The Berlin Blockade
IB History of the Americas
Before we start with the Berlin
Blockade, here’s some background we
need to discuss…
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A Divided Germany
– Denazification
– Democratization
– Demilitarization
Germany after WWII
 The Allied Fallout

Germany… Post WWII

Germany was divided
into 4 zones:
–
–
–
–
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American Zone
British Zone
French Zone
Russian Zone
Berlin, the capital,
which was in the
Soviet Zone, was also
divided into 4 zones.
Iron Curtain –
A term used by
Winston Churchill
to describe the
separating of
Those communist
lands of East
Europe from the
West.
Berlin After WWII
Improve your knowledge
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The Russians took very high casualties to
capture Berlin in May 1945. They spent the
early occupation trying to take over all zones
of the city but were stopped by German
democrats such as Willy Brandt and Konrad
Adenauer. Reluctantly the Russians had to
admit the Americans, French and British to
their respective zones.
Germany Divided

The 4 Zones were very different from each
other.
– American Zone: mixture of rural and industrial areas;
removal of Nazis with great thoroughness
– Soviet Zone: agricultural, dependent on coal; belief
that it was the result of capitalism that Nazism
flourished, so they changed the economy completely
– British Zone: had majority of the coal industry, but
relied on other zones for food; tolerated Nazis in key
economic positions
– French Zone: fairly self-sufficient; had limber, industry
and food
Nuremburg Trials
The trials of 22 former Nazi leaders
 Somewhat controversial: some thought they
were for show or acts of revenge
 They made public the actual atrocities
committed during the Holocaust and rid
Germany of Nazi leadership
 Of the 22 accused:

– 12 sentenced to death
– 7 sentenced to various terms of imprisonment
– 3 were acquitted
The Allies fall out
The four allied nations in control of Germany
disagreed on reparations
 These disagreements led to the western sectors
agreeing to unify (American, British, and French)
and the Eastern sector remaining alienated
(Soviets)
 The unification of the western zones to form
Bizonia in 1947 began the process of economic
reconstruction and handing back to the Germans
the responsibilities of their own affairs (in
capitalist fashion)

Stalin during all this…
Stalin watched what was happening in
Bizonia with mistrust and countered the
moves with his own initiatives.
 The battle over money:

– Stalin’s introduction of the East Mark
– Western governments refused to allow it to be
circulated in West Berlin
– Stalin’s response to this was… THE BERLIN
BLOCKADE
The Formation of NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization
– Permits countries to use force for the purpose of selfdefense against armed attack. (Military Alliance)
– Marked significant militarization of the Cold War
conflict
– West Germany became a member of NATO

Warsaw Defense Treaty: when West Germany
joined NATO in 1955, the Soviet Union
countered by creating its own alliance system in
eastern Europe
The Berlin Blockade

On June 23, 1948, a message from a Soviet news
agency was sent to a newspaper in Berlin. It read: “The
Soviet administration is compelled to halt all traffic to
and from Berlin tomorrow at 0600 hours because of
technical difficulties.”
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These technical difficulties closed the roads and canals.
Berlin had only enough food and supplies to last for 6
weeks
The aim was to force western forces out of Berlin
America believed that if West Berlin fell to Communism,
the next to fall would be West Germany
What was the Berlin Blockade?

The Berlin Blockade was when the Soviet Union blocked off supplies
from Western Germany to Western Berlin.
Causes of Berlin Blockade
Divisions over future of Berlin dating back
to Yalta & Potsdam
 Tensions of economic differences – West
zones benefited from Marshall Aid
 Differences in living standards
 Failure of Council of Ministers
 Introduction of new currency – Deutche
Mark
 Merger of Western zones
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Why did the Berlin Blockade occur?
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The Original plan: split Berlin into
quadrants and bring them back
together when Germany gets a
new government.
Stalin wanted Germany to pay the
damages they have done in the
Soviet Union. He took reparations
from East Berlin and Germany.
The United States didn’t want
Germany to become a communist
country.
USSR wanted to kick the allies out
of the area so they could control
Germany.
The Berlin Airlift
British and American forces organized a 24
hour-a-day airlift into the city providing
food, supplies and other goods
 Britain also stationed B-29 planes with
atomic bomb capability within short
distance of Berlin to ward off ideas of
shooting down British and American airlift
planes
 On May 12, 1949, the blockade was lifted

Berlin Airlift
The major problem of the
other three countries was
during the winter, since they
needed an enormous amount
of coal.
 The Berlin Blockade was
ineffective, and also it
contributed to the conflict in
between the US and the USSR.

The Berlin Problem
People passed from East to West Berlin
daily for work and pleasure
 Some left the east never to return
 4 million citizens fled from East Germany

Berlin Crisis of 1961

Meeting between Kennedy and
Khrushchev in Vienna
– Insisted that the US withdraw from Berlin by
the end of the year
– Kennedy declared that the national security of
the US was directly linked to that of Berlin
– Khrushchev lost his temper and said “I want
peace but if you want war that is your
problem.”
August 13 1961
Barriers were erected to prevent free
movement between the Western sectors
of Berlin and the Soviet sectors
 On the 17th, Barbed wire began to be
replaced with stone
 And thus… the Berlin Wall had begun
 Kennedy considered a nuclear attack, but
decided against it

Checkpoint Charlie
General Clay’s debacle
 American Tanks at Checkpoint
 Soviet Tanks on opposite side of
checkpoint
 Tense atmosphere increased as hours
ticked by
 16 hours later, the Soviet tanks moved
back 5 yards, then the Americans, and
again until all tanks withdrew.

Doughnuts in Berlin
The Wall remained, a visible sign of East-West
hostility and a symbol of the Cold War
 Kennedy: “A wall is a hell of a lot nicer than a
war.”
 Kennedy visits Berlin in June 1963 and made a
speech saying, “All free men, wherever they may
live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore as a
free man, I can take pride in the words Ich bin
ein Berliner.”
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