By the summer of 1945, major differences regarding the future of Germany between the United States and Great Britain on one side and the Soviet Union on the other were visible. The USSR wanted to establish a Communist government in their occupational zone, while France Britain and the US seemed to have other plans. After the USSR realized that the three other allies had joined thie three zones, the attempted to separate their zone from their west german influences through a blockade.For eleven months western governments (The U.S., Britain and France)organized airlifts to bring suppliesto the east part of Germany where the Soviet blockades were taking place. Finally, after the eleven month airlift, the Soviets stopped their blockade. The blockade in Berlin, and th espread of communism in Europe initially led to negotiations between Western Europe, Canade and the US. The result of these negotiation was the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Soon after NATO was formed, an alliance between the Soviet Union and Eastern European nations was created; it was named the Warsaw Pact. In 1949 both East and West Germany emerged as separate states; East Germany on October 7 as the German Democratic Republic, and West Germany on September 21 as the Federal Republic of Germany.

As the years passed,tensions between the US and the USSR continued. In 1961, a new crisis arose in Berlin. The Soviet government built the Berlin wall to keep East German citizens from fleeing to West Germany. Those who attempted to cross the wall were shot on the spot by the wall guards. Almost one thousand peole were murdered over the twenty eight years the wall stood.

It was not until the late 1980's that strained relations between the United States and the Soviet Union seemed to improve. Former American president, Ronald Reagan met with USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev to attempt to make some peace between their nations. Starting in 1985 and in 1987 Reagan and Gorbachev held several summit takes, and finally agreed to ride their countries of nuclear missiles capable of striking each other or Europe.

Almost 28 years and one thousand deaths later, the Berlin Wall was torn down, initially signalling the end of the Cold War. The East Germans seemed to open in by accident when the then East German leader Egon Krenz (Germany's last Communist leader) approved a vaguely worded statement that provate trips abroad could be requested without filling requirements. He later added that permits for private trips abroad would be granted promptly. When the East Berliners heard this announcement they gathered in throngs along the Berlin Wall. The confused wall guards (who had not been notified of the announcements) were pressured open and let people through. Eventually the guards let the people through and a stunned world watched as thousands of people poured into West Berlin. On November 9, 1989 the wall that had severed the city for a generation was brought down and Berlin finally reunited. A month later the East German government collapsed and Egon Krenz was charged with the countless murders of innocent people who had tried to cross the Berlin Wall.

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