Berlin Conference (1954)

The Berlin Conference of 1954 was a meeting of the "Big Four" foreign ministers of the United States (John Foster Dulles), Britain (Anthony Eden), France (Georges Bidault), and the Soviet Union (Vyacheslav Molotov), on January 25-February 18, 1954.

The ministers agreed to call a wider international conference to discuss a settlement to the recent Korean War and the ongoing Indochina War between France and the Viet Minh, but failed to reach agreement on issues of European security and the international status of Germany and Austria, then under four-power occupation following World War II.

The Berlin meeting was an early fruit of the first period of U.S.-Soviet détente or "thaw" following the first Cold War. Little progress was made, except with Austria, from which the Soviets agreed to withdraw if it were made neutral. The subsequent Geneva Conference was to produce a temporary peace in Indochina and France's withdrawal from Vietnam, though formal peace in Korea remained elusive. Some effects of the Berlin Conference was that the leaders were unable to reach an agreement. There was a "fear of freedom", this was between the east and the west on matters such as free elections in Germany and Austria. The USSR was not willing to place any trust whatsoever in either country. Eight weeks from the concluding of this conference they planned the Geneva Conference