The Berlin Airlift Crisis
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Took place 1948-1949
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First big test for the USA Policy of Containment.
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Berlin & Germany was split into four military zones, but Berlin was far inside
the Soviet (Communist) Zone so others had to use specially assigned road, river
and rail links to get there.
What caused the Berlin Airlift Crisis?
The Deutschmark & Trizonia
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In 1946 tension between the USSR and Western Powers was growing.
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Western Powers wanted Germany to be economically strong, while USSR
wanted to ‘crush’ it.
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To make it stronger a new currency was introduced by the Western
Powers, the Deutshmark, which because the currency of the British &
American zones of Germany in December 1946.
● This created Bizonia (Two Zones), which France later joined, so was then
called Trizonia.
The Deutschmark in Berlin
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Deutschmark alarmed USSR, which saw reunited strong Germany as a threat.
● On the 23rd of June 1948 the Western Powers decided to introduce the
Deutschmark to their zones in Berlin.
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Once the currency in Germany was split, Berliners found the Deutschmark was
worth more than the soviet currency, so preferred it.
Stalin’s Reaction
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Stalin reacted aggressively and closed off all land routes into Western Berlin,
which left Three and a Half Million Berliners trapped llO miles from Western
controlled Germany
● Stalin hoped this would force the Western allies out of Berlin.
What was the Airlift?
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With all road, rail and canal links cut, the only way of reaching Western
controlled Berlin was by air.
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In 1945 the USSR had agreed that the Western allies could use three air
corridors, each 20 miles wide, to reach Western Berlin.
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They were allowed two Berlin airports, Termplehof and Gatow and could
land seaplanes on Lake Havel in Berlin.
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Truman and Attlee decided to keep Berlin supplied by air, which involved
sending 2,000 tonnes of supplies every day. Each plane could carry l0 tonnes.
This operating was called Operation Vittle.
How successful was the Airlift?
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Every day planes flew into Berlin. In winter the allies had to airlift in coal and
fuel supplies. On Easter Sunday a record 24,000 tonnes of supplies were airlifted
in 24hrs.
● Soviets didn’t shoot down any planes, but they did fly their fighters close to try
and intimidate the allies. This caused 79 people’s deaths.
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In total 278,000 flights were made, carrying 2.3 million tonnes of supplies. Coal
alone was 2/3 of the supplies. The total cost of the airlift was about $200 million.
The End of the Berlin Airlift
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On the 12th of May 1949 the USSR called off the blockade. They failed to stop
the Western allies supplying their part of Berlin.
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This was the first victory for containment, but it made obvious that Germany was
very divided.
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In 1949 the Three Western Zones joined to Form West Germany (Federal
Republic of Germany), whereas the Soviet zones formed East Germany (German
Democratic Republic). This was the way it stayed until November 1989.