The Berlin Blockade and the Division of Germany

1948 - 1971

Key Players in the Initial Division of Germany

Key Players in the Division of Germany

• At the end of World War II, (1945) the victorious allies: Great Britain, France, the United States and the Soviet Union, split defeated Germany into four geographic zones.

• The victors originally agreed that Germany, and Berlin within it, would eventually be reconstituted and become a single self-governing nation.

• Britain and the United States wanted a politically unified and industrially self-sufficient country.

• The French and Soviets wanted a politically weak Germany.

Meetings at Potsdam and Yalta to divide Germany and Berlin

Key Players in the Division of Berlin

Key Players in the Division of Berlin

• The German capital Berlin, lying 110 miles deep in the Soviet zone, was also split like Germany.

• The Western Allies occupied Western Germany while the Soviets occupied the East.

• The city was divided into four sectors: France, British, American and Soviet control.

• Twelve boroughs, including 2,250,000 people living in roughly 188 square miles, were placed in the control of Britain, France, and the United States. This would become the

western sector. • The Soviets were given eight boroughs in the eastern part of

the city, home to 1,100,000 people in 144 square miles.

Soviet Union Sphere of Influence

The Beginning of the Cold War(Factors that Motivated Conflict)

• The Cold War refers to the conflict between the former allies of the war:

• 1) Soviet Union• 2) Western Allies - USA, France, Britain, etc.

• Conflict arose when Soviet's wanted to expand their sphere of influence and control, and the West wanted to contain communism

• The result was a constant conflict between the two sides with the globe as the battleground.

The Iron Curtain

The Marshall Plan• The European Recovery Program (aka Marshall Plan) offered

U.S. aid to nearly all European countries.• The Soviet Union and the nations in its sphere of influence

refused the aid• The Americans would have discovered the economic weakness

of the Soviet Union if they would have accepted the aid• Marshall Plan investment stimulated the economy in the West• In 1946, efforts in western zones focused on helping the

German economy recover. This angered the Soviets, and accused the Western powers of violating the Potsdam agreements.

• Granted $12,500,000,000 to repair the economic damage of

World War II.

The Berlin Blockade• The Berlin Blockade began on June 24, 1948 • Signaled the end of cooperation between the United States

and the Soviet Union and the beginning of the Cold War.• Stalin viewed Western occupation of Berlin as a sore in the

Soviet zone. He wanted the allies to leave Berlin as they had hinted after the war.

• Americans did not approve of Soviet expansion into the West.• Installed by the Soviet Union in hopes of stopping the

establishment of a separate West Germany.• The Allies had been promoting a more separate West

Germany by disregarding the Potsdam agreement between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union

The Berlin Blockade cont...• Growing mistrust between the Western Allies (U.S.,

France, Great Britain) and the Soviet Union prevented the formation of the unified nation initially planned.

• On June 21, 1948, the three Western powers decided to unite their zones into a single unit and announced currency reforms in their section of Germany. This was in violation of a previous agreement that Germany was to be treated as a single economic unit.

• The Soviets thought it was a Western attempt to end the cooperative control of Germany and feared a strong united Western sector.

• Soviets responded by announcing their own currency reforms on June 23 and imposed a blockade on all road and rail traffic into Berlin from Western Germany.

Response from Western Allies

• The Americans and British decided to remain in occupation and to airlift supplies to west Berlin to maintain life in the city

• The fear of Soviet expansion and communism played a large role in the US decision to mount the airlift.

• It was common American belief that if Berlin fell into the hands of the Soviets, Western Germany and Europe would next

• Berlin gave the US a chance to test a new policy called containment: US would keep communism at its present limits rather than trying to destroy communism where it

already existed.

The Berlin Airlift• The Western Allies airlifted 12 000 tonnes of goods a

day. A minimum of 2,500 tonnes of coal was required per day.

• On June 26, 1948, planes from all over the world were employed to begin an airlift to fly needed food and supplies to the Berliners. The Soviets attempted to frighten away the Allied planes. But the airlift continued.In order to discourage the Soviets from shooting down cargo planes, the Americans announced that they had stationed B-29 bombers in Britain.

The End of the Berlin Blockade

• Stalin decided to end the blockade on May 12,1949 because of its ineffectiveness

• The Soviet Union did not gain the control it had hoped for

• The blockade was also becoming too expensive

• The Berlin crisis results in the formation of two separate governments:

• The Federal Republic of Germany in the West (FDR) • The German Democratic Republic in the East (GDR)

Effects of the Berlin Blockade

• Western allies airlifted food into Berlin• The people in Western Berlin lived a very contained life

and depended on the supplies of the Western allies• A division was created between the United States and

the Soviet Union

Short Term

Long Term

• The FRG and the GDR were created officially separating Berlin

• The conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union grew

Causes of The Berlin Wall

• Growing dissatisfaction with the economic and political conditions in the East under communism

• A increasing number of of people were leaving the GDR (160,000 refugees in 1961 left)

• The Soviets (Khrushchev) delivered Berlin an ultimatum demanding the Western allies to withdraw their troops from West Berlin

The Berlin Wall• Dividing barrier between East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989• Built by the communist government of East Germany to keep

East German citizens from escaping to the West. • Initially blocked off with barbed wire and antitank obstacles.

• People living in Eastern Berlin were not allowed to enter West Berlin

• Reaction by the United States was moderate as US policy regarding Berlin was not affected: presence of allied troops, free access to Berlin and self-determination of the West Berliners was all maintained.

The wall stood for 28 yearsand was a symbol of the repression that became known as the Wall of Shame.

Effects of the Berlin Wall

• Divided the city• Prevented freedom of movement and travel• Resulted in the death of many people trying to pass the wall

or escape East Berlin• Caused an increase in violence and rebellion against the wall

• It represented and symbolized the cold war• Increased tension between the different people and the

different countries ( United States and Soviet Union)

Short Term

Long Term

100 + people were killed at the wall when they tried to escape to West Berlin. This cross is a memorial to all those who tried to pass the Berlin Wall.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked the end of the Cold War. Germany was finally re-unified as the attention of the Soviet Union turned inward to deal with its terrible economic and political problems. On July 1 1990, an economic, monetary and social union between East and West Germany was formed.