Lesson 2 - The Berlin Blockade 1948-49
The Berlin Blockade was the first important crisis of the Cold War. It also happens to be a popular source based question for the Matu examiners and the key event for most essays written on the Cold War for IB history Paper 2. If you are a Double Diploma student this is very important.
Causes of the Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade, lasting from June 1948 to May 1949, was the first major crisis of the Cold War. It revealed how quickly cooperation between the wartime Allies had collapsed and how Berlin became the symbol of a divided world. The crisis had long-term, medium-term, and immediate causes, each showing the growing mistrust between East and West.
1. Long-term causes: Rival visions for post-war Germany
As we saw in the last lesson the end of the Second World War, the Allies agreed that Germany must never again threaten world peace. But they disagreed on how this should be achieved. The Soviet Union, devastated by invasion, wanted a weak, divided Germany that could not rise again as a military power. Stalin also demanded reparations from the Soviet zone to rebuild his own war-torn economy. The Western powers, however, gradually changed their attitude. Under the influence of the Marshall Plan (1947), the United States came to believe that Germany’s recovery was essential for the economic stability of Europe and for the containment of communism. This change created a fundamental clash of aims. What the West saw as reconstruction, Stalin saw as provocation. The division of Germany was therefore not just geographical but ideological: between a capitalist, democratic vision of recovery and a communist, centrally planned system built on control and security.
2. Medium-term causes: The breakdown of Allied cooperation and the division of Berlin
The rift between the former Allies became visible as early as March 1948, when the Allied Control Council in Berlin (set up to coordinate policy) finally broke down. At a tense meeting, Soviet General Sokolovsky angrily demanded to know why the Western powers were holding secret talks in London about Germany’s future. When he received no clear answer, he and his delegation walked out, ending the council’s work and effectively ending the last channel of Allied cooperation in Germany. Meanwhile, life in Germany’s four zones was growing increasingly different. The Western zones benefited from Marshall Aid and began to recover, while the Soviet zone was stripped for reparations. Nowhere was this contrast sharper than in Berlin, a divided city deep inside the Soviet zone. West Berlin had become an island of prosperity, symbolising the success of Western capitalism. Stalin regarded this as a political and ideological threat, a “shop window” for Western democracy right in the heart of his sphere of influence.
Causes of the Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade, lasting from June 1948 to May 1949, was the first major crisis of the Cold War. It revealed how quickly cooperation between the wartime Allies had collapsed and how Berlin became the symbol of a divided world. The crisis had long-term, medium-term, and immediate causes, each showing the growing mistrust between East and West.
1. Long-term causes: Rival visions for post-war Germany
As we saw in the last lesson the end of the Second World War, the Allies agreed that Germany must never again threaten world peace. But they disagreed on how this should be achieved. The Soviet Union, devastated by invasion, wanted a weak, divided Germany that could not rise again as a military power. Stalin also demanded reparations from the Soviet zone to rebuild his own war-torn economy. The Western powers, however, gradually changed their attitude. Under the influence of the Marshall Plan (1947), the United States came to believe that Germany’s recovery was essential for the economic stability of Europe and for the containment of communism. This change created a fundamental clash of aims. What the West saw as reconstruction, Stalin saw as provocation. The division of Germany was therefore not just geographical but ideological: between a capitalist, democratic vision of recovery and a communist, centrally planned system built on control and security.
2. Medium-term causes: The breakdown of Allied cooperation and the division of Berlin
The rift between the former Allies became visible as early as March 1948, when the Allied Control Council in Berlin (set up to coordinate policy) finally broke down. At a tense meeting, Soviet General Sokolovsky angrily demanded to know why the Western powers were holding secret talks in London about Germany’s future. When he received no clear answer, he and his delegation walked out, ending the council’s work and effectively ending the last channel of Allied cooperation in Germany. Meanwhile, life in Germany’s four zones was growing increasingly different. The Western zones benefited from Marshall Aid and began to recover, while the Soviet zone was stripped for reparations. Nowhere was this contrast sharper than in Berlin, a divided city deep inside the Soviet zone. West Berlin had become an island of prosperity, symbolising the success of Western capitalism. Stalin regarded this as a political and ideological threat, a “shop window” for Western democracy right in the heart of his sphere of influence.
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3. Immediate cause: The currency reform of 1948
The immediate trigger for the crisis was the decision by the Western Allies to introduce a new currency, the Deutsche Mark, in their zones and in West Berlin in June 1948. The reform aimed to stabilise the economy and eliminate black-market trading, but it also tied West Germany more closely to the Western economic system. The Soviets were furious. Their Socialist Unity Party (SED) denounced the reform as a blow to their efforts to nationalise former Nazi and industrial property in the East. The Soviet-backed city council protested on May Day 1948, warning that the new currency would destroy their influence.
Berlin’s pro-Western mayor, Ernst Reuter, insisted that the Western mark must circulate in Berlin to protect the city’s economy. The Western commander, General Lucius D. Clay, agreed and introduced the new “B-mark” (for Berlin) on June 23rd. Within days, the Soviet authorities retaliated by launching their own currency and then sealing off all road, rail, and canal routes from the Western zones to West Berlin. Stalin’s blockade cut off food, coal, and supplies for over two million people. Although some feared that this was the first step toward war, Stalin likely hoped to force the Western powers to abandon Berlin rather than risk military confrontation. The blockade was therefore a political test of will, not yet an act of war — but it marked the point at which rivalry turned into open confrontation.
