Britain,
the
Berlin
blockade
and
the
cold
war
The role played by Britain in the conduct of East-West relations during the formativeperiod of the cold war, from
1945
to
1950,
is only now beginning to receive thedetailed scholarly attention which the subject merits by virtue of its importance andwhich the release of the official papers makes possible. In the vast and still rapidlygrowing literature on the origins of the cold war, attention is focussed on theprincipal protagonists, the United States and the Soviet Union, virtually to theexclusion of all other actors. To the extent that Britain doesfeat1.1i-e n accounts of thecold war, it is usually treated not so much as an actor in its own righr but as anappendage to the United States. Thus it is generally recognized that the withdrawalby Britain of aid to Greece and Turkey in the early weeks of
1947
forced America toassume the lead in the containment of the Soviet Union, but the co:itinuing Britishimpact on Western policy is all too frequently underrated. The tenc!cncy to minimizethe part played by Britain in the containment of the Soviet Union bt=comes muchmore pronounced in respect of the period following America's assumption
of
theleadership of the free world with the enunciarion of the Truman Doctrine and thelaunching of the Marshall Plan.It is my view, elaborated elsewhere,' that Britain under the leadership of ErnestBevin played a much more significant and decisive role in organizing :he Westernworld for the postwar struggle for power in Europe than is commonly believed. Theaim of the present article is to highlight the fiat-ure of that role by focussiilg on asingle cold war crisis, the crisis precipitated by the Soviet blockade of che Westernsectors of Berlin in
1948-9.
In retrospect it is clear beyond any shadow of doubt thatthis was the most critical crisis of the cold war. The stakes could hardly have beengreater. As Bevin perceived at the time, the future of Germany, the future of WesternEurope and the future of the precarious postwar international order all hung in
the
balance.The Berlin crisis was not only critical,
it
was also an unusually l.or~g risis, lastingeleven months,and a highly complex one, requiring actions at the political,diplomatic, legal, military logistical and propaganda levels. As one of the fouroccupying powers of Germany, with its own sector in Berlin, Britain activelyparticipated, alongside America and France, at all these different levels. ThatAmerica was the leading acror in management of the crisis on the Western side is norin question.2 All that is argued here is that for good or bad Britain played
a
significant role, far more significant than is usually recognized, in forging the overallWestern policy of firmness in dealing wirh the Soviet challenge and that this role cannow be usefully re-examined with the help of the documentary recorci made availab!eby both the British and the American governments.' Four aspects of thr Berlin crisis
*
Dr Shlairn is Lecturer In Polltics at the llniveraity of Read~ng.
I.
See the author's chapter on Bevin in Avl Shla~rn, eter Junes and Keith Sainsbury,
Rnti\/r
i.,rc:gn
iecvrtaries rinie
1945
(London: David and Charles, 1977).2. For a detailed account of Arnericzn perceptions and policy, see Avi Shlaim,
7'be
L'riited Statti titid the Be&cbloriiide.
1948-1949;
cr
rtr/ffj
in
cvisir ilecision-r}/nfi/ng
(Bcrkeiey, London. University of Cal~forn~a'ress, 1983),revlevied on
p,
127
of this Issue.
3.
For an excellent review of the documents puSlished in the
Fovr~gnRelations
o
the
LI~zitedSlntei
series, see GeoffreyWarner, "The division of Getinany,
194G-1948'.
!r!tarnatzo~~ai?filzi,?,
Jan. 1975,
Val.
51, No
1.
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