A Brief Look at the Berlin Airlift

At the long awaited end of World War 2, Germany was divided into two pieces, one for capitalists and the other for communists. Berlin, the stronghold city of Germany at the time, was split into two pieces as well, one part for capitalists and one part for communists, all separated by the infamous Berlin wall. West Berlin was a pro-american island in a soviet sea, and when the soviet union decided to blockade any shipments into West Berlin, the United States had to take immediate action. America shipped in supplies to West Berlin by air! If it hadnt been for America and its allies supporting West Berlin, it could have easily been conquered by the surrounding communists. The Berlin Airlift displayed the fight that America put into containing communism and how hard they were willing to work to keep the red water as far away from them as possible. These diplomatic tactics saved Berlin and eventually led to the Berlin walls’ downfall, allowing the city to come together and live peacefully. This was one of the first major steps in stopping the spread of communism through

Germany and the capital, Berlin, was split at the end of WWII. The East Berlin and Germany were controlled by the Soviets and West Berlin and Germany was controlled by the US, France, and Britain. Since West Berlin was completely surrounded by communism, Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, decided to prevent any shipments (including food) from going into West Berlin (Doc. B) in an attempt to starve them out. They created a blockade. When the US and its allies found out, they sent planes over to get the shipments and take them to the West Berliners which provided over two million people with supplies ranging from food to coal for nearly over a year (Doc. B).

The Berlin airlift initially started with the division of Germany into four sections amongst major powers, including the US, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union after WWII. The United States, Britain, and France united to make West Berlin, while East Berlin belonged to the Soviet Union. On June 27, 1948, Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union decided to blockade any shipments into West Berlin in an attempt to weaken and overthrow it. With West Berlin surrounded by communism and no source of food because of the blockade, they saw no other choice but to surrender, that is until the US and its allies stepped in to help. The US and its allies supported West Berliners through airlifts, this consisted of supplies from food to coal being flown in to over two million people. On May 12, 1949, Stalin discards of the blockade, this left the nation and Harry Truman thrilled. The Berlin Airlift is a good example of containment because the United States was triumphant in keeping West Berlin from being overthrown by communist East

After the conclusion of World War II, the city of Berlin was divided into two sections: East and West Berlin. The western section was divided between the three allies while the eastern portion was under Soviet control. Western Berlin had become a small hold on capitalism in a sea of Marxist communism. On 24 June 1948, the Soviet Union cut off all ground routes into the western portion of Berlin. This left approximately 2.5 million Berlin citizens without the United States supplies they had been receiving. It would also leave the roughly 6,500 western troops without ground-level support, surrounded by 16,000 soviets (Owens 70).

The Berlin Airlift was an important historical event. At the end of World War II, the United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia took control of Germany, splitting it into four zones. The U.S.S.R. took control of the East. The U.S., Britain, and France took control of zones in the West which they later combined into the Trizone. The capital city of Berlin was located in the section controlled by the Soviets, so the four powers agreed to split Belin into two sections. Just like the rest of the country, the Western Allies took control of West Berlin and the Soviets took control of East Berlin. Because the city was in the middle of the territory controlled by the Soviets, the city of West Berlin was only accessible by selected roads and railway lines. The Soviets set up checkpoints

The end of World War II in 1945 had Germany Divided Four Allied occupation zones. The eastern part of the country went to the Soviet Union, and the western part goes to the United States, Great Britain and France. Each section was under the control of a different country. The United States, Britain, and France each joined their sections to form a democratic state on May 24,

The Berlin Airlift originated after World War II when the Allied Powers, comprised of Great Britain, the United States, France, and the Soviet Union, discussed how to appropriately oversee a defeated Germany. The nations decided to divide Germany into four supervisory zones, one for each of the Allied Powers, at the Allied Control Council (ACC), a council formed in July of 1945 and made up of officials from all four zones. Berlin, although inside a Soviet zone, also separated into four zones. The Western allies, comprised of France, Britain, and the United States, believed that a dilapidated country governed democratically could recover more quickly and prevent any future communistic threats. The Soviet Union however believed in the

