A very abbreviated list:
- Berlin Blockade in 1948: leaving aside the obvious, General Lucius Clay advocated calling the russian bluff, and sending an armored column to relieve the city
- Berlin Airlift in 1948: yes, caused by the blockade, but i'm treating it as a seperate event with its own potential to explode
- Berlin Crisis 1958-61: Soviets thought the americans were bluffing over Berlin; the Americans were not. Little good can come of this.
- Berlin Wall goes up 1961: America didn't want a fight over this, but there was still enough tension surrounding it
- Checkpoint Charlie 1961: Soviet and American tanks faced off for about a day. One nervous soldier...
- Checkpoint Charlie 1962: After the shooting of Peter Fechter (and several exchanges of gunfire between border guards), both sides were pretty wary, the west berliners were riled up. Not hard to imagine trouble