The History Book

296

ALL WE DID

WAS FLY

AND SLEEP

THE BERLIN AIRLIFT (1948)

A

t the Yalta and Potsdam

conferences in 1945, the

wartime Allies agreed to

split defeated Germany into four

zones, each separately administered

by France, Britain, the USSR, and

the US. The capital, Berlin, lay deep

within Soviet-controlled East

Germany. This, too, was split into

four zones. On June 24, 1948, the

Soviet Union imposed a blockade

on West Berlin, cutting off all links

by rail, road, and canal, to prevent

vital supplies from reaching the

population. In all, 2.5 million people

faced a choice between starvation

and accepting a communist regime.

A clash between East and West

had the potential to lead to another

world war, but the Western nations

devised a plan to use airplanes

to drop supplies into Berlin. Over

the next 14 months, 278,288 relief

missions were flown to the city.

At the height of the airlift, a plane

landed every three minutes.

The Cold War

The era of cooperation between the

victors of World War II was short-

lived; the Western countries clashed

with the Soviet Union (USSR), over

the type of governments being set

up in Europe. The USSR banned

non-communist parties in every

Eastern European country and

created a block of satellite states

subservient to Soviet leadership.

The Western powers sought to

create democracies that excluded

communists from power. Germany

remained divided into communist

East and democratic West, an

emblem of polarized Europe. In

1946, former British prime minister

Winston Churchill summed up the

situation when he stated that “an

iron curtain has descended across

the continent.”This deep division

between East and West became

known as the Cold War, since it

Dozens of people in West Berlin

stand waiting for the much-needed

supplies that are about to be dropped

from a low-flying US Air Force plane

during the 1948 Berlin Airlift.

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Cold War

BEFORE

1918–20 US troops fight

against the Bolsheviks during

the Russian Civil War.

1922 Russian revolutionary

Vladimir Lenin creates the

Communist International

(Comintern) to promote

international revolution.

1947 The Truman Doctrine

pledges support for countries

attempting to hold back

communism.

AFTER

1961 The Soviets erect the

Berlin Wall between East and

West Berlin. It becomes an

ugly symbol of the Cold War.

1985 Russian leader Mikhail

Gorbachev campaigns for

economic and political reforms:

glasnost and perestroika.

1990 Germany is unified after

the fall of the Berlin Wall.

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297

See also: Russia emancipates the serfs 243 ■ The October Revolution 276–79 ■

Stalin assumes power 281 ■ Nazi invasion of Poland 286–93

THE MODERN WORLD

never escalated into direct military

conflict. The struggle over the

future of Berlin became the first

major crisis of the Cold War.

A plan to starve Berlin

In June 1948, the three Western

Allies announced plans to merge

their zones and introduce a new

currency. Stalin’s response was

swift: his blockade sought to

starve Berlin into surrender

and wrest power away from the

West. The Western powers did

not want to give the Soviets

control of the Western sector

and were determined to stay.

The Berlin Airlift was a success,

and Stalin lifted the blockade in

May 1949. Spurred by the Berlin

crisis, Western European countries

formed a defensive alliance—the

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

(NATO). The communist states of

Eastern Europe organized a rival

alliance in the Warsaw Pact in 1955.

The crisis over Berlin

exacerbated the animosity

between the US and the USSR.

After World War II, Korea had also

been split—into a Soviet-occupied

northern zone and an American-

occupied southern one. The north,

backed by the USSR, invaded

the south in June 1950. The US

provided troops for a United

Nations army, which went to the

support of the South Koreans.

The Korean War ended in 1953,

but it, the conflict over Berlin, and

the Soviet testing of their first

atomic bomb in 1949, created a

climate of fear in the West over

communist expansion. ■

After World War II, the communist East and democratic West

disagree over the future of Germany.

The Western Allies plan to turn their occupied zones

into a separate German state.

The Soviets cut road and rail links into West Berlin

to force the capital into surrendering.

The West is determined to have a presence

in Berlin but cannot risk another world war.

The Berlin Airlift is a peaceful solution.

Joseph Stalin

The dictator of the USSR

from 1927 until his death,

Joseph Stalin (1878–1953)

was notorious for his ruthless

repression of dissent. His rise

to power began in 1903, when

he became a friend of Vladimir

Lenin, the first leader of Soviet

Russia. During and after the

Russian Revolution (1917), he

played a prominent part in

the Communist Party’s rise

to power, and in 1922 he

advanced to become general

secretary of the Russian

Communist Party.

He became supreme

leader in 1927 and aimed to

transform the Soviet Union

into a major industrial force.

In 1928, he launched an

industrialization program

and introduced collective

farming. Millions died of

starvation, in labor camps,

or in a wave of purges directed

at his supposed opponents.

In the post-war years,

Stalin led the Communist Party

into a period of confrontation

with his former World War II

allies. Following his death,

Stalin was condemned by his

successors for his campaigns

of terror and murder.

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