After the end of the second world war, the city of Berlin was divided into occupation zones just like the rest of Germany with the US, Britain and France controlling the west half of the city and the USSR controlling the east half. As the need for a wartime alliance was no longer there, the relationship between the USSR and the other allied countries turned hostile over the iron curtain and the impending spread of communism, and the question was raised of whether the USSR would take over all of Berlin and absorb it into their controlled Eastern Germany. The USSR took the first step in taking over all of Berlin by blockading all raid, road and water access to the allied occupied section on June 24, 1948.
The motivation for this blockade came from the shifts in occupation policy in 1947. The US and Britain united their occupation zones to create Bizonia which increased tensions between the East and West. These tensions were further escalated with the Marshal Plan as the program was seen as a bulwark against communism because it was establishing capitalism in Western Europe through the rebuilding it carried out. In early 1948, France, Britain and the US secretly planned to create a new German state consisting of the Western Allies' occupation zones. The Soviets found these designs and in March withdrew from the Allied Control Council, which met frequently after the war to coordinate occupation policy between zones. The Western Allies also introduced a new currency to Bizonia and West Berlin without informing the USSR in an effort to curb the black market. This final deception caused the launch of the blockade.
On June 26, the US launched Operation Vittles and Britain launched Operation Plainfare two days later. The objective of these operations was to drop all supplies necessary to the people of West Berlin and if there was an attack on the planes by the Soviets, war would be declared. The beginning of the airlift proved difficult, but after the German Communist party of the Soviet occupation zone marched on the Berlin City Council and forced it to adjourn, 300,000 citizens of West Berlin gathered at the Reichstag to show their Soviet opposition. This turnout convinced the US and Britain to push forward with the airlift and eventually the effort became more efficient and the amount of aircraft increased greatly. By spring of 1949, the Berlin Airlift proved successful and the Allied counter-blockade on USSR occupied Germany was causing dangerous shortages and Moscow feared would lead to political upheaval, so on May 11 the west Berlin blockade was lifted. Two weeks after, the state of West Germany was established, followed shortly by East Germany.
Sources -
http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-airlift
https://www.trumanlibrary.org/teacher/berlin.htm
This was a great read! It helped me understand all of the details and work behind to Berlin Airlift and that it was one of the major beginnings of US and Britain fighting the USSR and taking action to stop the spread of the iron curtain.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting! I find this a good example of the Cold War and the state of animosity between the USSR and western powers beginning as early as 1948. It also illustrates the devastating impact of ideological war on civilians. The essence of the airlift, in my opinion, was the use of a humanitarian threat to achieve ideological goals.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated the amount of detail you put into this post! I didn't know that France, Britain, and the US were secretly planning to make a new German state- it really explains a lot about why Stalin wanted to put up the blockade. Along with the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift was a major key into shaping America's global image as a charitable, liberty-driven democracy. I wonder if the Soviet Union was considering shooting down those American planes at any point.
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