# WWII: Why did the USSR agree to divide Berlin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 2, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-why-did-the-ussr-agree-to-divide-berlin/776181 "2017-01-02T22:17:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-why-did-the-ussr-agree-to-divide-berlin/776181/21 "2017-01-07T14:12:46Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I recall reading that American ships carrying supplies for the Russians turned and came back to the United States when the Germans surrendered. Do you have a cite for that? Everything I’ve read says that lend-lease continued until September 1945, the end of the war with Japan. I also remember that the USSR and UK complained that it ended abruptly, which I always found odd since the text of the legislation for lend-lease was public (like most congressional acts) and made it clear that the aid would end when the war was over. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-why-did-the-ussr-agree-to-divide-berlin/776181/22 "2017-01-07T14:34:12Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > Do you have a cite for that? Everything I’ve read says that lend-lease continued until September 1945, the end of the war with Japan. I also remember that the USSR and UK complained that it ended abruptly, which I always found odd since the text of the legislation for lend-lease was public (like most congressional acts) and made it clear that the aid would end when the war was over. If I remembered which ebook I read it in, and if there were an index I would try, but given your post, I probably misremember, and convoys turned around after the Japanese surrender. Thanks for the correction. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-why-did-the-ussr-agree-to-divide-berlin/776181/23 "2017-01-07T15:40:34Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > An Army cannot be looked at in isolation from the country it serves. While the Red Army was at the time probably the greatest land power on the planet, the USSR, which had lost tens of millions of citizens and had untold devastation visited upon in in 4 years of war was in no position to do much of anything. Western propaganda notwithstanding. And as I already said _both_ sides were war-weary. The US could not have prevented the Soviets from grabbing Berlin. End of story. What would have happened from there is something neither side wanted to find out. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-why-did-the-ussr-agree-to-divide-berlin/776181/24 "2017-01-07T15:56:09Z")
The US was weary as the guy who had just fought and won a difficult wrestling match and has a black eye and few bruises… The USSR was winner of a no bold bar street brawl who now had broken ribs, major concussion, multiple stab wounds and was dehydrated to boot. In other words no where comparable. The USSR could not have sustained another Great Power war. The US? Easily. Tactical situation in the Berlin sector was irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-why-did-the-ussr-agree-to-divide-berlin/776181/25 "2017-01-07T16:15:25Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > The US was weary as the guy who had just fought and won a difficult wrestling match and has a black eye and few bruises… The USSR was winner of a no bold bar street brawl who now had broken ribs, major concussion, multiple stab wounds and was dehydrated to boot. In other words no where comparable. The USSR could not have sustained another Great Power war. The US? Easily. > Tactical situation in the Berlin sector was irrelevant. The political situation was a bit more strained on both sides, though. Even Stalin would have had a hard time suddenly declaring war on the Western powers without having coups and internal resistance knocking him from power. And the Western Allies had no great desire to launch into yet more years of war and their public would have been outraged. So in short, neither side wanted to take that step, especially over a city of almost entirely symbolic significance. If it had happened, however, then the U.S. had atomic weapons and the Soviets… didn’t. It also would have probably led to an weird historical turnabout, with British and American leadership directing the war but now assisted by German, and possibly even Japanese, military units. The Spanish might even have openly entered the war on the Allied side. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-why-did-the-ussr-agree-to-divide-berlin/776181/26 "2017-01-07T17:16:24Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Even Stalin would have had a hard time suddenly declaring war on the Western powers without having coups and internal resistance knocking him from power. An apocryphal quote from Harry S. Truman: “Stalin is one mean son of a bitch, but then he probably thinks I am one, too”. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-why-did-the-ussr-agree-to-divide-berlin/776181/27 "2017-01-07T18:10:53Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Even Stalin would have had a hard time suddenly declaring war on the Western powers without having coups and internal resistance knocking him from power. Maybe, maybe not, but he was certainly paranoid enough to believe that was possible. Apparently, in the immediate aftermath of the German invasion he withdrew to his dacha, and when the Politburo came to plead with him to come back and take charge of the war, he seriously thought they had come to shoot him. And, of course, there were new waves of repression and party purges from fairly soon after the war was won, any time someone else looked like becoming a rival. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-why-did-the-ussr-agree-to-divide-berlin/776181/28 "2017-01-07T18:34:09Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > The US was weary as the guy who had just fought and won a difficult wrestling match and has a black eye and few bruises… The USSR was winner of a no bold bar street brawl who now had broken ribs, major concussion, multiple stab wounds and was dehydrated to boot. In other words no where comparable. The USSR could not have sustained another Great Power war. The US? Easily. > Tactical situation in the Berlin sector was irrelevant. But the US public had absolutely no interest in another world war at that point. Would the US have risked another war over one more city? Who knows. Neither side was interested in finding out. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-why-did-the-ussr-agree-to-divide-berlin/776181/29 "2017-01-07T18:43:49Z")
I agree the US was not inclined to wage another World War in 1945/46. My argument was the USSR simply lacked the capacity, even before we consider inclination, which they also lacked. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-why-did-the-ussr-agree-to-divide-berlin/776181/30 "2017-01-07T19:27:17Z")
It is ironic that the war began over Poland being taken by Germany, and it ended with Poland being taken by the Soviet Union. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-why-did-the-ussr-agree-to-divide-berlin/776181/31 "2017-01-09T00:55:44Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It is ironic that the war began over Poland being taken by Germany, and it ended with Poland being taken by the Soviet Union. Actually, the war began with Poland being taken by Germany and the Soviet Union. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2017, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-why-did-the-ussr-agree-to-divide-berlin/776181/32 "2017-01-09T01:58:39Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Actually, the war began with Poland being taken by Germany and the Soviet Union. Indeed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-why-did-the-ussr-agree-to-divide-berlin/776181.md?page=1)