www.dhm.de/.../ berlinBlockadeUndLuftbrueckeBody.html The Berlin Blockade 1948-1949 www.dhm.de/.../ berlinBlockadeUndLuftbrueckeBody.html

Key Questions: Who was involved? What caused the blockade? What happened during the blockade? What were the results of the blockade?

www.moderntimes.com/palace/ blacklist.htm Who are these 2 men? What are they doing? www.moderntimes.com/palace/ blacklist.htm

Key Points: The USSR had disagreed with Britain and the USA at Potsdam (1945) about what to do with Germany after WWII. Britain and the USA wanted to rebuild Germany, whereas Stalin wanted to destroy it. Germany and its capital Berlin had been divided into 4 zones of territory between the allied forces: Britain, USA, France and USSR. The Western zones of Berlin were inside the Russian zone of occupation - behind the Iron Curtain.

www.johndclare.net/ cold_war9.htm

www.johndclare.net/ cold_war9.htm

More Facts to Note Down: In January 1948 Britain and the USA joined their zones together to try and get German industry going. They called this ‘Bi-Zonia’. The Marshall Plan had been approved on 31 March 1948, bringing aid to beleaguered Germans. Russians immediately began stopping and searching all rail and road traffic into Berlin.

This cartoon of 1936 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.

'Can he block it?‘ This cartoon shows Stalin trying to stop the basketball of 'Marshall aid' scoring in the basket labelled 'European recovery'. http://www.johndclare.net/cold_war9.htm

Continued… On 1 June 1948, USA and France announced that they wanted to create a new country called ‘West Germany’. On 23 June they introduced a new currency into ‘Bi-Zonia’. The very next day, the Russians stopped all road and rail traffic into Berlin. Stalin said he was defending East Germany from the new currency which was ruining it.

The Berlin Blockade had begun. The USA Army wanted to fight its way into Berlin. Instead, President Truman decided to supply West Berlin by air. The Berlin airlift marked the first major confrontation in the Cold War.

What Happened? They used 3 air corridors as supply routes, and despite Stalin’s opposition, the planes were not shot down. The blockade lasted 318 days (11 months). During the winter of 1948-49, Berliners lived on dried potatoes, powdered eggs, and cans of meat.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/04/maps/

Air Corridors: Planes flew from: Frankfurt to Tempelhof (American zone) Hanover to Gatow (British zone) Hamburg to Tegel (French zone)

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/04/maps/index2.html

278,228 flights carried 2,326,406 tons of supplies over 11 months. Did you know that: 278,228 flights carried 2,326,406 tons of supplies over 11 months. At the height of the airlift, 1,400 aircraft landed at 3 minute intervals in one day.

The Planes Lined Up:

Consider this: The Berlin Airlift was enormous. Between July 1992 and January 1996, 179,910 tons of cargo was airlifted to Sarajevo. The Berlin Airlift delivered more than that in March 1949 alone, and for each of the following four months!

Stalin watches as the storks fly coal and food into Berlin, but he dares not shoot them down. http://www.johndclare.net/cold_war9.htm

FYI: The types of aircraft that participated included: C-47s, C-54s, C-82s, C-74, C-97, Dakotas, Yorks, Hastings, and chartered commercial carriers. The USA stationed B-29 bombers (capable of carrying an atomic bomb) in Britain.

Woo hoo! http://www.berlinairlift.com/dc4_d.html

Keeping track of the flights and tonnage for each day July 1948. Do you get the pun? www.usafe.af.mil/ berlin/navy.jpg

Goods bound for Berlin being loaded on a C-47 "Skytrain" in April 1949. www.usafe.af.mil/ berlin/navy.jpg

On 12 May 1949, Stalin re-opened the borders between Western Berlin and the Soviet zone of occupation. The blockade had ended.

America had ‘won’. Or had they? What do you think? http://www.usafe.af.mil/berlin/navy.jpg

There were 4 results: (1) The Cold War got worse. (2) Germany was split into: the Federal Republic of Germany (West); and the German Democratic Republic (East). Why is this an ironic name?

Cont’d: (3) The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was set up in 1949 as a defensive alliance against Russia. In 1955, the USSR set up an alliance of Communist states called the Warsaw Pact. (4) The Arms Race began, as the USA and USSR competed for world domination.

What does the airlift symbolise? The success of the Berlin airlift is still an important piece of history to Americans. It represented their victory over the Russians in the first Cold War incident. Why do you think America poured so much effort into the airlift?

www.oldradioworld.de/ airlift.htm The Hunger Fork: Erected by Berliners in memory of the airlift. www.oldradioworld.de/ airlift.htm

Such was the importance of Berlin as a strategic territory during the Cold War, it lead President Kennedy to declare in 1962 ‘I am a Jelly Donut’.