Download The Berlin Airlift The Berlin Blockade

The Berlin Airlift
After the Second World War, Germany was divided into four zones and occupied by Britain,
France, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Between 1947 and 1948, cooperation between
these powers broke down.
The west decided to create a separate government in their zones. To prevent this, the Soviets
increasingly harassed the western traffic to and from Berlin. It intensified into the Berlin
Blockade on June 24, 1948.
To counter the blockade, the western powers organized and airlifted a total of 2,326,406 tons of
food, coal, passengers, and other items into the city in a total of 278,228 flights. The mission
nicknamed “Operation Vittles” by the United States and “Plain Fare” by the British, was a
success. The Soviets did not respond to the airlift by trying to stop it, mainly because they
believed that they would have failed or triggered a war. At the height of the airlift, planes flew
around the clock in four hour blocks taking off and landing every 90 seconds. At any given time
there were thirty-two aircraft in the air.
The Berlin Blockade
The first heightening of Cold War tensions occurred in 1948 when the Soviets imposed a partial
blockade of Berlin in April, and then a full blockade in June. Understanding the events that led to
the imposition of the blockades is the key to understanding the later division of Berlin in 1961 by
the Berlin Wall, and the division of the German state that had occurred earlier in 1949 when
separate west German (Federal Republic of Germany) and east German (German Democratic
Republic) states were established.
There are three key events that led to the Soviet blockades of Berlin: the institution of the
Marshall Plan for European Recovery; the London Conferences of winter and spring of 1948;
and the resultant London Program which called for a separate West Germany and currency
reform as a means to reach this end.
In light of the communist rebellions in Greece and Turkey in March of 1947, President Harry
Truman announced the Truman Doctrine, which stated that America promised to “support free
people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures (with
U.S. military aid).” Three months after this policy announcement, the Marshall Plan was
introduced to serve as an economic and financial extension of the Doctrine.
In light of this increasing tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, the U.S. decided that
quadripartite occupational control of the defeated Germany with the Soviet Union was no longer
feasible. Accordingly the U.S. and the other western nations occupying Germany (Great Britain
and France), as well as the BENELUX nations, embarked on a series of discussions held in
London from February to June of 1948 known collectively as the London Conferences. This
came at a strategic time because the other occupying powers of Germany were also realizing that
cooperation with the Soviets was increasingly difficult, and all three nations were beginning to
reexamine their policies as such.
The result of these discussions was the London Program. The main goal of the London Program
was to establish a West German government, with the means to achieving this goal being the
combination of the three western zones of occupation and a reform of the currency. The western
Allies wanted to combine their zones so that they could be administered as a single economic
unit, and so that the currency exchange would be uniform throughout the western sectors of
Germany.
While it was a combination of the three events that led the Soviets to blockade Berlin, the
London Program seemed to be the predominant factor in the decision. On March 6th the
communiqué regarding the London Program was issued, and in April the Soviets responded by
constraining the military supplies entering Berlin via the Soviet zone from the west. This left the
western nations with the choice of either being politically pressured out of West Berlin (which
would diminish their prestige in the rest of Europe), or staying to institute the currency reform
and ultimately establish a separate West German nation.
The western allies decided to stay. In mid-June the west issued a new currency in their zone (but
not in western Berlin), and the Soviet Union issued a new currency in their zone. On June 23, the
west introduced the new currency into Berlin. The next day the Soviets imposed a complete
blockade on Berlin. Railways and highways were restricted so that no surface traffic between the
western zones and Berlin could occur. The Soviets were able to do this without breaking any
international laws on a technicality; the west and the Soviet Union never made a written pact in
regards to the right of western ground access to Berlin. It must be noted that at the time of the
blockade Stalin did not give any ultimatums, and while the blockade was in place the Soviets did
keep the door open to negotiations on the matter. As a matter of fact, Stalin curiously quipped to
a western diplomat during the blockade, “We are still allies.”
But the western powers would not give in. To demonstrate their resolve, the Americans
orchestrated a monumental airlift which flew necessities such as coal and food into the western
sectors of Berlin. This airlift lasted for 324 days, and approximately 13,000 tons of supplies a
day were delivered.
In the spring of 1949 it was increasingly clear that the objectives Stalin had in mind when
ordering the blockade were not going to be met. The U.S. was still continuing its counter
blockade measures, the separate western government in Germany was about to be established,
and the North Atlantic Treaty was being signed in Washington. Stalin had the choice of either
continuing with the disastrous blockade, or admitting defeat and lifting the blockade. Stalin
chose the latter, and in May 1949, at the final meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, the
blockade was ended.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
The Cold War was in full swing, as the Soviet Union was rising to power, capturing satellite
countries. Using their strong dynamic forces, the Soviet Union captured surrounding countries
first to help protect them from any invasion. This tactic was used to imprison civilians and force
them to join the Soviet military. As their armed forces greatly increased in numbers, other
countries and nations feared that the Soviet Union would expand their control and take over
other countries.
In response to this, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed. NATO is a formal
alliance between the territories of North American and Europe. From its inception, its main
purpose was to defend each other from the possibility of communist Soviet Union taking control
of their nation. Many powerful countries joined NATO by the signing of the official document in
1949: Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, Iceland, Luxembourg, United States, Canada, Netherlands,
Denmark, Norway and Portugal. In 1950, General Dwight D. Eisenhower was nominated and
appointed as the first supreme allied commander. Since Eisenhower was from the United States,
this allowed the U.S. to be a strong force in the organization. West Germany, Turkey and Greece
joined by 1955.
Today, NATO is ideally an outstanding way for the twenty-six different countries and nations to
come together. As an organization, the leaders meet with one another to make decisions about
security issues and defensive issues against allied attacks. Also, NATO has armed forces, made
up of civilians of all twenty-six countries. They defend and aid countries in crisis, just like
Darfur. The North Atlantic Council is made up on knowledgeable political and military leaders
represented by each country. This council comes to a consensus on making important decisions
on what political and military tactics to use, for daily activity.
Many people believe that NATO is pointless and a waste of government money. These people
may not realize exactly what NATO does and all the hard work that goes into it. NATO has
helped and currently is helping a lot of countries. This organization has helped end extremely
bloody and deadly conflicts in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. NATO is still up and running in
this century. Any threat brought to the table can be well thought through and these unified
countries can try to resolve the conflict. NATO has been around for fifty-nine years and as long
as there are problems in the world, NATO will be there to seek world peace.