1. How did Stalin react to the Marshall Plan?
Do Now:
What were the aims of the Marshall plan?
What does this cartoon suggest about Stalin’s reactions towards it?
L.O: Can I explain Stalin’s reactions to the Marshall plan?

2. Comniform and Comecon
Stalin’s reaction to the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan was to set up Comniform (the Communist Information Bureau) in Sept 1947.
All the Communist parties in Europe were involved in this. It had been created to defend Communism against the USA.
It helped Stalin to have more control over other Communist countries.
These countries were known as the satellite states. Stalin established his own plans for their recovery, and they were meant to trade with each other, rather than the West.
Yugoslavia showed too much independence, and Stalin threw them out of the Comniform.
The USSR offered aid to the satellite states in This was known as Comecon.
In your opinion, what do you think Stalin hoped to achieve by setting up Comniform and Comecon?

3. The Berlin air lift!!!
Use the following information to produce a timeline of events and use this timeline to answer questions about the Berlin Air Lift.

4. NEWSFLASH ONE!!!
February 1945: The Yalta Conference. It is agreed that Germany will be split into four zones (British, French, Soviet, American). Berlin is deep in the Soviet zone, but this too is divided into four zones because it is such an important city. Stalin has promised that rail, road and air routes will allow the allies free access to their zones of Berlin.

5. NEWSFLASH TWO!!!
June 1945: Stalin agrees that the Western Allies should have access to one road, and one railway route, to reach their zones of Berlin (which is deep inside the Russian zone of Germany)

6. NEWSFLASH THREE!!!
July 1945:
The Potsdam Conference. Disagreements have emerged about Germany - Stalin wants to destroy Germany by squeezing reparations out of his zones; however, the other allies want to rebuild Germany as a trading partner.

7. NEWSFLASH FOUR!!!
November 1945: Stalin agrees that the Western Allies should have access to three air routes to reach their zones of Berlin (which is deep inside the Russian zone of Germany).

8. NEWSFLASH FIVE!!
March 1946: Winston Churchill delivers his 'Iron Curtain' speech at Fulton, Missouri – the first public announcement that a 'Cold War' is developing between East and West.

9. NEWSFLASH SIX!!!
March 1947: The 'Truman Doctrine' promises American support to any country resisting communism. This policy becomes known as 'containment'. Stalin responds by forming a political alliance between the communist East European states – COMINFORM.

10. NEWSFLASH SEVEN!!!
March 1948: The 'Marshall Plan' promises American money to any country facing poverty. $13.5 billion pours into Europe, including the French, British and American zones of Berlin. Stalin forms an economic alliance between the East European states – COMECON.

11. NEWSFLASH EIGHT!!!
June 1st 1948: UK and USA merge their zones of Germany into one united area called 'Bizonia'. Soon, France will join the merger too and plans start to be made to create a new 'West Germany'. All the Western zones recover rapidly thanks to Marshall Aid. The Soviet zones continue to be stripped of resources for reparations and suffer poverty.

12. NEWSFLASH NINE!!! June 24th 1948: The Berlin Blockade:
The Russians have stopped all road and rail traffic into the Western zones of Berlin, blaming 'technical difficulties'. The people of West Berlin now face slow and deliberate starvation! Stalin feels the allies face a tough choice: either surrender Berlin to Stalin, or back down so that Stalin lets them in again!

13. NEWSFLASH TEN!!!
June 25th: The commander of the American occupation zone in Germany, General Clay, wants to send supplies into Berlin using an armed convoy of lorries. President Truman rejects this idea because he thinks it could too easily lead to military confrontation; instead, he orders that supplies be flown into Berlin. The 'Berlin Airlift' is on!

14. NEWSFLASH ELEVEN!!!
June 26th 1948: 'Operation Vittles' is launched – the first American planes start flying from Western Germany into Berlin, dropping supplies to the beleaguered inhabitants.

15. NEWSFLASH TWELVE!!!
December 1948: 'Operation Santa Claus' brings Christmas gifts to 10,000 Berlin children. West Berliners are now living on dried potatoes, powdered eggs and cans of meat. They have only 4 hours of electricity a day.

16. NEWSFLASH THIRTEEN!!!
April 16th 1949: 1400 flights bring in 13,000 tons of supplies – and Berlin only needs 6,000 tons a day to survive! The USA has also stationed B-29 bombers (which could carry an atomic bomb) in Britain.

17. NEWSFLASH FOURTEEN!!!!
May 11th 1949: The Soviets finally lift their blockade at midnight. The Western Allies continue to airlift supplies into Berlin until September as a stockpile in case the blockade starts again.

18. NEWSFLASH FIFTEEN!!!
September 1949: The Western Allies finally stop the airlift. By this time, 275,000 flights have carried in 1½ million tons of supplies and a plane had landed on average every 3 minutes. 65 lives have been lost due to plane collisions and crashes.

19. NEWSFLASH SIXTEEN!!!
Sept 1949: America, Britain and France have now united their zones into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).

20. NEWSFLASH SEVENTEEN!!!
October 1949: Stalin has set up the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). He continues to strip it of resources, and many escape to the West through the air, road and rail routes leading out of West Berlin.

21. NEWSFLASH EIGHTEEN!!!
1961: The Soviet Union and the East German government stop a 'brain drain' by banning all East Berliners from fleeing into West Berlin and from there into Western Europe. They then begin construction of a 'Berlin Wall' dividing the two parts of the city and closing off the last open path between East and West Europe

22. Watch this clip
Does this clip give the same impression as the last one?
What is the tone of the clip?
Who are the “heroes” in this clip?
Why do we need to be careful when using this source? (Who would see it and where would they see this?)
Berlin Airlift

23. How significant was the Berlin Blockade and Airlift to the Cold War?
Using the information you have learned in this lesson, answer the following question:
How significant do you think the Berlin Blockade was to the break down of Capitalist and Communist relations?
The USA and the West proved that they were prepared to stand up to the USSR and stop any more Communist expansion.
It meant that the likelihood of Germany and Berlin being reunited in the near future was severely diminished.
In 1949, Germany was divided into the ‘Pro-West republic of West Germany’ and the ‘Pro-Soviet Communist East Germany.’
It was seen as a victory in the West and led to the formation of NATO. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
It was seen as the first main crisis of the Cold War and set the pattern for the future. It consisted of threats, not war, but caused more aggression between East and West.