supporting an invasion of anti-Castro exiles at the Bay of Pigs, but the operation failed.
On October 14, 1962, American planes detected Soviet cargo ships carrying missiles and rocket launchers heading toward Cuba. In response, President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade, closing all maritime access to the island. The blockade worked. On October 28, the Soviet ships turned back in exchange for an American commitment to leave Cuba alone and withdraw U.S. missiles from Turkey. A nuclear war had been narrowly avoided.
April 1985: Perestroika and Democratization
A wave of democratization swept through the Eastern Bloc. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev implemented policies of transparency (glasnost) and restructuring (perestroika) to reform the Soviet Union by reconciling socialism with democracy. In the spring of 1989, he organized elections for a Congress of People’s Deputies, tasked with electing the Soviet head of state. On May 22, 1989, he was elected to this position. Gorbachev removed Brezhnev’s supporters from power, continued the process of de-Stalinization begun by his predecessor Khrushchev, and ensured greater freedom of expression for the Soviet people.
November 9, 1989: The Fall of the Berlin Wall
On November 9, 1989, following massive protests in East Germany, the “Wall of Shame” was declared “open.” The first physical demolitions of the Wall began immediately. Scenes of joy, with East and West Germans embracing, laughing, and crying, were broadcast on television. On October 3, 1990, German reunification became official. The Berlin Wall, opened on the night of November 9, 1989, was completely demolished by November 1991.
December 26, 1991: The Dissolution of the USSR and the End of the Cold War
“Dissolution,” “disintegration,” “collapse”—no matter the term, December 26, 1991, marked the end of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) after 69 years of existence (it was founded on December 20, 1922). Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and final Soviet leader, had resigned the previous day, transferring his powers to the President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin.