The Berlin Blockade and subsequent airlift mark the beginning of the events that would come to symbolize the Cold War. Please answer the following questions using internet resources to assist you:
• Describe the post war division of Germany and why this led to tensions between the Soviets and the US. (explain the allies access to Berlin)
• What was the April Crisis?
• Describe how and why the Russians blockaded Berlin?
• Explain how the Allies planned to “save” West Berlin.
• What happened on Black Friday?
• How did the Allies use Operation Little Vittles to record a major propaganda victory over the Russians?
• Explain how the event finally ended and why the Russians finally decided to lift the blockade.
• Describe the Marshall Plan
All questions are to be answered using full sentences and all posts need to be made by 8:00 am Wednesday May 18. Also be prepared to discuss your answers at our next class meeting. I apologize for not being in class today, my daughter is ill. Mr. W.
Jake Smith
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber, Period 6
World History
May 16, 2011
The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
1.) Germany and the Soviet Union blocked the Allies railway systems in Berlin. The Soviet’s thought this would give them complete control over trade and transport of food and fuel into Berlin, giving them complete control over the city.
2.) During the April Crisis the Soviet’s restricted the travel of passengers and transport of military of Britain’s, America’s, and France’s citizens. This began on April 1st and the Soviets announced that no cargo could leave Berlin without the permission of the Soviet Commander.
3.) The Russians blocked trade into Berlin to assume complete control over the city and also cut Berlin’s ties with the United States, Great Britain, and France.
4.) The Allies planned the “Berlin Airlift,” to carry supplies to the people of Berlin. Over 200,000 flights went through in one year.
5.) Black Friday was a catastrophic accident, which occurred at one of the airports in Berlin under the command of Commander Tunner. It was a stormy Friday and three airplanes crashed on the runway, Tunner called an “Abort” to the rest of the planes flying in. From this incident they achieved better flying ability through the new rules they made.
6.) Operation Little Vittles was none other than a candy dropping operation. It started with one of the filmmakers, Gail Halvorsen, who would fly to Germany to get film to make movies about the Berlin Blockade. When he was there he met many German kids and gave them two pieces of gum and said if they shared he would bring more candy the next day. The children asked how would they know which plane he was in and he said I will wiggle my wings. Slowly more and more candy was dropped and General Tunner found out and it soon was in newspapers all over the world. Soon children everywhere were sending in candy to the government for them to bring to the kids in Germany.
7.) With the Berlin Airlift as a complete success, the Germans felt very humiliated. As their block did pretty much nothing. They soon after lifted the blockade and Germany split into two separate states, East and West.
8.) George Marshall founded the Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program. He wanted to create a better economy in Russia and all of Europe. Sadly Stalin declined but Marshall sent out his plan to all of Europe for anyone who wanted to join.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLena Ohlson
ReplyDeleteHonors World History
May 16, 2011
World History Questions
• Describe the post war division of Germany and why this led to tensions between the Soviets and the US. (explain the allies access to Berlin)
After World War Two, Germany was divided by the allies. They named the newly divided Germany “Occupation Zone Germany" into four military occupied zones. France took control in the Southwest, Britain took the northwest, the United States occupied the south, and the Soviet Union occupied the East. This led to tensions between the Soviets and the US because the Soviets had conflicting ideas, and neither one was backing down.
• What was the April Crisis? The argument over Russia’s aims erupted into a political crisis after the publication of a note that the Foreign Minister sent to the allies on April 18, which stated that Russia intended to finish the war. Massive demonstrations forced the war minister and Petrograd to step down. The Provisional Government invited the Soviets to help form a “coalition government” which consisted of socialist and non-socialist leaders. This resulted in the Provisional Government continuing its “prosecution of war”
• Describe how and why the Russians blockaded Berlin?
The Russians blockaded Berlin because they thought that it was theres to keep. Berlin was also divided into four parts and surrounded by Russia, though it was entirely within the Soviets territory. The USSR had previously disagreed with Britain and the US about what to do with Germany. Britain and the US beleived that they should let Germany recover economically, but the USSR had already gained the right to take 10 percent of industrial equipment that was in western Germany, and that they should be allowed to take whatever they wanted from their own “zone” in Germany.
• Explain how the Allies planned to “save” West Berlin.
