This, they believed, would make it impossible for the people who lived there to get food or any other supplies and would eventually drive Britain, France and the U. Instead of retreating from West Berlin, however, the U.
In turn, those nations agreed to cede a small part of their territories to France. Even though Berlin was located entirely within the Soviet part of the country it sat about miles from the border between the eastern and western occupation zones , the Yalta and Potsdam agreements likewise split the German capital into Allied sectors: The Soviets took the eastern half, while the other Allies took the western.
This occupation of Berlin, governed by a multipower agency called the Kommandatura, began in June The Soviets were dissatisfied with this arrangement. In , the three western Allies created a single new currency the Deutsche Mark for all of their occupation zones—a move that the Soviets feared would fatally devalue the already hyperinflated Reichsmarks that they used in the east.
For the Soviets, it was the last straw. The Russians were also concerned about a unified West Berlin: a capitalist city located right in the middle of their occupation zone that would likely be powerfully and aggressively anti-Soviet.
They decided that something needed to be done to stop this creeping unificationism. They withdrew from the Kommandatura and began a blockade of West Berlin, a maneuver that they hoped would effectively starve the western powers out of Berlin.
If West Germany was to become its own country, they argued, then Berlin, located more than miles from its border, could no longer be its capital. Thus began the blockade of Berlin.
As far as the western Allies were concerned, withdrawal from the city was not an option. Finding another way to re-provision the city seemed to the Allies to be the only reasonable response.
It was quickly settled: The Allies would supply their sectors of Berlin from the air. Allied cargo planes would use open air corridors over the Soviet occupation zone to deliver food, fuel and other goods to the people who lived in the western part of the city. The Berlin airlift was supposed to be a short-term measure, but it settled in for the long haul as the Soviets refused to lift the blockade.
Fearing that the Western Allies might halt the airlift and cede West Berlin to the Soviets, , West Berliners gathered at the Reichstag to show their opposition to Soviet domination. The turnout convinced the West to keep the airlift and the Deutschmark. In time, the airlift became ever more efficient and the number of aircraft increased.
At the height of the campaign, one plane landed every 45 seconds at Tempelhof Airport. By spring , the Berlin Airlift proved successful. The Western Allies showed that they could sustain the operation indefinitely. At the same time, the Allied counter-blockade on eastern Germany was causing severe shortages, which, Moscow feared, might lead to political upheaval. On May 11, , Moscow lifted the blockade of West Berlin. The Berlin Crisis of — solidified the division of Europe.
Two weeks after the end of the blockade, the state of West Germany was established, soon followed by the creation of East Germany. The incident solidified the demarcation between East and West in Europe; it was one of the few places on earth that U. It also transformed Berlin, once equated with Prussian militarism and Nazism, into a symbol of democracy and freedom in the fight against Communism. Menu Menu. Home Milestones The Berlin Airlift, — Milestones: — It was a daunting logistical task to provide food, clothing, water, medicine, and other necessities of life for the over 2 million fearful citizens of the city.
For nearly a year, American planes landed around the clock. Over , planes carried in more than one-and-a-half million tons of supplies. The Soviets persisted with the blockade until May By then, however, it was apparent to everyone concerned that the blockade had been a diplomatic fiasco for the Russians.
Around the world, the Soviets were portrayed as international bullies, holding men, women, and children hostage in West Berlin and threatening them with starvation. The unbelievably successful American airlift also backfired against the Russians by highlighting the technological superiority of the United States. By the time the Soviets ended the blockade, West Germany had become a separate and independent nation and the Russian failure was complete.
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