BERLIN BLOCKADE

Cold War was just getting started (e.g. Czechoslovakia, March 1948)  

AimsStalin wanted to destroy Germany – Britain and the USA wanted to rebuild Germany.

BizoniaThe Russians were taking German machinery back to the USSR.  In January 1947, Britain and the USA joined their two zones together to try to get German industry going.  They called the new zone Bi-zonia (‘two zones’). 

American Aid, Congress voted for Marshall Aid on 31 March 1948.  

New Currency, On 1 June, America, Britain, and France announced that they wanted to create the new country of West Germany; and on 23 June they introduced a new currency into ‘Bizonia’ and western Berlin.  The next day the Russians stopped all road and rail traffic into Berlin.

The Soviet Union saw the 1948 Berlin crisis as an attempt to undermine Soviet influence in eastern Germany.

Stalin said he was defending the east German economy against the new currency, which was ruining it.  

The western powers said Stalin was trying to force them out of Berlin.

The blockade lasted 318 days (11 months).

In the winter of 1948–49 Berliners lived on dried potatoes, powdered eggs, and cans of meat. 

The Soviet authorities offered to provide West Berlin with essential supplies - this offer was rejected.

275,000 flights carried in 1½ million tons of supplies. A plane landed every 3 mins.

The American airmen were regarded as heroes.

The airlift was called 'Operation Vittles'.

Cold War got worse almost started an all-out war.  

East and West Germany, Germany split up.   In May 1949, America, Britain, and France united their zones into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).   In October 1949, Stalin set up the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

NATO and the Warsaw Pact In 1949, the western Allies set up NATO  (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) as a defensive alliance against Russia. NATO countries surrounded Russia; in 1955, the Soviet Union set up the Warsaw Pact – an alliance of Communist states. 

Arms Race, After Berlin, the USA and the USSR realized that they were in a competition for world domination.  They began to build up their armies and weapons.

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