Truman acted aggressively to secure territories from Soviet control. As U.S.-Soviet relations soured, the military divisions in Germany became de facto country boundaries, creating West and East ...

A symbolic Iron Curtain cut through the middle of Europe: East vs West. It was called the Cold ... War Two, the Soviet Union argued it needed protection against possible further attacks from Germany.

The blockade of Berlin was the first serious crisis of the Cold War ... genuine fears of war in the West. And instead of preventing the establishment of an independent West Germany, it accelerated ...