Berlin in the balance, 1945-1949 : the blockade, the airlift, the first major battle of the Cold War / Thomas Parrish.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [337]-353) and index.

In June 1948, Soviet authorities in Germany announced a land blockade of the American, British, and French sectors of Berlin. Isolated more than one hundred miles within Soviet-occupied territory, western Berlin was in danger of running out of coal, food, and the courage to stand up to Joseph Stalin. Led by President Harry S. Truman, the Western Allies refused to back away from Berlin. Instead, they took to the air, packing passenger planes with coal, potatoes, flour, and other necessities.

Berlin in the Balance tells the full, gripping story of this critical conflict - how it developed and how it played out. Through sources made available only after the fall of the USSR, we learn how Soviet leaders planned their strategy to drive out the West, what they feared, and what they hoped to achieve. The Berlin airlift stopped Stalin's expansion in Europe. It helped Truman win his upset election in 1948. And it set the course of East-West conflict for the next forty years.