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The Berlin Airlift |
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| The build up | Events | |
| After the war the major
nations of the USA, France, Britain and Russia agreed to divide Germany
into four zones. Each would administer its allotted area. This was only
to be a temporary situation until free elections would decide the
government for a unified Germany. Stalin was increasingly suspicious of
the other three and believed they were plotting to divide Germany into
two; a communist east and a capitalist west. He saw this as evidence of
the creeping policy of the USA trying to dominate Europe.
IN early 1948 the three western nations decided to introduce Marshall aid into their zones of Germany. Later they decided to introduce a new currency in this area of Germany- This was too much for Stalin. Because the capital, Berlin was also divided into the four zones and it was isolated within East Germany Stalin decided to blockade the city. He refused to allow any food or supplies in or out by road or rail. This was Harry Truman's first real challenge. He had made it public that he would always help any people who were fighting communism. Truman decided to gamble and fly supplies into the city. He simply did not believe that Stalin was prepared to risk a nuclear war over this issue.
This cartoon appeared in a newspaper at the time of the airlift and shows that Stalin wanted to shoot down the American planes (represented as storks), but did not wish to gamble on the consequences Stalin made lots of noises about having the right to shoot down uninvited planes in his air-space. However, Truman was right and Stalin did not have the nerve to actually attack any US planes.
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He was not too concerned about the American plan. He believed it was merely a gesture and the logistics of getting in the food needed was simply not possible. If he was patient then the people of Berlin would seek his aid. This was not going to happen and the airlift was a minor miracle in terms of organisation.
The 2.5 million inhabitants of the city needed 4,000 tons of food a day just to survive. Planes were leaving at a rate of one every 30 seconds and despite a slow start, where it did look like things would not work some 8,000 tons a day began to arrive. By May 1949, with only 2% of the Berlin population going over to the east Stalin gave up and lifted the blockade. It had been a great success for Truman and his policies. It had also raised the stakes of the cold war.
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