The Berlin Airlift

When the leaders of United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia met at the Potsdam Conference in July, 1945, they were determined to avert a repeat of Versailles that resulted in a treaty deemed "morally invalid" by the vanquished.1 The terms and conditions of this treaty alienated Germany's social democrats, pacifists, and the left wing bourgeois liberals and gave rise to German nationalism resulting in World War II.2 Their goal was to create a "good" peace and a stable system similar to that devised at Vienna following the Napoleonic Wars.3 Only through success could they ensure lasting peace. Central to this success was the economic revitalization of Germany. While the west sought to create a setting in which post-war Germany could prosper, Stalin's Soviet Union wanted to preserve its future national security by limiting the prospective strength of the German state. These differing objectives would plant the seeds of conflict between the Western powers and Stalin's Soviet Union.