O krok od wojny. NATO i Układ Warszawski w gotowości. Zimna wojna w podzielonych Niemczech.

Hello. Due to recent events in Poland, I decided to prepare an episode devoted to border incidents that occurred during the Cold War on the border between East Germany and West Germany. This was the dividing line between East and West Germany, the most important axis of geopolitical tension in post-war Europe. After World War II, the occupying powers maintained a military presence, securing their spheres of influence acquired in 1945. Two German states, East Germany and West Germany, were soon established, supported by Moscow and Washington. Although each had its own border guards, the borders were also protected by units of the Allied armies. This led to many dangerous incidents. In this latest episode, I recall several of them, including the October 1961 crisis, when the Soviets, in cooperation with the East German authorities, began building a wall dividing Berlin. Nikita Khrushchev thus attempted to force the West to recognize the legitimacy of the GDR. Until then, Western countries had only recognized the Federal Republic of Germany as the representative of the German nation. Meanwhile, East German border guards began detaining American diplomats at the Berlin border, a violation of the 1945 agreement. Recognizing such control would have effectively meant accepting East Germany. This led to a serious crisis. American and Soviet tanks faced each other at Checkpoint Charlie. I'll discuss how this confrontation ended later in this episode. The material also features the story of the death of East German border guard Rudi Arnstadt in 1962, as well as incidents involving downed American and British aircraft that violated East German airspace. Thank you for supporting the channel on Patronite – thanks to you, I can create more videos. https://patronite.pl/powojnie And now – I invite you to watch the video.