1. BERLIN: A COLD WAR HOT SPOT

2. THE 1945 DIVISION OF GERMANY At the end of the War Germany lay in ruins. The economy was shattered Between 1945-1947 16 million German refugees flowed in from Eastern Europe, where they had lived during the war. 1946 Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech.

3. THE BERLIN BLOCKADE On April 1 1948 the Russians placed road and rail restrictions on access to West Berlin

4. WHY? There was a great difference between the wealth of the East and the West. The Russians were embarrassed by the prosperity of the West. “One thousand two hundred enterprises were hastily dismantled in a fortnight, possibly out of fear that the Allies would call a halt in favour of a systematic policy. Electricity cables and toilets were ripped out of private homes on ‘orders’ from Moscow. For the United States, it was clear that the Russians had no intention of feeding the cow they wished to milk. This was not only morally indefensible, it was bad economics too.” L. Kettenacker, Germany Since 1945, OUP, 1997, p.13.

5. IDEOLOGICAL TENSIONS The Russians were irritated by this island of Capitalism in their Communist sector.

6. UNIFICATION In 1948 the 3 Western zones merged into one economic unit called Bizonia In June 1948 the Western Allies began preparations for a constitution for West Germany. This would formalise the division between West and East as Russia were not willing to accept a unified Germany.

7. ECONOMY In June 1948 the West introduced the new Deutchmark to replace the Reichsmark, which had become worthless due to inflation. They also agreed to end price controls and rationing in their zones of Germany and Berlin.

8. THE BLOCKADE GROWS After the events of June the Russians closed all road, rail and canal links between West Berlin and West Germany. Their aim was to starve the Westerners out of West Berlin. The situation was tense. The Westerners had 6 000 troops in West Berlin whereas the Russians had 18 000 troops in their zone. The West feared a Russian attack.

9. DECISION TIME The West was faced with a decision, how to help the people of West Berlin – they didn’t want to abandon West Berlin and let it become Communist. But how to help in a way that didn’t seem aggressive and raise the hackles of the Soviets. The only solution was the fly supplies in. They were hoping the Soviets wouldn’t see this as aggressive and shoot them down.

10. THE AIRLIFT Code named ‘Operation Vittles’ Planes flew from three different airports in the West to three different airports in West Berlin, and landed at 30 second intervals. They had to make sure they flew within the 30km corridors of else be seen by the Russians an enemy aircraft.

11. THE AIRLIFT The planes supplied 8000 tonnes a day and flew supplies in over a period of 325 days. In all there were 277 728 flights which flew in approximately two million tonnes of supplies. As a result the approximately 2.9 million West Berliners were kept warm and fed and only 79 casualties occurred. The Story of Great AchievementStory of Great Achievement

12. RESULTS OF THE AIRLIFT The Russians ended the blockade on 12 May 1949 when they realised they were suffering more from the counter- blockade than the West Berliners were suffering from the actual blockade. The Soviets had miscalculated, they now realised the US were prepared to fight over Berlin and Europe in general. Both sides forgot about reunifying Germany and it remained divided until 1990. Led to a sizeable military presence in Europe. Led to the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) a mutual protection club by the US, Canada and Western Europe (precisely what the Soviets had hoped to avoid)

13. THE DIVISION BECOMES MORE PERMANENT On May 23, 1949 West Germany, or the Federal Republic of Germany was set up. Konrad Adenaur, a Christian Democrat, was the first Chancellor. The Soviet response was to establish the German Democratic Republic on October 7, 1949. Germany was now divided into two states, each claiming to represent the German people.