The Berlin Blockade - Research Paper Example

The Berlin Blockade 1. INTRODUCTION The Berlin Blockade was a crisis that took place in Berlin between June of 1948 and May of 1949. It was a tense affair that exposed the rivalry between the Communist East and the Capitalist West. Although, tensions ran high, actual warfare never broke out; due, to the determination of the parties involved wishing to avoid another war so soon after the devastation of World War II. This assignment will focus on the state of Europe and Germany after the Second World War, gaining understanding as to how Germany became split between the Eastern and Western powers, and what this meant to all who were involved. The tensions between the Soviet Union and the other Western allies will be examined in order to understand the events that led to the Berlin Blockade. The assignment will explore and analyze the Blockade itself, seeing how the Eastern and Western powers reacted to and countered one another’s actions. Finally, the aftermath of the Blockade will be looked at in order to determine what the consequences were for all who were involved and how it affected their relations in the years preceding the Blockade. 2. AFTER WORLD WAR II During World War ii, Britain, France, the United States and the Soviet Union banded together to form the allied powers in order to fight and overcome Germany. The war was brutal and left devastation in its wake. After the war, the main question was what to do with conquered Germany. The Soviet Union, Britain and the United States convened at Potsdam in Berlin for a conference which lasted from 16 July until 2 August. 1945. This was the third conference held by the allies after the war in which decisions were taken as how to restore Europe and deal with Germany. The leaders who attended were: Stalin of the Soviet Union, Truman of the United States and Churchill of Britain who was replaced by Attlee who had become the new Prime Minister of Britain. Already, tension was displayed between the Soviet Union who practiced Communism and the Western powers who had adopted Capitalism. The Potsdam Agreement was signed during the conference, which led to the creation of a four-power allied control council [ACC] to govern Germany. The allied council was made up of Britain, The Soviet Union, The United States and France. They were each given a zone in Germany to govern. Berlin, the capital of Germany, fell within the Soviet Union’s zone; fearing that The Soviet Union would gain an advantage by this, the other three powers insisted that Berlin too be divided into four separate sections. The Soviet Union’s zone was mainly made up of fertile agricultural land that produced most of Germany’s food; while, the British and the United States’ zones were more industrial in nature and had to rely on food stuffs from The Soviet Union. The allies planned to limit Germany’s industrial capacity in order to ensure that it would never again be able to achieve remilitarization. Britain, who occupied the zone least capable of conducting agriculture, disagreed with this resolution and fought for a greater industrial output by Germany, tightly controlled by the allies, so that Germany may become a major trading partner. Due to the lack of an agreement on this matter, each country administered its zone as it saw fit. For instance, the Soviet Union transferred all factories, equipment and technicians to Russia in order to weaken Germany and bolster Russia’s economy. [World War II Data Base, 2004] This lack of unity on the administration of Germany set the foundation for the events that would later lead to the Berlin Blockade. 3. EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE BLOCKADE The division between the Soviet Union’s Communist ideology and the Western powers Capitalist views became more pronounced over the next few years which heightened tensions within the ACC. These differences and tensions sparked off a number of events which led up to the Berlin Blockade. When President Truman of the US appointed George Marshall as Secretary of State in January of 1947, Marshall began campaigning for the economic recovery of Europe which would mean developing Germany. On June 5, he gave a speech which outlined his ideas to create the European Recovery Program, better known as the Marshall Plan. This program offered American Assistance to all European nations who wished to reconstruct their economies. The Soviet Union was against the Marshall Plan and did not accept to join the scheme. For, Stalin had built up a protective line of Soviet-controlled countries on the Soviet Union’s Western border, known as the Eastern Bloc, which included Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Stalin wanted to use these countries as a buffer against the Western powers, with an economically weak Germany in the middle. Stalin believed that the United States was using this plan to reconstruct Europe in such a way as to gain greater power for itself by imposing its economic, political, social and cultural institutes on European countries. Therefore, he forbade any Soviet Eastern Bloc countries to accept the Marshall Plan. [George C. Marshall Foundation, 2009] Due, to common interests Britain and the United States decided to coordinate the economies of their occupied German zones in September of 1947; therefore, they were combined to form the so-called Bizone. This developed into the Trizone when France agreed to unify the economy of its German Zone with that of Britain and the United States. Representatives of these three governments met twice in London in the first half of 1948 to discuss the future of Germany. When the Soviet Union was made aware of the first of these meetings which was to take place in late January, they reacted by stopping British and American trains to Berlin in order to check passenger identities. The Trizone ignored this attempt to disrupt their plans and on 7 March 1948 they adopted resolutions to extend the Marshall Plan to Germany, to finalize the economic merger of the western occupation zones and to establish a federal system of government in these zones. The ACC dissolved on 20 March 