The Allies planned to save West Berlin by creating an Airlift to supply West Berlin with the necessities. They knew that the only way that the Soviets could stop the airlift was to shoot them down, and because of this they knew that they would back down. If they didn’t, they could possibly start World War III
• What happened on Black Friday?
On Black Friday, three planes were destroyed on a runway in succession. This resulted in a stricter madates for pilots.
• How did the Allies use Operation Little Vittles to record a major propaganda victory over the Russians?
Operation Little Vittles was created by a pilot named Gail Halvorsen. After he gave some candy to German children, he promised that he would drop of more candy. He reveiced mail from the children, and General William H. Turner decided to expand the idea. When news of the operation reached America, the US donated more candy from citizens and companies in the US. It was successful in that the Germans felt that they were being aided by the US and not the Russians.
• Explain how the event finally ended and why the Russians finally decided to lift the blockade.
ReplyDeleteAfter almost 10 months of the Allies campaigning, the USSR decided to lift the blockade and allow traffic through on May 12, 1949
• Describe the Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was a plan that was designed to help all nations of Europe, including the USSR. However, the USSR thought that the Marshall Plan was threatening their buffer zone, and they that that it would result in western ideals to infiltrate their territory. Stalin did not allow any of the countries in the USSR zone to accept any aid from the Marshall Plan.
PRS Honors World History
ReplyDeletePeriod 4.
Emily Leposky
Mr. Webber
After WWII, Russia wanted to get all of Berlin for itself and put a blockade on the railroad so that Berlin could only receive supplies. In response to this the allied forced started flying supplies in, which ultimately led to the division of East and West Germany. This created two separate states, East and West Germany.
The April Crisis was the beginning indication that Russia was going to be denying supplies to Berlin and to the allied forces. For example, Russia denied any railways to bring supplies through Berlin. Thus causing the blockade.
The Blockade caused the soviet guards to stop all passenger trains and traffic headed to Berlin. Also, Russia halted all supplies sent from the U.S. to Berlin. Since there was not a way to reach Berlin, the United States’ only option was to use the air as a way to transport military weapons and supplies. Russia wanted to blockade Berlin so they could take control of the country to gain more territory.
Black Friday was a horrific event where three planes crashed into each other on the runway in the Berlin airport.
Operation Little Vittles began when Gail Halvorsen, a pilot, decided to make a movie about the Berlin Blockade. As he made his way around the country he would hand out pieces of gum to the children. He promised that if they the children did not fight over the gum he would drop off more. The children questioned him on how they would know his plane was the one dropping the candy and he replied, “I’ll wiggle my wings.” As he flew over Berlin he dropped a candy parachute to the kids below. Soon enough, the children in the United States donated their candy for the kids in Berlin.
The blockade finally ended when Russia realized that the Berlin Airlift was a success. The blockade actually did nothing in order to keep the allies out of Berlin. Soon after, Germany split into two separate states, East and West.
The Marshall Plan was a program run by United States where the U.S. would send supplies in order to help support and rebuild the European economies in order to combat the spread of communism. (This was initiated by George Marshall, who was Secretary of State.)
• Describe the post war division of Germany and why this led to tensions between the Soviets and the US. (explain the allies access to Berlin)
ReplyDeleteA delicate balance of power existed between the communist Soviet Union and the capitalistic powers. Germany was partitioned into fourths between Great Britain, the United States, France, and the Soviet Union. Each former Allied power was allowed to run its own section under a military government. The Soviets controlled Eastern Europe while the US occupied much of Western Europe. The proximity of the differing economic powers created tensions as both were hesitant to trust the other. In addition the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to more Soviet distrust of the United States
• What was the April Crisis?
On April 1, the Soviets implemented measures that restricted Western military and traffic movement between Berlin and the areas occupied by the Americans, British, and French. Also, nothing could leave Berlin by train without express permission of the Soviet commander. On April 2, American General Clay blockaded all military rail and demanded all supplies to be transported by air. On April 5, a Soviet Air Force fighter collided with a British passenger liner, further inflaming the relationship between the Soviets and the west. On April 9th, the Soviets that all American personnel in the Eastern zone must discontinue use of and withdraw communication equipment in order to prevent the use of navigation beacons.
• Describe how and why the Russians blockaded Berlin?
