berlin blockade and airlift

The Berlin Blockade & Airlift The First Showdown

The Berlin Blockade & Airlift
The First Showdown

The Partition of Germany

The lack of cooperation between Stalin and the west contributed to severe economic hardship in Germany

Economic reform and rebuilding was greatly needed

By 1948 it looked as though the East-West division of Germany would be permanent

The three western powers prepared for the creation of West Germany

Currency Reform

The western powers initiated economic cooperation and a new currency, the Deutschmark, in their sectors

The Soviets responded with their own new currency in their sector, including Berlin

So the west brought the Deutschmark into west Berlin

Economic disparity within Berlin

the west began to improve, the east did not

The Blockade

The Soviets announced that the west had no business interfering in the east, and they closed the roads, railways, and waterways that linked West Berlin to western zones

But the Americans cannot abandon Berlin CONTAINMENT

If the Truman Doctrine was to be applied seriously, they must keep Berlin

The Domino Theory if Berlin falls, what will be next?

The Airlift

The USA decided, instead, to begin a massive airlift to supply West Berlin with everything that it needed food, fuel, medicine, necessities

The only way the Soviets could stop it would be to shoot down one of the aircraft an act of war

For 15 months, the planes supplied 2.5 million Berliners with all necessities

A plane landed in Berlin every 2 minutes

Stalin concluded the blockade was not working and backed down

1960s East German Poster about the 1948 Western airlift.

The text reads: "Air bridge to West Berlin--a peace-endangering provocation of the imperialist Western powers."

The Formation of NATO
April 1949

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization

The Product of the Berlin Blockade and Airlift

The Blockade told the Americans that they had to be at the ready in case of further military showdown with the Soviets

Americans stationed over a million men overseas and occupied 675 overseas bases

Original Members

Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Canada, and the USA.

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berlin blockade and airlift

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