1948 completely severing ties between the Soviet Union and the Western Powers. [British Broadcasting, 2011] The Soviet Union began placing harsh restrictions on traffic from the Western German zones into Berlin. It was hoped that these measures would compel the Western Powers to accede to the Soviet Union’s idea of governance for Germany. On 1 April, the Soviet Union declared that no cargo could leave Berlin by rail without the permission of the Soviet commander. Also all trains and trucks had to be searched by Soviet authorities. On 2 April, an American general, General Clay counteracted the Soviet Union’s restrictive measures by ordering all Western military trains to no longer make the trip to Berlin; rather supplies to the military garrison would be transported by air. This in turn forced the Soviet Union to lift the restrictions on Western military trains on 10 April 1948; however, they continued periodically to interrupt rail and road traffic during the next 75 days, while the United States continued supplying its military forces by using cargo aircrafts. On April 9, Soviet officials demanded that American military personnel maintaining communication equipment in the Eastern zone must withdraw, thus preventing the use of navigation beacons to mark air routes. On April 20, the Soviets demanded that all barges obtain clearance before entering the Soviet zone. British Broadcasting Corporation, 2011] The Trizone realized that in order to create an economically stable Germany something would have to be done about Germany’s currency, the Reichsmark. Because the Soviet Union had substantially devalued the Reichsmark by excessive printing. This resulted in Germans using cigarettes as a de facto currency or for bartering. The Soviet Union was opposed to the idea of establishing a strong currency for Germany; due, to its insistence that Germany remain economically incapacitated. In order to counteract the future plans by the Trizone to introduce a new currency, the Soviet Union created its own currency for Eastern Germany and Berlin. They stipulated that only the Soviet currency could be used in Berlin. The Trizone however ignored these steps taken by the Soviet Union and on 18 May 1948 they announced that they would be introducing the Deutche Mark on 21 June, which would permit economic growth in Germany. [Cold War Museum, 2011] It was this announcement that finally pushed the Soviet Union over the edge and a few days later the Berlin Blockade began. 4. THE BERLIN BLOCKADE One of the problems was that after World War II the Western powers had not signed a formal agreement with the Soviet Union which guaranteed them rail and road access to Berlin. The Soviet Union only permitted one railway line with a maximum of ten trains a day to the Western powers; they also only allowed for three air corridors for access to Berlin from Hamburg, Buckeburg and Frankfurt. When the Western powers proposed an expansion of transport routes to Berlin, the Soviet Union refused; thus, severely limiting the Western Power’s access to Berlin. On 23 May 1948, two days after the Trizone introduced the Deutsche Mark into Germany; the Soviet Union closed all railway lines and roads leading to Berlin from the Western zones. West Berlin’s electricity was also cut off by the Soviet Union and access to Berlin via water was denied. This totally isolated West Berlin who only had enough supplies to last for five days. The Soviet Union believed that West Berlin’s predicament would cause the Western powers to reverse their plans for the creation of an economically stable Germany. However, the Western powers stood fast on their plans for Germany. At first, General Clay of the United States wanted to force an armed convoy through the Soviet Union’s zone in order to break the blockade. But, the other powers, fearing that this action would cause war to break out apposed this plan. Instead the Western powers decided to conduct an airlift into Berlin in order to bring food and coal supplies to West Berlin. The problem with an airlift was that The United States Air Force only had 102 transport planes in all of Europe, and they were all C-47s which could only carry three tons each. This was not nearly enough because West Berlin needed a minimum of 4500 tons of supplies a day. Although, the Western powers were not sure of success, General Clay approved the Airlift on 26 June; it was nicknamed “Operation Vittles”. At first the United States only achieved in delivering 80 tons of supplies with 32 aircrafts. This began to improve when Britain too began delivering supplies two days later. The Western powers also managed to commission some C-54s which had the capacity to carry 12 tons of supplies. By 20 July, 22250 tons were being airlifted into Berlin each day. However, this was still only half of what Berlin required in order to survive. Therefore, General Clay entreated President Truman that an additional 100 C-54s were needed. [Public Broadcasting Service, 2007] During the early months of the airlift, the Soviet Union used various methods to harass allied aircrafts. These included buzzing by Soviet planes, obstructive parachute jumps within the corridors, and shining searchlights to dazzle pilots at night. These tactics resulted in 101 deaths; however, the airlift continued to bring in supplies. The Soviet Union then attempted to counteract the Western powers’ airlift efforts by offering all West Berliners who crossed over into East Berlin and registered there, free food. But, despite the Soviet Union’s propaganda campaign against the Western powers, West Berliners refused the Soviet Union’s offers. The Soviet Union also attempted to win over the West Berliners by applying political pressure on the local government, attempting to replace the democratically elected Government with a communist one. None of the Soviet Union’s tactics worked and the airlift continued. [Encyclopedia Britannica, 2011] General William Tunner, took over command of the operation, implementing a number of improvements, meaning that finally, on 12 August, the United States and Britain managed to deliver the required tonnage by running over 700 