The Russians began the blockade on June 18 1948, and turned back all traffic into Berlin. Additionally water transport had to be approved by the Soviets. The blockade of Berlin was an attempt by the Soviets to establish control of Berlin. They intended to block all land transport of supplies, thereby forcing the allied powers to allow the Soviets to supply Berlin with food and fuel, effectively taking control of it.
• Explain how the Allies planned to “save” West Berlin.
The Allies planned to airlift food and supplies, up to 5,000 tones daily, into West Berlin using the RAF and the US Air Force. The airlifts began on June 24th .
• What happened on Black Friday?
On July 28, three aircraft crashed on the runway of the airport. This resulted in new flight rules and regulations that increased efficiency. Aircraft were spaced three minutes apart and the daily goal of landings in Berlin was 1440. By the end of August more than 1,500 flights daily delivered food and supplies to West Berlin up to 5,000 tons a day.
• How did the Allies use Operation Little Vittles to record a major propaganda victory over the Russians?
It was initially started by a USAF pilot who dropped candy to German children. Eventually the story reached the United States and charities and manufacturers donated candy to be airdropped on Berlin. It was a successful propaganda victory because it made the Germans see America in a positive light and made the Americans aware of the situation in Berlin.
• Explain how the event finally ended and why the Russians finally decided to lift the blockade.
The Soviets became increasingly frustrated with the success of the Airlift and saw no reason to continue the blockade, as the Allies were able to supply West Berlin with supplies at a steadily increasing rate. On 12 May 1949 the blockade was lifted.
• Describe the Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was the name of the program created by the US to provide assistance to European economies to deter the spread of communism. It provided around $13 billion to participating countries. Initial aid went to Greece and Turkey in January of 1947.
The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
ReplyDelete1. After WWII, Germany was divided by the Four Power Allied Control Council into four sections: Russian, American, British, and French. Berlin was also divided into a Russian, American, British, and French section. Because Berlin was located inside the Russian section of Germany, Stalin had strategic advantages over the American, British, and French, who needed access to Berlin to transport supplies. Stalin aimed to gain control of all of Germany by preventing France, Britain, and America from entering Berlin and providing food for the German people.
2. The April Crisis occurred on April 1, 1948 when Russians restricted military and passenger traffic between the divided sections of Berlin. Cargo was also prevented from leaving Berlin by railroad without being searched by Russian military officials. On April 2, all military supplies were ordered to be transported by air. These restrictions were removed, but Russians intermittently stopped railways and roads. Russian aircraft also began to violate the airspace above West Berlin and harass other airplanes. A Russian and British plane crash increased further strained the situation. On April 20, ships were denied entrance into the Russian zone unless they obtained clearance. This entire time of harsh restrictions implemented by the Russians was titled the April Crisis.
3. Stalin desired the total control of Berlin, and later, Germany. He knew that having power over a city’s supplies would give him power over the city itself. Therefore, he employed a blockade that removed the British, American, and French ability to transport supplies by road, railway, and ship. He left only three air corridors for airplanes to move in between the Russian and British, American, and French zones. These three air corridors would be the downfall of Stalin’s plan.
4. Britain, America, and France decided that an airlift was the best response to the problems created in the April Crisis. An agreement that the Russians had signed three years earlier stated that three air corridors would provide free access to Berlin. The only way to stop an unarmed cargo aircraft would be to shoot it down. Therefore, the Russians would have to accept the transport of supplies by air or take military action to stop them. The joint British and American airlift operations would bring food and coal to the people of Berlin. The airlift was so successful that more supplies were sent by plane than by railway in the previous year.
5. On August 13, dangerous weather conditions caused one plane to crash at the end of the runway, another to burst its tires while attempting to avoid the crashed plane, and a third to ground loop, or rapidly rotate while on the runway. These accidents did not result in fatalities, but they did shut down the entire airport. This day became known as Black Friday.
ReplyDelete6. When Gail Halvorsen, an American airlift pilot, arrived in Berlin and began talking with a group of children who had been watching the aircraft on the runway, he distributed his remaining sticks of Wrigley’s Gum to the group. He promised to drop off more candy if they shared the gum without fighting. He dropped chocolate bars attached to parachutes, and the group of children increased. When Halvorsen’s story made it onto the news, other pilots began dropping candy in Berlin. It was deemed “Operation Little Vittles” and became a huge propaganda success. Children in the United Sates even began sending their own candy to the children in Berlin, so that over three tons of candy were dropped.
