Berlin Blockade: The Berlin Airlift

Berlin Blockade:

(1948-1949)

The Berlin Blockade was impose by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin from June 24, 1948 to May 12, 1949, cutting off all means of transportation through Land and River between 'West Berlin' and 'West Germany'. The Western Allies responded with massive airlifts to come to West Berlin's aid. An attempt by the Soviet Union in 1948 to limit the ability of the United States, Great Britain, and France to move into areas of Berlin within Russian-occupied East Germany. It was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of Germany after World War II, the Soviet Union blocked rails, roads and canal access to sectors of Berlin under Western control of the Western Allies. The Soviet Union offered to lift the blockade if the Western Allies withdrew the newly introduced Deutsche Mark from West Berlin.

The Western Allies organized the Berlin Airlift from 26 June 1948 to 30 September 1949 to supply the people of West Berlin, a difficult undertaking given the city's population. It was American and British air forces landed in Berlin more than 250,000 times, dropping fuel, food and other essentials. The original plan was to lift 3,475 tons of material each day. By the spring of 1949, this figure had often doubled, with shipments peaking at 12,941 tons per day. After initially concluding that Airlift would not work, its continued success became increasingly embarrassing for the Soviets.

On 12 May 1949, the Soviet Union lifted the blockade of West Berlin due to economic crises in East Berlin, though the Americans and British continued to supply the city with air for a time, fearing that the Soviets would renew the blockade. The blockade did not persuaded West Berliners to reject their allies in the West, nor had it prevented the creation of a unified West German state.

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