The United States responded with the Berlin Airlift: for eleven months, American aircrafts dropped supplies into Berlin. The Berlin Airlift demonstrated the economic strength and efficiency of the United States. In 1949, the blockade was ended and Germany was divided into two different countries: the Federal republic of Germany in the west and the German Democratic Republic in the east. Both sides created economic and military pacts: Marshall Plan (1947) and NATO (1949) for the western bloc, Comecon (1949) and the Warsaw Pact (1955). The two superpowers never fought directly due to threat of the nuclear weapons that they both had by 1949. The moment of maximum tension is the Korean war in 1950, when American soldiers were deployed in South

The original conflict that led to the Berlin blockade arose after World War II. As early as 1947, growing problems between western democracy (United States, Britain et al.) and communism (the Soviet Union), started to take definite shape as the

After World War II, the Allies apportioned the crushed Germany into a Soviet-possessed zone, an American-involved zone, a British-possessed zone and a French-possessed zone. Berlin, the German capital city, was found somewhere down in the Soviet zone, yet it was additionally isolated into four areas. In June 1948, the Russians closed all parkways, railways and waterways from western-involved Germany into west Berlin. This made it unimaginable for the general population who lived there to get nourishment or whatever other supplies and drove Britain, France and the U.S. out of the city for good. Rather than withdrawing from West Berlin, its partners chose to supply their segments of the city from the air. The Berlin Airlift went on for over a

On May 8th, 1945, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel surrendered the German armed forces to the allies in Berlin, thus ending the war for Germany. The German people were then confronted by a situation never before experienced. All of Germany was occupied by foreign armies, their cities and infrastructure lay in ruins, and millions were homeless and starving. Following the unilateral surrender by Germany, the country was divided into four zones, governed by each of the allied powers: Britain, France, the U.S. and the Soviet Union. As diplomacy between the West and the Soviet Union began to deteriorate, each zone became more self-sufficient and independent of the others. Tensions between the West and the Soviet Union also began to rise as it became apparent that the two super powers, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. would vie for dominance throughout the world, each seeking to spread its ideology and stop the spread of the other’s. The first real exacerbation of this conflict came when the Soviet Union blockaded the divided city of Berlin, which lay in is zone of control. The U.S.S.R. wanted to test the Western resolve to hold Berlin and maintain control. The response the U.S. chose was to keep Berlin supplied by air, through constant resupply by aircraft, a feat never before accomplished. The airlift lasted for nearly eleven months and kept the Western controlled sectors of Berlin adequately supplied, and showed the Soviet Union the U.S.’s resolve to hold out against the spread of

The problem with most of my forum posts is I spent way too much time researching the subject and reading different source that I find it interesting. While this is not a bad thing when it comes to learning, it is poor time management skills.

Berlin Blockade started at the 1st April 1948- 12th May 1949. Throughout the multinational calling of post World War II Germany and the Soviet Union had blocked the Western Allies in every way by blocking the railways, roads and canal access etc.

What were the main factors that ultimately led to the failure of the Berlin Blockade?

They wanted to drive The United States of America, The United Kingdom and France out of the city. So, in 1948, what came to be known as the Soviet Blockade was an event that aimed to starve the western Allies out of the city. The United States could have retreated and started a war. But they did not. In fact, they themselves sent food to the city of Berlin and wanted to bring it back to normal. This is because they did not want Soviet Union to gain full control over the city. They could not see this part of the city turning totally communist. This effort, known as the Berlin Airlift, lasted for more than a year and delivered more than 2.3 million tons of food, fuel and other goods to West Berlin. 300,000 Berliners demonstrated for the international airlift to continue. In May 1949, The Soviets lifted the blockade, permitting the resumption of Western shipments to Berlin.