7. The blockade was lifted on May 12, 1949 after negotiations between Russia, America, Britain, and France. The main reason for the end of the blockade was the phenomenal success of the airlift that had been bringing huge quantities of supplies on thousands of flights. Flights had to continue until September 30 so that the people living in Berlin were still ensured a sufficient amount of supplies. Germany split into West (Federal Republic of Germany) and East (German Democratic Republic) Germany after the blockade was lifted.
8. The Marshall Plan, named after its creator General George Marshall, was a program in which America endeavored to support the economies of European countries by donating large sums of money. America hoped that prosperous economies would deter European countries from becoming communist. Economic growth was undoubtedly a product of the Marshall Plan since the economy in 1952 of every European country that participated in the Marshall Plan exceeded its pre-WWII economy. The Soviet Union and its allies were not a part of the Marshall Plan because Stalin felt that the Marshall Plan was an attempt to buy American sympathies. Stalin also believed that it would be easier to maintain European countries with weak economies.
Alex Ryan
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Modern World History Honors Period 4
17 May 2011
Berlin Airlift Blog Assignment
1. In the aftermath of World War II, the victorious Allies agreed to temporarily divide Germany into four occupation zones (French, British, American, and Soviet) with the Potsdam Agreement. The capital of Berlin, isolated by 100 miles of Soviet-occupied East Germany, was also itself divided into four occupation zones. With the increasing political tensions between the East and West bloc states, the three capitalist zones united into the more permanent Federal Republic of Germany, and the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic. The small urban area of Germany controlled by the West was entirely unable to supply itself with food and fuel, relying on trains of supplies from the FRG to supply itself.
2. The April crisis was the first in a series of tensions between the Soviets and the Western countries over access to Berlin. On April 1, 1948, the Soviets put new measures into effect that restricted military and civilian transport between the Western occupation zones and the Western sectors of Berlin. In response, the American military commander of the area stopped all attempts at military transport by rail and ordered that the military base be resupplied by air.
3. In response to the introduction of a new currency in the non-Soviet zones, the Soviets began to halt all traffic from West Germany to Berlin, with a complete blockade in place by June 25. Since Britain, France, and Germany had relied on Soviet cooperation to secure land and sea transport to Berlin after the war, they had never negotiated formal agreements with the Soviets that allowed them passage through the Soviet occupation zone to Berlin. However, they had formally secured three guaranteed air routes over Soviet territory to Berlin. Soviet military command was confident that the West did not have enough combined air power to supply such a large city by air, and as such felt that blockading land (specifically rail) transport to and from Berlin would be sufficient to achieve their goals. The end Soviet goal was forcing the Western occupation zones of Berlin to cave in and become reliant on the Soviets for their food and fuel supplies, essentially giving the Soviets full control of the city.
4. The Allies realized that conceding defeat in Berlin would be particularly harmful, especially since the entire city (including the Soviet zone) had repeatedly demonstrated fervent support for democracy and capitalism in defiance of the Soviets. They also realized that the Soviets would be unwilling to violate their treaties allowing air access to Berlin, and that resupplying the city by air would be a major propaganda victory over the Soviets. Additionally, the Soviets would be unable to stop any incoming flights without shooting them down, and they would recognize that shooting down an unarmed civilian cargo plane carrying humanitarian aid would be a disastrous public relations scandal. Finally, the decision was made to attempt to fly in the 5,009 tons of food and coal that Berlin needed every day to avoid reliance on Soviet supplies. Cargo planes from the United States, Britain, France, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and other Western allies began flying hundreds of tons of supplies per day into the three accessible Berlin airports. Initially, the daily tonnage was far below the required level, but thanks to the addition of newer, bigger American aircraft, the centralization of the Allies’ command structure for the operation, the installation of the general responsible for the biggest and most efficient airlift of WWII, and the extremely supportive and helpful Berlin populace (which single-handedly built a new airport from scratch in 90 days), the airlift was bringing in 7,815 tons per day by the end of the airlift (more than was being brought in by rail beforehand!)
