Berlin Blockade Document Analysis

1. What type of document is this? What is its purpose?      
These documents are formerly classified memorandums written for President Truman. They are meant to inform him on the Soviets' reaction to events in Berlin and possible Soviet plans.


2. When was it written? Why is that significant?     
 They were written in 1948 just after the Berlin Blockade began. This means all of the plans and actions that are being written about are probably taking place in response to the Blockade and its consequences. 


3. Who created the document? Who received the document?     
 Rear Admiral Hillenkoetter, the Director of Central Intelligence, created the document. President Truman, General Walsh, Mr. Murphy, the Army, and the State Department received the document.


4. Who is Marshal Sokolovsky?     
 Marshal Sokolovsky was a Russian official involved in figuring out the consequences from the Berlin blockade on East Berlin. He discovered that East Berlin was more reliant on the Western zone than they had originally thought. 


5. How did the CIA get information of the meeting between Marshal Sokolovsky and German members of the German industrial committee?      
 The CIA got this information most likely from a spy at the meeting. It was definitely a source they believed they could rely on, as stated in the last sentence in parenthesis. 
  

6. What were the three Soviet alternatives as they presented themselves when this document was written? What policy did the Soviets pursue over the course of the next nine months? Why?     

The three alternatives presented were going to war, ending the blockade, or handing over control of all of Berlin to the West. They ended up choosing none of these options and continued the blockade. All of these alternatives were either too dangerous or would make the Soviets lose too much face. 

7. Stalin stated in a speech on February 9, 1946, "he [Stalin] blamed the last war on 'capitalist monopolies' and warning that, since the same forces still operated, the USSR must treble the basic materials of national defense such as iron and steel, double coal and oil production, and to delay the manufacture of consumer goods until rearmament was complete." Who are the "capitalist monopolies?" How does this statement enlighten the Soviet viewpoint against the United States? Were the Allies justified in cancelling the shipments of German reparations to the Soviets at the end of World War II? Why did the Soviets rely so heavily on Germany for food and industry?        

The "capitalist monopolies" were the allies who created the Treaty of Versailles. This statement shows that the Soviets didn't agree with anything the United States was doing and that they wanted to be ready for any possible attacks from the West. I think the allies were justified. Clearly the Soviet Union was planning on arming themselves for a possible war. The Soviets relied on Germany for food and industry because the West was supplying West Germany and they, without knowing it, received many supplies and industry in East Berlin from West Berlin.