by
Below are brief excerpts of the 350 page book
Soviet troops leave the U.S. Sector of Berlin in July 1945.
The Cold War conflict can be reduced to one particular issue and confrontation—Berlin. The four victorious Allies; the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and France—jointly occupied the conquered city by formal agreement. Yet, almost from the signing of the German surrender documents, the alliance began to splinter. Each nation began the occupation with its own unique goals and expectations, but the increasingly aggressive nature of Soviet policy toward its occupied territories, in Berlin and elsewhere, alarmed the Western Allies. As the conflict escalated, it was clear that the city of Berlin, the only point where all four members of the former alliance interacted on a daily basis, would be a breeding ground for Cold War animosities.