5. Black Friday was one of the only major setbacks of the entire Berlin Airlift, but the new actions it provoked on behalf of the Allies were probably responsible for the overall success of the airlift. The new commander of the airlift operation, General Tunner, decided to make his first trip to Berlin on an inspection tour two weeks after his arrival. Due to suddenly worsening cloud and rain conditions, a cargo aircraft crashed and burned on the runway (and another two suffered major damage) while he was in the air, circling the airport. All aircraft were grounded, and Tunner made major changes to almost every aspect of the airlift, including maintenance and crew schedules, preferred airplane varieties, loading and unloading procedures, navigation protocols, approach patterns, and was finally able to solidify central control over all Allied airlift efforts, despite resistance from each country’s individual air force.
ReplyDelete6. One of the pilots involved in the airlift, Gail Halvorsen, spent some time off in Berlin and met a group of children there. After seeing their interest in some gum he had with him, he promised he would drop off more candy next time he flew over. The operation expanded, and after it received some media publicity, Tunner decided to make it an official, dubbing it “Operation Little Vittles.” The American public donated large quantities of candy, as did the major candy manufacturers, and the airlift had delivered 3 tons of candy to Berlin children by the end of the airlift. It became a major propaganda success in Berlin and in the U.S, cementing American feelings of solidarity with the Berliners and vice versa.
7. The Soviets, despite offering free food to any West Berliners who would defect, continually harassing democratic leaders and incoming Allied airlift flights, saw defeat as it became apparent that the Allies could continue to supply Berlin by air indefinitely. The Soviet-backed communist party had less than 20% of the vote, and record-setting numbers of Berliners had congregated to demonstrate in favor of the Americans and against the Soviets. After a humiliating “Easter Parade” of planes dropping into Berlin (bringing in 12,000 tons of coal on a single day) in April 1949, the Soviets admitted defeat and negotiated an end to the blockade. The blockade was lifted as of May 12, 1949, and West German trains arrived that morning. The airlift was viewed as a huge success by the American public, and the returning generals received a hero’s welcome. Flights continued for two months in order to ensure the city would be well-equipped in the case of another blockade, and then the airlift was officially over.
8. The Marshall plan was a massive American economic recovery package that was intended to modernize Europe and help it move past the devastation of WWII. It totaled $13 billion in aid to rebuild and modernize the European economy, and it almost unequivocally succeeded in doing so. It allowed Europe to rebuild its infrastructure much more quickly than would have been possible without it, as the governments of Europe were collectively broke due to the war. It also set the stage for the first truly pan-continental economy, removing trade and competitive barriers and creating a sense of European unity. All Marshall plan aid was also offered to the Soviet Union and its satellite countries, being a (former) member of the Allies, but the Soviets rejected it out of hand.
Briana Silva
ReplyDeleteMay 17, 2011
Honors World History- Period 4
1. After World War II, Germany was divided into four parts by the Allies, each country taking control of a different section. Britain controlled the northwest, the Soviet Union controlled the east, the United States occupied the south, and France controlled the Southwest. The occupation of Germany created tension within the Allies, specifically the Soviet Union and the United States.
2. The April Crisis was when the Soviets restricted outside access into Berlin via railways. Not only did they restrict passengers and cargo to come into the city, but they also restricted people and goods to leave Berlin. The next day, the military was ordered to ship supplies by aircraft, which
3. The Russians blockaded France, Britain, and the United States’ access to Berlin’s railways. This ensured complete control of the city and allowed the Soviets to gain more territory, but also showed the Allies that they wre the dominate country.
4. On Black Friday, three airplanes crashed into each other on the airstrip in Berlin.
5. Gail Havorsen designed operation Little Vittles, in which he promised the German children that he would drop candy in the cities to gain support. The United States donated tons of candy, and this made Germans believe that the US was aiding them more than the Russians were.
6. On May 12, 1949 the Soviet Union finally decided to lift the restrictions of the blockade after ten long months of the Allies begging the Soviets to end the restriction.
7. As the Berlin aircraft was successful, Germany was humiliated. The humiliation encouraged them to end the blockade and split Germany into the east and the west.
8. The Marshall Plan, created by George Marshall, intended to assist all European countries’ economies, including the Soviet Union’s. However, feeling threatened by the Plan, the Soviet Union denied the Marshall Plan, as well as not allowing and surrounding countries to accept the plan as well.
1. Germany was divided into four different sections for Russian, American, British, and French. Berlin was an important port and closest to Russia and the Soviets quickly moved in on Berlin. The Soviets attempted to prevent the other allied countries from invading by blockading Berlin. The tensions rose between America and Russia because their close proximities aroused many issues like their varying governments, their future plans for Germany and so on. Also, the atomic bomb posed a threat to Russia and soon America and Russia become enemies.
