text: how did the berlin crisis of 1948 almost lead to a 3rd world war? it was during the cold war the soviet union cut off access by land to west berlin in an attempt to capture that portion of the city, which was under french/british/american control.  the soviets, however, were unwilling to block air access to the city, for fear that it would lead to another major war, only three years after the soviets had lost a ton of troops fighting the germans.