Notes & Quotes on Crisis of the Cold War – Berlin Blockade & Wall, Cuba

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Crisis of the Cold War – Berlin blockade and Wall, Cuba

Berlin Blockade and Airlift 1948– Impact of Early Crisis on the Origin of the Cold War

The Berlin Blockade (June 24, 1947 – May 11, 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. In protest of the US, France and Britain’s amalgamating their occupation zones in Germany in ‘Trizonia’ and trying to establish a democratic government using a new currency in the form of the Deutsche Mark, which was also used in the Soviet section of Berlin, the Soviet Union decided to blockade all “land and water routes to Berlin” to ensure the highly sought after capital was inaccessible to the three nations. 

West Berlin was a ‘window into the West’ for those living in the Soviet sector. The Western Allies had invested heavily to help West Berlin recover. This showed those in East Germany (living behind the Iron Curtain) the standard of living in the West. West Berlin was thus a potential embarrassment to Stalin – with Marshall Aid it was being used as a showpiece of capitalism. However, instead of sending troops into Berlin which could have very well caused a declaration of war, the US decided to, for eleven months, send aircraft into the capital to fly thirteen thousand tons of supplies to needy German citizens each day. Over 275,000 flights carried in 1½ million tons of supplies. At its peak, one plane landed every 3 minutes. 

The Berlin Airlift saw an important Cold War victory for the West, as it secured a propaganda victory through the airlift which served as a reminder to the USSR of Western technological superiority, especially in the air. Conversely, Berlin blockade served to show the Soviets in a poor light, they seemed willing to threaten two million people with starvation. It proved a political masterstroke for the US, with its efforts winning over German public opinion and helping pave the way for the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany in September 1949. However, Germany was now segregated into a capitalist west and a communist east, with the Soviet Union having to establish their own German state in their occupation zone at the conclusion of the blockade, leaving Germany the melting pot of Cold War affairs for the next forty years.