ReplyDelete2. On April 1, 1948, the Russians restricted traffic flow, military and passenger, amongst the divided sections of Berlin. Supplies were kept leaving Berlin by railroad without being searched first. On April 2, supplies were temporarily required to be transported by air. Soon, railways and roads were temporarily blocked off. Russians flew their planes unsafely to threaten other planes and a Russian and British aircraft collided together. On April 20, ships weren’t allowed to enter the Russian’s division of Berlin without clearance. The month long Russian restrictions are known as the April Crisis.
3. Stalin wanted to ultimately control Germany and he needed to take control of Berlin first by obtaining the city’s supplies. He closed off roads, railways, and ship ports except three from Britain, America and France. Stalin’s plans did not succeed.
4. Food and coal would be sent to Berlin by aircraft because the Russians left three corridors accessible. The only possible way to deny the airplanes’ entrance was to open fire and the Russians did not because they needed the supplies. The transport of supplies into West Berlin was very successful.
5. On April 13th, three airplanes crashed into one another and the planes were destroyed resulting in stricter pilot restrictions.
6. Candy was given to children to encourage peace and end fighting. It was so successful that over three tons of candy were dropped in Berlin.
7. On May 12, 1949, the blockade in Berlin was lifted after negotiations between Russia, Britain, America and France. The transport of supplies through the aircrafts was hugely successful and necessary if the blockade. Germany was split into West (Federal Republic of Germany) and Easy (German Democratic Republic) Germany after the blockade was lifted.
8. The Marshall Plan used US dollars to grant Europe money to ensure communism would be avoided. It was very successful in Western Europe and Yugoslavia. The money was not given to Japan.
• Because of the accord reached in the Yalta Conference of 1945 and the Potsdam Conference of 1945, post-war Germany was divided into four zones of occupation with Russia, the United States, Britain, and France each occupying one zone. Germany was to be reunited once it was strong enough. The city of Berlin was also divided into four sections. Germany faced major problems due to the loss of agricultural East Germany to Russia making it necessary for the other three zones to import food from outside Germany. Germany had no resources at the time to pay for the food so it was "charity" food. The America and Brittan quickly organized an effective bi-zonal administration designed to reopen factories in their two zones. But the Russians seemed more interested in looting what remained of European industry under the guise of "reparations" than in participating in the rebuilding of Europe. This led to tensions between Russia and the Allies.
ReplyDelete• The April crisis is the dispute over Russia's war aims exploded into a full-blown political crisis after the publication of a note that the Foreign Minister, Pavel Miliukov, had sent to the allies on April 18 reaffirming the Provisional Government's commitment to prosecute the war to a victorious end and observe all treaties entered into by its czarist predecessor.
• On 31 March 1948, Congress voted on the Marshall Plan and that they would aid Germany in recovering from the war. Stalin saw this as an attempt to undermine Russian influence in Eastern Europe. The Russians started stopping and searching all road and rail traffic into Berlin.
• Germany faced major problems due to the loss of agricultural East Germany to Russia making it necessary for the other three zones to import food from outside Germany. The allies decided to airlift food to Germany because the Russians restricted Western military and passenger traffic between the American, British and French occupation zones and Berlin.
• On August 13, Maj. Gen. William H. Tunner flew to Berlin. The clouds were very low and it was raining so visibility was very poor. A C-54 crashed and burned at the end of the runway, and a second one landing behind it burst its tires while trying to avoid it. A third aircraft ground looped on the auxiliary runway, closing the entire airport. Fortunately no one was killed. As a result of this, instrument flight rules would be in effect at all times which led to accident rates and delays dropping immediately.
• Gail Halvorsen, one of the many Airlift pilots, decided to use his off time to fly into Berlin and make movies with his hand-held camera. He arrived at Tempelhof on July 17 on one of the C-54s and walked over to a crowd of children who had gathered at the end of the runway to watch the aircraft. He talked to them and gave them some gum. He started dropping candy bars from his plane for the children in Berlin. The story got on the news and it turned into Operation Little Vittles. Other pilots participated, and when news reached the US, children all over the country sent in their own candy to help out. Soon, the major manufacturers joined in.
