After World War II, which entities controlled Berlin: the Axis nations, the Soviet Union, the Allied nations, or the United States?

After World War II, the city of Berlin was controlled not by a single entity but by the Allied nations as a group, which consisted of the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. Specifically, Berlin was divided into four sectors: the American, British, French sectors (which collectively formed West Berlin), and the Soviet sector (which formed East Berlin). While the city itself was situated deep within the Soviet-controlled zone of Germany, the agreement among the Allies allowed for these separate sectors, effectively making Berlin a focal point of post-war cooperation and later tensions between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies.

The situation in post-war Berlin is a prime example of the complexities of the Cold War that ensued shortly after WWII. The division of Berlin into sectors controlled by different Allied powers was emblematic of the broader division of Germany and Europe into Eastern and Western blocks, with the former falling under Soviet influence and the latter under the influence of the United States and its European allies. The division of Berlin would come to physically manifest itself with the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, which was built by the government of East Germany to prevent East Germans from fleeing to West Berlin. The existence of the Berlin Wall became a powerful symbol of the Cold War until its fall in 1989, which presaged the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union and the reunification of Germany.