Berlin Airlift and Blockade notecards
Berlin Blockade
Agreement of fate of Berlin history.com staff 6 The agreement after World War II to divide Germany and Berlin into occupation zones, with Berlin located deep in the Russian zone, had come out of the Yalta Conference in February 1945 and had included no arrangements for access to Berlin.
The Berlin blockade
Causes Jennifer Llewellyn 1 the Cold War, and the Soviets trying to get America and the British to accept their demands for Germany after ww2.
The Berlin Blockade
Causes- the new currency. Jennifer Llewellyn 4 In June the Allies issued a new currency, the deutschmark, while the Soviets - preferring to prevent economic recovery in Germany - gave orders that the deutschmark not be accepted within its zone. A day later, Soviet forces began implementing a full-scale blockade of Allied zones in west Berlin.
The Berlin Blockade
Challanges of the Airlift Jennifer Llewellyn. 21 The airlift was a challenge for pilots and aircrew. Not only were crews required to battle fatigue by flying several sorties each day, conditions were often extremely difficult. Berlin's airports were prone to fog and low cloud, while the approach to Templehof airport in the US zone required pilots to fly between high-rise apartment buildings. Planes were often loaded to or just over their cargo limit, which made them notoriously difficult to take off and handle. Twenty-five Allied planes crashed during the airlift, killing 70 pilots and crew.
Berlin Airlift- Encyclopedia Brittanica
Cost of the Airlift The editors of the encyclopedia brittanica 18 total cost of $224 million and after delivery of 2,323,738 tons of food, fuel, machinery, and other supplies.
The Berlin Blockade
Different Zones Jennifer Llewellyn 3 As World War II was ending, the US, Britain and the Soviet Union agreed that each should occupy part of the divided Germany. This occupation would be coordinated and administered from one location, Berlin, which itself would be segmented into occupied zones.
The Berlin Airlift
Effects 22 It feed the starving people, gained favor for the Allies and eventually stopped The soviets from blockading Berlin and changed the tide of the Cold War.
Berlin Blockade
Events that caused disagreements between the West and the Soviets. History.com staff 7 Disputes at the United Nations, Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech in March 1946, growing emphasis in U.S. foreign policy on containment of Russian expansion, Soviet hostility toward the Marshall Plan, and growing Western commitment to establishing a separate capitalist West Germany. These things all furthered relations between the Soviets and the West.
A Readers Companion to American History- Berlin Blockade and Airlift
How Germany Became two different republics Eric Foner 19 Over the next 321 days, Western fliers made 272,000 flights into West Berlin, delivering thousands of tons of supplies every day. The effort gained wide public sympathy, and on May 12, 1949, the Soviets, concluding that the blockade had failed, reopened the borders. East and West Germany were established as separate republics later that month.
The Berlin Blockade
How the Soviets closed Berlin off. Jennifer Llewellyn 5 The Russians closed the land corridors, halting Allied road and rail shipments then sending them back to their originating zones. They shut down thoroughfares and services into west Berlin, closing roads, cutting telephone lines and blocking water supplies. Power lines into west Berlin from electrical stations in the Soviet zone were disconnected. By late June, the Allied sectors of Berlin were almost completely blockaded; only the air routes remained open.
Berlin Airlift
Important people involved in Berlin
The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
Major Airfields Used 23 The major Berlin airfields involved were Tempelhof in the American sector, Gatow on the Havel river in the British sector and Tegel which was built by army engineers and Berlin volunteers in 49 days inside the French sector.
Counties Involved in the Berlin Blockade
Major Counties Involved 25 The Soviet Union vs the Western Allied powers (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France)
Alpha History- The Berlin Blockade
Number of flights. Jennifer Llewellyn 17 The Berlin airlift was the largest air supply campaign ever attempted, with more than 550,000 different flights.
Encyclopedia Brittanica- The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
Pro-Soviet propaganda proven wrong. The Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica. 20 The pro-Soviet press in eastern Berlin mocked the Allied airlift as a futile exercise, suggesting that it would fail within days or weeks. This prediction proved wrong: in fact the Berlin airlift, much like the Marshall Plan, was an important propaganda victory for the US.
Effects of the Blockade- History Chanel
Results/ Effects of the Blockade 15 As a result of the Soviet blockade, the people of West Berlin were left without food, clothing, or medical supplies. Some U.S. officials pushed for an aggressive response to the Soviet provocation, but cooler heads prevailed and a plan for an airlift of supplies to West Berlin was developed.
Berlin Blockade
Soviet charges vs Allies history.com staff 13 In late 1947, discussions on Germany broke down over Soviet charges that the Allies were violating the Potsdam Agreement, and on March 20, 1948, the Soviets withdrew from the Allied Control Council administering Berlin.
Yalta Confrence
Stalin entering Asian War history.com staff 10 Stalin also agreed to permit free elections in Eastern Europe and to enter the Asian war against Japan, for which he was promised the return of lands lost to Japan in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05.
The Berlin Blockade
State of Berlin Before the Blockade Jennifer Llewellyn 2 The Allied occupation forces were shocked by the devastation in Berlin. The city had almost no means of sustaining itself. Berlin produced only two per cent of its food requirements; the rest had to be shipped in from rural areas. Food supplies were exhausted and thousands of Berliners were starving. Months of heavy bombing had destroyed buildings, factories, homes and critical infrastructure. All of Berlin's 87 sewage networks had been destroyed, spoiling drinking water supplies and spreading diseases like typhus and dysentery. Hospitals, railways and roads had been decimated by bombing and artillery. Many had long since fled the city, fearing the advancing Soviet troops, causing Berlin's population to drop from 4.6 million in 1944 to 2.8 million in mid-1945.
Encyclopedia Brittanica- The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
The Berlin Airlift the editors of the encyclopedia brittanica. 16 On June 26 the United States and Britain began to supply the city with food and other vital supplies by air. They also organized a similar "airlift" in the opposite direction of West Berlin's greatly reduced industrial exports. By mid-July the Soviet army of occupation in East Germany had increased to 40 divisions, against 8 in the Allied sectors. By the end of July three groups of U.S. strategic bombers had been sent as reinforcements to Britain. Tension remained high, but war did not break out. It lasted for 11 months.
Berlin Airlift
The final results of the airlift history.com staff 19 The end to the blockade was brought about because of countermeasures imposed by the Allies on East German communications and, above all, because of the Western embargo placed on all strategic exports from the Eastern bloc. As a result of the blockade and airlift, Berlin became a symbol of the Allies' willingness to oppose further Soviet expansion in Europe.
Yalta Confrence
What happened at the Yalta Confrence. History.com staff 9 The February 1945 Yalta Conference was the second wartime meeting of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. During the conference, the three leaders agreed to demand Germany's unconditional surrender and began plans for a post-war world.
The Marshall Plan
What was the Marshall Plan? History.com staff 11 The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951. The Marshall Plan successfully sparked economic recovery, meeting its objective of 'restoring the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole.'
Berlin Blockade
Why the Allies started the airlift history.com staff 14 Within the United States there was some sentiment for accepting the Soviet logic; many were reluctant to risk war over maintaining ties to their recent enemies, the Berliners. But the Truman administration was convinced that losing Berlin would mean losing all of Germany.
The Reader's Companion to American History- The Marshall Plan
Why the Soviets didn't like the Marshall Plan. Eric Foner 12 The Soviet Union viewed the Marshall Plan as an attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of other states and refused to participate. Ultimately, the Soviets prevented Poland and Czechoslovakia from taking part, despite their eagerness to do so.
