The Berlin Blockade:
The cause of the Berlin blockade was based on the reason that two leaders had differing opinions on how to deal with re-stabilizing Germany, which was often the case during the cold war. The Soviet Union wanted to destroy Germany as they saw it as a future threat. This was demonstrated through the fact that they were taking German war machines to U.S.S.R in 1947. On the other side, France, USA and Britain were planning to create a German state combining their zones and were creating a plan against U.S.S.R. Russian spies found out about this secret development, and it caused more trouble. Konstantin Koval, who was from the Soviet military administration said: “he gathered all of us together and readout an intelligence report. The report stated that a secret conference about Germany was held in London”. (CNN, The Cold War) The U.S. built a Marshall plan, which was often what the Allies did in the Cold War – by developing a plan. This plan had 2 functions, they were to rebuild countries of Europe and repel communism after World War 2. The news spread through Germany, and the Russians acted upon it straight away. They started searching traffic both on rail and any roads going into Berlin in March 1948. At this point British convoys were stopped at Russian checkpoints and trains to West Berlin were turned back and delayed.
On 23rd June, the Americans and the French introduced a new currency for Germany; their Bizonial currency was called the “Deutschmark. Each person could only exchange 40 marks, and this surely helped the development. However, the Soviet issued their currency in retaliation. Edzard Reuter, who was the son of the major of Berlin, Ernst Reuter said: “currency and political power were synonyms at that time. And therefore it was so important that the western currency, the d-mark, had to be introduced into West Berlin and not the eastern German currency”. (CNN, The Cold War) Currency was a characteristic of the cold war but only during this time because it was something that defined power for both sides. The next day, all land routes to West Berlin were blocked. This was often done by a country when they felt they only needed themselves to develop themselves during the Cold War. The American president’s view to the situation was very pessimistic, Truman wrote in his diary in July saying, “We are very close to war”. (The Cold War, Harper Collins) Communist Berlin now needed supplies for about 2 million people. Approximately 4,000 tons of medicines, food, clothes and fuel were needed daily. The American congress voted for Marshall Aid. They decided to go airborne. Everyday 600 tons were being flown into East Berlin, every 90 seconds a plane landed with supplies. In April 1949, a record was made as 1,400 planes landed in 1 day. However, in the process 79 people lost their lives due to fatal accidents and collisions. In the winter of 1948, electricity supplies were cut-off. Homes were only supplied with four hours of electricity per day. Berlin’s people survived on dried potatoes, powdered eggs and meat curs. At the same time, people were bribed to move to the eastern sectors for extra rations and 2% of the people accepted. This was a characteristic as bribery was often used as a means of getting people on your side.
In February secret talks were being held. During the Cold War peace talks were rare, but worthwhile and always seemed to work much like this one. They agreed that Eastern Berlin would become communist for the next 40 years. On 12th May 1949, Stalin reopened the borders. At the same time Britain, the United States and France formed the Federal republic of West Germany which was a link to the West. In October, the German Democratic Republic was formed on the other side of the Iron curtain. Again, countries formed relationships with other countries to prepare for a future fight against their opponents. The Berlin Blockade was just the beginning of the Cold War…
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Bibliography:
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“Berlin Blockade”. www.wikipedia.org. 8th March 2007. Wikimedia Projects, 11th March 2007. <www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Blockade>
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“EPISODE 4: BERLIN. BERLIN 1948-1949. CNN, the Cold War. CNN Interactive, 11th March 2007. <www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/04/script.html>
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“The Berlin Blockade”. GCSE Modern World History Revision Site. 10/12/06. Greenfield History, 9th March 2007. <www.johndclare.net/cold_war9.htm>
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Staton, Richard & Macdonald, Fiona. The Cold War. London: Harper Collins, 1992.
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W.Urwin, Perek. Western Europe Since 1945. USA: Longman Group Limited, 1981.