How the Berlin Blockade shaped post-war Europe

So, what led to this event. On a basic level, it was a clash of political ideologies between the capitalist West and the communist Soviet Union.

The World War II conferences at Yalta (February 1945) and Potsdam (July 1945) had partly been held to decide what would happen to the country of Germany once the Nazis were defeated.

Following Germany's unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945, it was agreed that the Allies powers of America, Britain, France and the Soviet Union would divide it among themselves into four zones, as per the Potsdam Agreement from July 17 to August 2, 1945.

The capital city of Germany, named Berlin, would end up being located in the Soviet zone.

However, since it was such a wealthy and politically important city, it was considered to be too valuable to be solely controlled by one of the Allies, so it was also decided that it would be divided into four sectors.

This led to the confusing situation where Germany was divided into quarters, each controlled by a separate county, and a city, in the zone controlled by the Soviet Union, was also divided into quarters and controlled by different countries.

For the Soviet Union, this was incredibly frustrating, as the three other countries, even though they were Allies with them, operated under a very different political system.

America, Britain, and France were capitalist democracies, while the Soviet Union was communist.

Therefore, the having the largest city in its zone operating under a completely different political and economic system was a constant challenge to Soviet control of East Germany.

The leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, realized that this problem could simply be solved if he could force the rest of Berlin to fall under his control.

He believed this would be an easy task, since the city was deep within his zone of control.

Then, when American and British occupation zones in Germany were combined on the 1st of January 1947 to create 'Bizonia', the Soviets saw it as a move towards a unified Germany under capitalist control.

This effectively ended any plans for a unified Germany and made Stalin realize that Berlin would not easily fall under his control.

What alarmed him further was the announcement by the United States of the Marshall Plan, which was designed to help European countries recover from the war.

Specifically, it provided generous economic aid to any countries that agreed to democratic governments and free trade.

The Soviet Union saw this as a public attempt to stop the spread of communism and, as a result, they refused to participate in the plan.

Things only got worse when it was announced that there would be a new currency, named the Deutsche Mark, to be introduced by the democratic west into the Western zones of Germany on June 20, 1948.

The Soviets were already using the currency known as the Reichsmark, so the introduction of the Deutsche Mark was seen as a threat to Soviet control and influence in their occupation zone.

Moreover, the Soviets feared that the new currency, which was supported by the Marshall Plan, would revitalize West Germany economically, thereby strengthening its ties with Western Europe and reducing Soviet influence.

At a simple level, the Soviets wanted only their currency to circulate in Berlin, which was part of their strategy to maintain control over the city.

So, on June 22, 1948, Marshal Vassili Sokolovsky of the Soviet zone informed General Lucius Clay, the American military governor in Germany, that the Soviets would apply economic and administrative sanctions to ensure that only the currency of the Soviet occupation zone circulated in Berlin.

Additionally, the Soviets demanded that all barges carrying food, trade, goods, and resources had to obtain clearance before entering the Soviet zone and even began impeding communications between West Berlin and West Germany.

The main objectives of these demands were to compel the Western Allies to abandon their plans for the economic reconstruction of West Germany.

The Western powers, however, did not comply with the Soviet demands. Instead, they proceeded with their plans to introduce the Deutsche Mark in West Berlin and throughout West Germany.

Therefore, the Soviets decided to follow through on their threats and imposed a massive blockade of the three sectors of Berlin that were not under their control.

It was believed that cutting off access to food and supplies would quickly force the Western Allies to relinquish their jurisdiction in West Berlin, so that it could be effectively absorbed it into the rest of Soviet-controlled East Germany. 

So, the Berlin Blockade began on June 24, 1948, when Stalin ordered Soviet forces to stop all rail, road, and canal traffic into the Western sectors of Berlin.

This meant that there were no supplies of food to the civilian population in the non-Soviet sectors of Berlin.

Also, hey cut off all electricity to West Berlin since the power plants were located in the surrounding Soviet zone.

Expecting a western military response, Stalin also increased the Soviet military presence in East Germany to 40 divisions by mid-July 1948.

All of these restrictions instantly led to food and fuel shortages for the two and a half million people who lived in Berlin.

This led to rationing and long queues for basic necessities. Secondly, it made life very difficult for those who needed to travel between East and West Berlin for either work or personal purposes.

However, the United States and its allies were ready to respond to the blockade.

The idea of using the air force was initially proposed by General Clay. He believed that if they could gather enough aircraft together, they could fly food, fuel, and other resources into the city and easily bypass the Soviet blockade.

And this is what they did, and it would become known as the Berlin Airlift, which was also codenamed Operation Vittles.

It began on June 26, 1948, just two days after the blockade was imposed, with American C-47 cargo planes delivering the first supplies to West Berlin.

As the operation rapidly expanded in size and scale, the different Western Allies coordinated the airlift between the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.

Each country contributing aircraft, crews, and resources to the massive operation.

The planes were directed to land at the Tempelhof Airport in West Berlin, as well as Gatow and Tegel airports, on a consistent schedule all throughout the day and night.

To ensure that the large number of aircraft did not collide with each other and to avoid clashes with enemy air forces, they used three designated air corridors to fly safely over Soviet-occupied territory.

This worked so well that, at the height of the airlift, it was estimated that one plane landed every 45 seconds at Tempelhof Airport, with over 8,000 tons of supplies being flown into the city every day.

Tragically, 101 airmen from the U.S. and U.K. lost their lives in crashes and accidents during the operation.

The Western Allies' airlift operation proved to be highly effective and demonstrated that it could be sustainable over a long period of time.

In fact, by spring 1949, the airlift was delivering more cargo than had previously been transported into the city by rail.

The continued success of the airlift embarrassed the Soviets, as they initially believed it would not be feasible.

In addition to the growing economic struggles in East Berlin, Stalin finally decided to end the blockade on May 12, 1949.

This allowed for the re-establishment of all traffic between the Allied zones and the Soviet zone. 

The blockade had lasted for 11 months, during which more than 200,000 flights had landed in West Berlin.

It is estimated that over 2.3 million tons of supplies had been delivered, but at a cost of $12 billion (in today's money).

For America and its allies, the cost was considered a worth it, as the blockade had ended without the West agreeing to any of the original Soviet demands.

The Berlin Blockade was a significant event in the Cold War era.  It highlighted the tension between the two sides and demonstrated America's commitment to defending its values.

It led to the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on April 4, 1949, partly as a response to the tensions caused by the Berlin Blockade and to counter future Soviet aggression in Europe.

Also, on May 23, 1949, in the wake of the blockade's failure, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was officially established.

In response, East Germany (the German Democratic Republic) was founded in October 1949, but was not recognized by the western allies.

Ultimately, it resulted in the creation of two separate German states in 1949 that would be a central point of tension for the rest of the Cold War.