The Berlin Airlift

The Berlin Airlift was one of the first events of the burgeoning Cold War. It saw the Western powers facing off against their former ally the Soviet Union. The picture above depicts diorama of the event, but let’s look at it a little more.

At the end of WWII Germany was divided into several occupation zones split between the US, The United Kingdom, and The Soviet Union. The split Berlin four ways between the US, UK, France and Soviet Union. The question of how to rebuild and reunify Germany became a political hot topic. No one could quite agree and Berlin was at the center of the argument. Sitting deep within the Soviet occupation zone the city was almost an island unto itself.

In January 1947 the US and UK merged their German occupation zones.,This move that caused great discomfort to the Soviets. By 1948 the Western powers had taken steps to grant their occupied section of Germany and Berlin statehood. It was to serve as the primary bulwark against Communist expansion into West Europe. The Soviets responded in kind within their occupation zone. Germany officially became split in two.  As part of this and in an attempt to gain control of the city, the Soviets implemented a blockade of the Western part of the city blocking all major, road, rail and canal links to the outside.

The Blockade

Neither side wanted war, but the people of West Berlin needed supplies. As an answer, the US and UK opted to fly supplies in through an air corridor that was agreed upon at the end of the war. They gambled that the Soviets would not be willing to go to war. During the height of the crisis that ran from June 1948 to May 1949 the West was able to land almost one supply plane every 45 seconds in one of the major airports and were also able to put in place a counter-blockade of East Berlin, these things combined caused the Soviets to lower the blockade, but also solid split Europe for the better part of fifty years.