Berlin Airlift Essay

The Cold War was a period of espionage and international rivalry between the U.S. and the USSR. It involved no armed conflicts between the two nations but was just as expensive. The Cold War was caused by tension during WWII and political ideologies which created distrust and pushed the U.S. and the USSR to the edge of conflict. The Cold War affected the legacies of both the U.S. and the USSR.

After World War Two ended, Germany was in a horrible state. America would fly in all kinds of supplies on an average of one plane every three minutes (Levy 11). America, Great Britain, and France created three zones with democratic governments in

February 1945: Yalta Conference: The Yalta conference was meeting held by the leaders of the 3 most powerful allied countries: the US, USSR, and Great Britain. They were there to discuss reparations in Germany. They all agreed that Germany should have a military power. Stalin, however, wanted $20 billion from Germany to pay for reparations, but FDR and Churchill disagreed. At the end of the conference, they all agree to divide Germany into four zones. The US, USSR, Great Britain, and France will each get a zone. This also led to the division of Berlin. The Yalta conference left Berlin and Germany divided until the end of the Cold War.

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

After World War II, Germany were divided into four occupied sectors. As shown on the map, the city of Berlin was divided and each dominated by a sector of the Allied Powers: Soviet Union, United States, Britain and France (Doc 3a). East Berlin was controlled under a communist rule by the Soviet Union, while West Berlin was governed under a democratic government. Winston Churchill additionally enhanced the idea of the Iron Curtain being that it represented an invisible line that separated the democratic countries of Western Europe from the communist countries of Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall to restrained people in East Berlin from fleeing to West Berlin. East Germans constructed the Berlin Wall to formally split East and West Berlin (Doc 3b). The Soviet Union denied access to transportation, food and water. The Berlin airlift was an event in which the United States, Britain, and France delivered goods to the people of West Berlin for 11 months after Stalin set up a

After the end of World War Two in 1945, the Western Powers, which included the United States of America, France and Great Britain, entered a period of military and political tension between them and the Soviet Union, despite the tentative alliance during World War Two. The first major international crisis of the Cold War started on June 24, 1948, when the Soviet Union tried to “starve the Western-held sectors of Berlin into submission” and imposed the Berlin Blockade, by cutting off all water, rail, and road connections to West Berlin, where the allies occupied. In response to this, the United States and Great Britain resolved to sustain and keep Berlin supplied by air, or through flight, which soon became known as the Berlin Airlift (Harris). This creates the question of, To what extent did the Berlin Airlift of 1948–1949 affect US-Soviet relations during the course of the Cold War?

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 allies decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air. This effort, known as the “Berlin Airlift,” lasted for more than a year and carried more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into West Berlin.

Instead of the U.S. and the Soviet Union fighting head on, they competed by controlling and influencing other countries(Jeffery, Riley, 4). The U.S. affiliated themselves with West Berlin just like the Soviets associated themselves with Cuba. It escalated to nuclear tension when the U.S. placed weapons in Turkey and Italy(The Choices Program). The U.S had many more missiles than the Soviets had at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. They also produced missiles much faster than the Soviets. The Soviet Union knew these disadvantages and were very aware of what the U.S. could do(Schwarz).

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

2. After WWII, Germany was divided into four zones. West Germany was occupied by the U.S., Britain, and France. Whereas East Germany was occupied by the Soviet Union. Berlin

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

In 1948 three countries, USA, France and UK, held conference, where they discussed the issue of Germany and what to do next. They tackled issues such as the future of Germany, the control of the Ruhr area and the payment of reparations (Douglas R, 2013) A new conference of the three countries occurred in Frankfurt, where still dealt with the issue of Germany and came to an agreement on the division of it. In Washington was another meeting of ministers of the three countries, where they signed a document which confirmed the occupation policy of the three powers in Germany. (Douglas R, 2013)

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.