History: The Berlin Blockade

(24th June 1948 – 12th May 1949)

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 Stimulus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=4HchGsN7eM4&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop
 http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-blockade
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/coldwar/archive/default.htm

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Joint Allied Control Commission
 At the conclusion of World War 2,
the administration of Germany was
divided between France, Britain, the
USSR and the United States which
made up the Joint Allied Control
Commission.
 Berlin was further divided into four
zones, with each of the allied countries
having a section of the city.
 Whilst Berlin was in the heart of the
USSR division, corridors were created
so that the other three powers could
get access to the city.
Conflicting Motivations for Germany
Soviet Union
It was important to exert
considerable influence over the
economy and infrastructure of
Germany to ensure that the state
didn’t become a threat to the
Soviet Union.
East Germany could act as a
buffer zone between the Soviet
Union and the West.
United States
A revived West German
economy would allow West
Germans to pay their own way for
the reconstruction of their
society.
A strong West Germany could
act as an ally against
communism
A strong West Germany would
create a containment zone
against Soviet communism.
 Short-term Causes of the Crisis

 On the 6th March 1948, the American, British and

French zones merged to create a separate state of
West Germany that would have its own government.
This infuriated Stalin, as he did not want the allies to
consolidate their power and influence in Germany.

 On the 23rd June 1948, the West introduced a new

currency, the ‘Deutschmark’ into West Germany and
West Berlin. According to the Potsdam Agreement
attended by both the Western Allies and the Soviets from
17 July to 2 August 1945, Germany had to be treated
as one economic entity.
 Long-term Causes of the Conflict

 The two superpowers had rival plans for Germany. Whilst

the United States wanted a divided Germany the USSR
wanted a unified Germany.

 Stalin was becoming increasingly agitated with the

strengthening alliance between the US, French and
British zones.

 Neither side wanted the other to gain a geopolitical

advantage.
 Nature of Conflict – Soviet Action
 The Soviets responded to the actions of the allies by
blockading all road, rail and canal traffic crossing their
zone. In addition, they also cut off all electricity and coal
supply to West Berlin.

 These aggressive Soviet actions resulted in 2.5 million West

Berliners being trapped in the Soviet zone.

 Desired effect → force the allies to abandon their plans for

a separate state as well as squeezing out Western nations
from West Berlin
Nature of conflict - American Response

The American President, Harry Truman, ordered US aircraft to

start carrying supplies into West Berlin by air. The airlift lasted
11 months.

‘In the early weeks of the airlift one plane was landing in West
Berlin on average every three minutes for 24 hours a day,
each plane loaded with up to 1090 kilograms of supplies’

‘At the peak of the airlift the planes were landing every 45
seconds, and almost 12 000 tones of supplies were being
distributed every day’
Map of the flight corridor during the Berlin Airlift
Photographs from Berlin

This little girl, leaving a

bakery with loaves of
bread, knows that the
flour for the bread was
flown in by US pilots. This
Soviet-inspired headline,
a glaring contradiction of
fact, reads: "Airlift a
Failure." June 26, 1948
Photographs from Berlin
Photographs from Berlin

American pilots
known as
‘Candy
bombers’ would
drop candy
attached to
parachutes to
children below.
 Nature of Conflict

 Whilst the conflict fell short of being direct military

confrontation, the crisis was serious.

 The conflict was costly and highly intense and placed

Germany under great strain.
 Quick Facts

 The blockade lasted 318 days (11 months).

 In the winter of 1948–49 Berliners lived on dried potatoes,
powdered eggs and cans of meat. They had 4 hours of
electricity a day.
 275,000 flights carried in 1½ million tons of supplies. A
plane landed every 3 minutes.
 On 16 April 1949, 1400 flights brought in 13,000 tons of
supplies in one day – Berlin only needed 6,000 tons a day
to survive.
 Some pilots dropped chocolate and sweets.
 The USA stationed B-29 bombers (which could carry an
atomic bomb) in Britain.
 Resolution & Consequences

 After 11 months, Stalin eventually relented and called the

blockade off on 12th May 1949.

 Two separate German states were created in the aftermath

of the blockade. The western powers created the Federal
Republic of Germany (FRG), which came into existence on
23rd May 1949. Similarly, the Soviet Zone became the
German Democratic Republic of East Germany (GDR) in
October 1949.

 By the mid-1950s both of these states became fully fledged

independent nations and came to symbolize the clear
division of Europe into two hostile camps.
 Consequences
 The blockade backfired for the Soviets, as they were seen
by the Americans, and others, as aggressive and senseless
human beings.

 In contrast, the US airlift was a huge publicity stunt for

the Americans as democratic countries were ‘inspired by
the spirit of the rescuers’ (Evans 1998).

 The Berlin Blockade hastened the creation of the North

Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which was a
defensive alliance.
 Consequences

 The USSR created the Council for Mutual Economic

Assistance (Comecon) in 1949. The objective of this
alliance was to ensure that the economic policies of
eastern bloc states were in line with Soviet economic
policies.

 In 1955 the Warsaw Pact came into existence – which was

Stalin’s response to NATO

 It would appear that Truman’s containment policy had

worked, as the western allies were able to maintain their
power and influence within Germany.
Cartoons on the blockade

Britain and America

tried to restore
German prosperity
in their sectors, but
the Russians
systematically
looted their zone.
This cartoon of 1946
shows Britain and
America trying to
get the 'lorry'
(representing the
German economy)
going, while the
Russian sits smugly
on his motorbike,
having stolen the
wheels.
Cartoons on the blockade

In this British
cartoon from
1948, Stalin
watches as the
storks fly coal and
food into Berlin,
but he dares not
shoot them down.
 Truman’s Analysis

‘When we refused to be forced out of the city of Berlin, we

demonstrated to the people of Europe that with their co-
operation we would act, and act resolutely, when their
freedom was threatened. Politically it brought the peoples of
western Europe more closely to us.
The Berlin blockade was a move to test our capacity and will
to resist. This action and the previous attempts to take over
Greece and Turkey were part of a Russian plan to probe for
soft spots in the Western Allies’.

(H.S Truman 1965)

 Questions

Using this PowerPoint and the Pearson textbook to answer the

following:

1. Describe why Germany was so important to the two

superpowers.
2. What were Stalin’s motives for the blockade?
3. Explain the significance of the NATO Pact as a consequences of
the Berlin Blockade.
4. Write a small paragraph, explain how the Berlin Blockade
contributed to the development of the Cold War.

And of course as you explore counterargument, always ask:

“So, what’s the other side of the story??!”