The immediate trigger for the crisis was the decision by the Western Allies to introduce a new currency, the Deutsche Mark, in their zones and in West Berlin in June 1948. The reform aimed to stabilise the economy and eliminate black-market trading, but it also tied West Germany more closely to the Western economic system. The Soviets were furious. Their Socialist Unity Party (SED) denounced the reform as a blow to their efforts to nationalise former Nazi and industrial property in the East. The Soviet-backed city council protested on May Day 1948, warning that the new currency would destroy their influence.
Berlin’s pro-Western mayor, Ernst Reuter, insisted that the Western mark must circulate in Berlin to protect the city’s economy. The Western commander, General Lucius D. Clay, agreed and introduced the new “B-mark” (for Berlin) on June 23rd. Within days, the Soviet authorities retaliated by launching their own currency and then sealing off all road, rail, and canal routes from the Western zones to West Berlin. Stalin’s blockade cut off food, coal, and supplies for over two million people. Although some feared that this was the first step toward war, Stalin likely hoped to force the Western powers to abandon Berlin rather than risk military confrontation. The blockade was therefore a political test of will, not yet an act of war — but it marked the point at which rivalry turned into open confrontation.
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The Airlift
The West responded to the blockade by organising an airlift of supplies into Berlin. All food and fuel supplies for over 2 million Berliners were flown into the city. It was an expensive operation executed with impressive organisational skill. Despite constant shortages, the city was able to survive. American and British air forces flew over Berlin more than 250,000 times, dropping necessities such as fuel and food, with the original plan being to lift 3,475 tons of supplies daily. By the spring of 1949, that number was often met twofold, with the peak daily delivery totalling 12,941 tons. At the height of the airlift, one plane reached West Berlin every thirty seconds.
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Seventeen American and eight British aircraft crashed during the operation. A total of 101 fatalities were recorded as a result of the operation, including 40 Britons and 31 Americans. By May 1949 Stalin was forced to concede defeat and he lifted the blockade. The actions of the West had been successful, and it was an important boost to their morale after the events in Czechoslovakia.
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In front of the airport entrance at Templehof in Berlin is the Berlin Airlift Monument erected in 1951. An inscription on the base records the names and ranks of the 78 people killed in accidents during the Berlin Blockade. Its design features three arcs pointing west to symbolise the three air corridors that were the city's lifeline, as a result of which Berliners also call it the Hungerkralle (hunger claw) or Hungerharke (hunger rake).
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The consequences
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Creation of NATO - The Berlin Crisis had illustrated the need for a more coordinated approach by the West in order to prepare for the possibility of Soviet aggression. In April 1949 the USA opened talks with Canada and the countries of western Europe with the aim of committing itself to a military alliance. The result was the setting up of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). This was an enlargement of the Brussels Treaty of 1948, which had been signed by Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg to establish military cooperation in the event of war. The significance of NATO was that it involved the USA in a military alliance during peacetime and, therefore, made it clear to the Soviet Union that there would be no return to isolationism. The guiding principle of NATO was that an attack on one of its members would be seen as an attack on all.
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A NATO command was set up to coordinate the defence of its members. Thus, NATO was a defensive organisation to protect the West and its interests. Stalin viewed the creation of NATO as a deliberately provocative action but he was able to enhance the capability of the Soviet Union by breaking the US nuclear monopoly. The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in August 1949, earlier than the West had expected. Despite this increase in Soviet power, the Berlin Crisis and the formation of NATO had taken any initiative in Cold War relations away from the USSR.
Creation of FRG and GDR. Another significant result of the Berlin Crisis was the end to any hope of an agreement between East and West over Germany. The temporary division of the country, laid down at Yalta and Potsdam, was now to become a more permanent feature. In August 1949 the three western zones of Germany joined together to become the Federal Republic of Germany FRG (commonly known as West Germany). In response, the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic GDR (East Germany) in October. As capitalism flourished in West Germany, communism was imposed upon East Germany. It was a division that was to last for forty years.
Creation of FRG and GDR. Another significant result of the Berlin Crisis was the end to any hope of an agreement between East and West over Germany. The temporary division of the country, laid down at Yalta and Potsdam, was now to become a more permanent feature. In August 1949 the three western zones of Germany joined together to become the Federal Republic of Germany FRG (commonly known as West Germany). In response, the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic GDR (East Germany) in October. As capitalism flourished in West Germany, communism was imposed upon East Germany. It was a division that was to last for forty years.
Activity
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(Above, two cartoons from July 1948. The German cartoon from the 17th of July says ‘Note after note — Fear not! We shall feed him so many strongly worded notes that he will no longer have any appetite for you.’ The British cartoon from 28th July says ‘The dauntless three ‘Let’s all be equally dauntless.’ To be ‘dauntless’ is to be heroically brave.)
- Compare and contrast the two cartoons as evidence about the Berlin crisis. Suggest reasons for their differences and refer to details in the cartoons in your answer.
- How useful are the cartoons as evidence about the Berlin crisis? (OPCVL)
- Draw a revision diagram – spider diagram, mind-map or table - to show the main causes and consequences of the Berlin Airlift.
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Extra and extension.
The very best students are able to go beyond explaining events in isolation and can begin to see connections over time and space. This excellent website on Berlin for example tells the history of the Cold War through the story of Berlin from 1945 to 1990. |