Berlin Airlift Essay Research Paper

Berlin Airlift Essay, Research Paper

“But there was always the risk that Russian reaction might lead to war. We had to face the possibility that Russia might deliberately choose to make Berlin the pretext for war. . .”- Harry S. Truman.

The Berlin airlift was one of the most brilliant American achievements during the post World War II era. President Truman’s decision to leave American soldiers in Berlin, could quite possibly be called the proudest decision of his political career (McCollough 630).

The original conflict that led to the Berlin blockade arose after World War II. As early as 1947, growing problems between western democracy (United States, Britain et al.) and communism (the Soviet Union), started to take definite shape as the beginnings of the Cold War. Germany had been split into four zones, each occupied by one ally: the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union. Each also had a part of the capital city, Berlin.

On March 17, 1948, Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg signed the 50 year Treaty of Mutual Assistance. United States Senator Arthur Vandenberg worked with Truman to find a way to include the United States in the new treaty (Walton 55). The proposal passed 64 to 4 by the senate, and within three months, the United States had joined the newly founded North Atlantic Treaty Organization, otherwise known as NATO. The twelve state organization included the United States, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal when it became official on April 4, 1949 (Pimlott 13).

The road toward the blockade became shorter in February of 1948 when the London Conference occurred. France, Britain, and the United States attended the conference. Its purpose was to try and plan a future course of action to the German problem. The conference had taken place without the Russian’s consent, participation, or clear knowledge of its agenda. During the next meeting of the Allied Control Council for Germany on March 20, 1948 the Soviet delegation demanded to know the results of the London Conference.

The Soviets felt their request justified as they knew that the conference had dealt with issues concerning the whole of Germany, although they were unaware of the specifics; nevertheless, the Potsdam agreement stated that such issues had to be dealt with by all four nations occupying Germany. The Western Allies refused to disclose what occurred, which the Russians saw as a clear breach of four-power control as agreed to at Potsdam. In protest the Soviet delegation walked out, never to return, marking the end of the cooperation of the four-power control of Germany (Marshal 37).

The West had previously announced in a March 6 London conference, that the West German economy would become integrated with Western Europe, therefore combining the three sectors. The Allies wanted Germany to be united so its economy might have a chance of recovering. A new form of currency was to be introduced (Heater 16).

The Soviet Union was becoming increasingly more and more worried about the influence of the West in Germany. It was convinced that Germany’s neutrality was vastly important to the security of Russia. In response to the talks on March 6, the Soviets temporarily restricted the movement of Western military supplies into Berlin.

The Soviets began to tighten their grip on Berlin by announcing that all persons, civilian or military, would have to present identification upon entering the Soviet zone. The Allies felt that the Russians had no right to make such a request of military personal so a small airlift of supplies to military installations was started by the United States.

The West told West Germany in early June, to begin the constitutional process to establish the Federal Republic of Germany. Within two weeks, the new currency, called the Deutschmark, was being issued into the three western zones, excluding West Berlin (Pimlott 12).

To the Russians, this was the final straw. The Soviet Union was irate because first they had not agreed to any such plan, and second, this was against Potsdam, which stated that Germany would be treated as a single economic unit. This introduction of a new western Deutschmark would split Germany economically.

The Soviet Union protested the change of currency because it would drive valueless coins into their territory, so in turn the Soviet government developed a new currency. Stalin was unwilling to allow Germany to join the West (Walton 55). All of these disagreements made it obvious to the Soviets that the Allies wanted to end the cooperative control of Germany and create a separate German state. The Soviets wanted to avoid this because they felt an independent West Germany would eventually re-arm and then pose a threat to the USSR’s Eastern Empire. Stalin decided to push the West by installing a blockade in order to show that the Soviets did not plan on giving up, and also to try and force new discussions on the German problem in hopes of stopping the formation of West Germany. The Soviet Union then made a drastic decision. On June 24, 1948 West Berlin was blockaded.

Access to the city consisted of a single motorway, a railway, a few canals and an air corridor (Pimlott 12). While arranging the joint occupation no one thought to bother with such details like who