flights a day. In November a new airport was opened in the French zone of Berlin, this aided in raising the capacity for delivery and by January of 1949, the airlift was bringing in 6 thousand tons of supplies which were considerably more than the minimum requirement. The Soviet Union had not believed that the Western powers would be able to continue supplying West Berlin with supplies, but by March 1949 it became evident that the airlift could continue indefinitely. Therefore, the Soviet Union’s representative to the United Nations began informal talks with his United States’ counterpart, Philip Jessip. Perhaps one of the most amazing feats of the Airlift was in April 1949. Tunner wanted to shatter past records with a 24-hour blitz that would aim to deliver 10 tons a minute to Berlin. It ran between noon on April 16 and April 17, which was Easter Sunday. It was known as Berlin’s Easter Present. The Western powers, which now numbered nearly 400 aircrafts, nearly 4 thousand take-offs and landings occurred during that period, an average of about one every 36 seconds, and almost 13 thousand tons were delivered. This display finally convinced the Soviet Union that their blockade had failed. After negotiations between the Soviet Union and the Western powers, the Berlin Blockade was finally lifted on 12 May 1949. The airlift had seen the delivery of over 2 million tons of supplies carried out in 270 thousand flights. [Public Broadcasting Service, 2007] 5. AFTERMATH AND CONSEQUENCES The Berlin Blockade displayed the immense differences between the Soviet Union and the Western powers and it signified the ending of all World War II alliances between these two opposing forces. The Berlin Blockade can be seen to be the event that truly started the Cold War which was to last until 1989. After the Blockade Germany became completely divided, forming into two separate states, the Federal Republic of Germany set up by the Western powers and The German Democratic Republic created by the Soviet Union. These separate states represented the division between the Communist East and Capitalist West. In 1961 the Berlin Wall was erected, a physical barrier which stood as a symbol to the conflict between East and West, Communism and Capitalism. The wall was also known to secure the so-called “Iron Curtain” that had descended over Eastern Europe. Stalin of the Soviet Union, recognized the importance of the Marshall Plan, and fearing that his satellite Soviet States would revolt against Communist rule and accept Western aid, he created the Commecon Council, a Council of mutual economic aid. Under this Council, Stalin was able to link all the economies of the Soviet states; thus, using their economies to benefit the Soviet Union. This was later replaced by the 1955 Warsaw Pact. Perhaps the greatest outcome of the Berlin Blockade was the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] by the Western powers in April 1949. It consisted of 12 member states who agreed that an attack on one of the member states would be seen as an attack on all NATO states. This was a result of the fear that the Soviet Union may resort to military action. NATO still exists today and acts as a basis for joint military operations. The Berlin Blockade also demonstrated that war could be avoided in tense situations. It set the ground for the Cold War which was conducted on a political, ideological and psychological basis, never resulting in full out war. The success of the Airlift by the Western powers opened up a new opportunity for delivering aid to countries and regions in need. Today, airlifts are the main ways of conducting the supplying of aid to those in need; for, it is quicker and is far safer than using railways or roads. [GCSEHistory, 2011] Although, the Berlin Blockade had a negative impact on the relations between the Soviet Union and the Western powers, it also brought about numerous positive consequences which are still a benefit today. 6. CONCLUSION The Berlin Blockade can be seen as a turning point in the relations between the Communist East and the Capitalist West. It demonstrated the battle of wills and diplomacy between these two forces. It also established exactly what the aims of the Soviet Union and the Western powers were after World War II. The capacity of the Western powers to conduct large scale aid operations by air was acknowledged, which was to set a precedent in years to come. It also displayed the reluctance of both the East and West to begin another war so soon after World War II. However, the Blockade resulted in extreme tension, mainly between the United States and the Soviet Union which led to several other stand offs such as the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Blockade also saw the division of East and West Germany, forcing them to operate as different states which were only united once again in 1989. Today, Germany is a strong economic power and continues to grow with every passing year. Russia, which was the main Soviet State, is slowly recovering from the affects of Communism and beginning to reinstate itself into all world affairs. REFERENCE LIST American Experience: The Berlin Airlift. [2007] Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved on 16 March 2011 from http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/airlift.html Berlin Blockade. Cold War Museum. Retrieved on 16 March, 2011 from http//www.coldwar.org/articles/40s/berlin_blockade.asp Berlin Blockade/Airlift. [2011] retrieved on 18 March, 2011 from http//www.gscehistory.org.uk/modernworld/coldwar/berlinblockade.htm Berlin Blockade and Airlift. [2010] Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved on 17 March, 2011 from http//www.britannica.com/Ebchecked/Berlinblockade/and/airlift.htm , Potsdam Conference. [2004] World War ii Data Base. Retrieved on 16 March, 2011 from http//ww2db.com The Berlin Blockade. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on 16 March, 2011 from http//www.bbc.co.uk/modernhistory/coldwar.htm The Marshall Plan. [2009] George C. Marshall Foundation. Retrieved on 17 March, 2011 from http//www.marshallfoundation.org/TheMarshallPlan.htm Read More