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Unlock This CourseBerlin was a strange place in 1948. The city lay about 160 km inside the Soviet zone of Germany, yet it was split into four sectors, one for each occupying power. The three western sectors, known as West Berlin, were home to about two million people. Everything they needed came from the western zones by road, rail and canal, across Soviet-held land. In 1945 the Soviets had also agreed in writing to three air corridors into the city.
Three causes led Stalin to act:
On 24 June 1948 the Soviets closed every road, railway and canal into West Berlin. They also cut the electricity that came from power stations in the Soviet sector. The city had enough food for about 36 days and enough coal for about 45. Stalin hoped the West would either drop its plans for a West German state or give up West Berlin.
Key terms:
Truman had three choices. Giving up West Berlin would make containment look like empty words. Forcing an armed convoy up the road, as General Clay suggested, could start a war. The third choice was to supply the city by air. Stalin could stop the planes only by shooting them down, and then he would be the one who started the fighting.
The airlift began on 26 June 1948. American and British aircraft flew along the three air corridors, day and night, in all weathers. West Berlin needed about 4,500 tons of supplies every day. Most of it was coal, followed by food. Thousands of Berliners helped to build a new airport at Tegel in about three months so that more planes could land.
In July 1948 the USA sent B-29 bombers to Britain. These were the type of aircraft that had dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, so the message to Stalin was clear. By spring 1949 a plane was landing in West Berlin every few minutes. On 15-16 April 1949 nearly 13,000 tons arrived in a single day.
Soviet fighter planes flew close to the transport aircraft to scare the pilots, but they never shot one down. Stalin offered extra food to West Berliners who signed up for rations in the Soviet sector. Very few accepted. West Berliners put up with a cold, hungry winter and power for only a few hours a day.
By May 1949 it was clear that the blockade had failed. Stalin lifted it on 12 May 1949. The flights carried on until September to build up stocks. In all, more than 275,000 flights carried about 2.3 million tons of supplies. The cost was real: more than 70 people died in accidents during the airlift.
Stalin had been forced to back down without a shot being fired. Containment had worked. In Western eyes, Germans were no longer the defeated enemy. West Berliners were now seen as brave allies, and West Berlin became a symbol of freedom.
The blockade convinced the West that it needed to stand together. On 4 April 1949, twelve countries, including the USA, Canada, Britain and France, signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington. An attack on one member would be treated as an attack on all. For the first time, the USA promised in peacetime to defend Western Europe.
On 23 May 1949 the western zones became the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), with its capital in Bonn. After free elections in August, Konrad Adenauer became its first chancellor. On 7 October 1949 the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic (GDR), a Communist state with its capital in East Berlin.
Notice the irony. Stalin started the blockade to stop a West German state and push the West out of Berlin. Instead, it speeded up the new state, kept the West in Berlin and tied the USA to the defence of Europe. Stalin called NATO an aggressive alliance aimed at the Soviet Union. Germany would stay divided for more than forty years, and West Berlin stayed where it was, deep inside the GDR. That problem returns in the lesson Building the Berlin Wall, 1961.
Don't confuse the Berlin Blockade (1948-49) with the Berlin Wall (1961). Don't write that Stalin blockaded the whole of Germany: only West Berlin was cut off. Remember the order of events too. NATO was set up in April 1949, a month before the blockade ended, and the FRG came before the GDR.
'The main effect of the Berlin Crisis (1948-49) was the setting up of NATO.'
How far do you agree? Explain your answer.
You may use the following in your answer:
You must also use information of your own. [16 marks]
I partly agree. NATO was a very important effect of the Berlin Crisis, but the division of Germany into two states was a more direct effect.
The setting up of NATO was a major effect. The blockade showed Western governments that Stalin was willing to use force to get his way, so they decided they had to stand together. On 4 April 1949, while the airlift was still going on, twelve countries including the USA, Canada, Britain and France signed the North Atlantic Treaty. An attack on one would be treated as an attack on all. This mattered because the USA was now committed in peacetime to defending Western Europe, which was a huge change from its old isolationism. Stalin saw NATO as a threat, so it also deepened the hostility between the two sides.
However, the creation of two Germanys was also a key effect. Stalin had begun the blockade to stop the West forming a West German state. Its failure had the opposite result. On 23 May 1949, days after the blockade ended, the western zones became the Federal Republic of Germany, and on 7 October the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic. The temporary zones of 1945 had turned into two rival states, one capitalist and one Communist. This was the issue the crisis had actually been about.
A third effect was that the crisis was a defeat for Stalin and a propaganda victory for the West. In all, the airlift made more than 275,000 flights and delivered about 2.3 million tons of supplies, and on 12 May 1949 Stalin lifted the blockade having gained nothing. Containment had been shown to work without a war, and West Berlin became a symbol of freedom. This raised Western confidence, but it did not change the map of Europe as the other two effects did.
Overall, I agree only to some extent. Judged by how directly each effect came from the crisis, the creation of two Germanys was the main effect, because the blockade was fought over the future of Germany. Western leaders were already discussing a defence alliance before June 1948, after the Communist takeover of Czechoslovakia, so the crisis speeded NATO up rather than creating it alone. NATO was the most important effect for the wider Cold War, but the division of Germany was the main effect of this crisis.
What lifts this to the top level: it covers three effects, one of them not in the bullets, and reaches a judgement using a stated test (how directly each effect came from the crisis).
An answer that uses only NATO and the two Germanys cannot reach the top level, so plan a third effect of your own, such as Stalin's defeat or the West's new confidence in containment. In a 'main effect' question, pick one clear test for your judgement and say what it is.