Introduction

After W.W. 2, Germany was divided into four zones governed with the approval of The Allies of world war 2, namely the United States, the USSR, Great Britain and France. Berlin, the capital that lay within the core of the Soviet occupied half was also partitioned, into four districts.

New tensions surfaced in 1948 when the Allies set the new currency called the Deutsche Mark in their zones. Concerned by the economic impact and by the penetration of the Western powers to Berlin, the Soviet Union reacted by starting the Berlin Blockade, which took the form of blockade of all the Berlin’s roads, rail and waterways.

This blog post will explain what Berlin Blockade was and why it was important and the story of the Berlin Airlift that served the city.

The Berlin Blockade: Its Purpose

The chief aim of the Berlin Blockade was to acquire control over the political, economic and socially liberated west Berlin, which had earlier been isolated within the Easter German Democratic Republic. The intent of the Soviet Union was to compel the Western Allies to quit the city and sever West Berlin’s communication links even more.

The Soviets thought that by severing all communication lines, they would be able to starve the city of the supplies it needed in order to force the Allies to surrender Berlin to them.

The Response: The Berlin Airlift

To counter this blockade, the United States of America and its western allies; France and Britain carried out the Berlin Airlift;, an operation aimed at flying supply food, and other critical necessities essential to the inhabitants of West Berlin.

For ground trucks, the airlift began in June 1948 and continued for almost one year of Supplying food and fuel. This operation exposed the willingness of the Western powers to defend the people of West Berlin as well as resistant to the soviet invasion.

The Berlin Airlift: A Means to Assess the Significance

The Berlin Airlift was a significant event for several reasons:

• Humanitarian Aid: This helped to provide the people of West Berlin with whatever was necessary to make them survive the years of blockade.
• Symbol of Resistance: The symbolic example which showed that the West was not ready to let Soviets dominate them was the Berlin Airlift.
• Solidifying the Divide: The blockade completed the division between east and west Germany and later led to the formation of West Germany and East Germany.
• NATO Formation: Such opinions contributed positively to the creation of NATO after the Second World War – an association of Western countries with a military character to confront the Soviet Union.

Conclusion

The primary cause of the Berlin Blockade was to bring West Berlin under Soviet control, the latter grant supplies through the Berlin Airlift not only symbolized strength but also defiance.

The effectiveness of the airlift learnt a great lesson that the western countries still had the ability to recover after the war and surely influenced the future geopolitical environment. Given the fact that narrative of Berlin Blockade and Airlift is an important one and directly relevant to the larger canvas of the Cold War history and division of Germany and therefore need to be understood diligently.