The Berlin Airlift
InformationAt the end of World War II, Berlin had been divided into four zones. A United States zone, Britain zone, French zone, and Soviet Union zone. The U.S., French, and Britain zones wanted to join together in a West German Government to oppose the Soviet zone. Hearing of this, the Soviets imposed a blockade of West Berlin on June 24, 1948 which prevented all traffic from entering the city's western zones through Soviet controlled territory in East Germany. The Western powers did not want another direct military action after World War II. The only other option was to deliver supplies to the inhabitants of Berlin's Soviet zone. On June 26, 1948 the airlift began to fly 13,000 tons of supplies daily into Berlin, supporting the people and making the Soviets look like international bullies, starving people with the blockade. The Airlift severely increased tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. Finally, in May 1949 the United States, British, French joined their zones and formed the Federal Republic of Germany. Quick to rebut, the Soviets established the German Democratic Republic in October 1949, and now Germany was separated into two states.
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Analysis |
The Cold War is notorious for tensions running high. Of all the events in the war this is one of the more physical and provoking ones. The blockade that the Soviets imposed prevented the Soviet zone's inhabitants from leaving and receiving aid from any Western power. People were being starved and were seeking answers and solutions, many of which found in Communist ideas. The Western powers needed to do something aside from open conflict to prevent the spread of communism. The world could not afford another World War so the next option was to show the people suffering in the Soviet zone that Western powers could provide for them. This meant that the Western powers needed to somehow bring supplies into a place trying to stop Western intervention. An airlift was the safest option. Not only did the Berlin Airlift help the inhabitants of Berlin, but It also showed off Western prowess in aviation.
Life in Berlin during the war was very harsh. Electricity and Fuel were rationed along with Food as the Soviets drained their resources keeping up the blockade and not receiving goods from outside states. The only other way to get supplies was to depend on the Black Market. Thankfully supplies from the airlift helped the people survive. Overall, the blockade in Germany was a failure for the USSR. It made the rest of the world view them as cruel enemy and that the Western powers were stringer than the Soviets. The biggest impact of it though was the fact that Western Nations had a common view and led to the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which is still functioning today. |