ReplyDelete• On April 16, 1949, 12,941 tons of coal had been delivered in 1,383 flights, without a single accident this was called the “Easter Parade”. A welcome side effect of the effort was that operations in general were boosted, and tonnage increased from 6,729 tons to 8,893 tons per day thereafter. This event and the continued success of the Airlift humiliated the Soviets to the point where they were willing to lift the blockade.
• George Marshall created the Marshall Plan intended to help Europe with political stability through the revitalization of national economies. Sixteen nations, including Germany, became part of the program and shaped the assistance they required, state by state, with administrative and technical assistance provided through the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) of the United States. European nations received nearly $13 billion in aid, which initially resulted in shipments of food, staples, fuel and machinery from the United States and later resulted in investment in industrial capacity in Europe.
1. The Potsdam Agreement called for the division of the defeated Germany into four temporary occupation zones. These zones were created based where each ally army was located at the end of World War Two. Also, the German capital of Berlin was split into four sectors: The French sector, British sector, American sector, and the Russian sector. Many tensions erupted between the U.S and Soviet Union because while the U.S wanted to maintain Germany and help it to become a democracy, the Soviet Union wanted to destroy Germany and deplete it of all its resources and wealth, mainly for Hitler's betrayal of Russia. These tensions increased when the U.S initiated the Marshall Plan and joined its Germany zone with Britain's. Stalin saw this as an attempt to undermine Russian influence in eastern Europe.
ReplyDelete2.On April 1st, The Soviet Union issued orders that restricted Western military and passenger traffic between the American, French, and British occupation areas and Berlin. This also included an order disallowing any cargo to leave from Berlin by rail without permission from the Soviet commander.
3.If Russia could blockade Berlin from America, Britain and France, then it could continue its path of destroying Germany as a whole and prevent the Allies from intervening in any way. The Soviet Union hastily began blocking railroads and trains from entering or leaving Berlin, and created a new currency called the Ostmark. Later, the Soviet Union also severed land and water communications between the non-soviet zones and Berlin, while stopping to supply food and energy to non- soviet sectors of Berlin.
Michaela Fisher
ReplyDelete1. After World War II, Germany was split into two independent states in the East and West. West Germany was a parliamentary democracy, NATO member, a founding member of the future European Union, and one of the world’s largest economies. In West Germany, the US, UK, and France each owned a third of the area. East Germany was a totalitarian Stalinist dictatorship that allied with the Soviet Union. East Germany was considered to be a Soviet satellite state. The capital, Berlin, was a special case, being divided into East Berlin and West Berlin, West Berlin completely surrounded by East German territory. Though the German inhabitants of West Berlin were citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany, West Berlin was not legally incorporated into West Germany. This made tensions between the Soviets and US very high.
2. The April Crisis was a time period where the Soviets issues orders restricting Western access to Berlin. First, on April 1, 1948, Soviet measures were put into place that limited Western military and passenger traffic between the American, British and French occupation zones and Berlin. Also, an announcement was given that stated that no cargo could leave Berlin by truck or train without permission from the Soviet commander. Next, on April 9, Soviet official demanded that American military personnel that maintained communicated equipment in the Eastern zone must withdraw. This prevented the use of navigation beacons to mark air routes. Then on April 20, the Soviet demanded that all barges obtain clearance before entering the Soviet zone.
3. Tensions between the Soviets and US grew immensely when the Soviets cut off surface road access to Berlin, in the Berlin Blockade of June 1948. There were still non-Soviet sectors of Berlin, but the Blockade cut off all non-Soviet food, water, and other supplies for the citizens of the non-Soviet sectors. The Soviets did this in hope that they could gain the whole of Berlin.
4. To save West Berlin, the Allies made an effort to supply the western sectors of the city solely through the organization of the Berlin Airlift. The United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and the recently independent United States Air Force flew over 200,000 flights in one year, providing up to 4,700 tons of daily necessities such as fuel and food to the Berliners.
5. Black Friday happened on August 13, 1948; General Tunner decided to fly to Berlin to grant an award to an airlift pilot. There was cloud cover and heavy rain that made radar visibility poor. A C-54 crashed and burned at the end of the runway, and a second one landing behind it burst its tires. Then, a third aircraft ground looped on the auxiliary runway, which closed the entire airport. No one was killed in the incident, but this became known as “Black Friday.”
6. The Allies used Operation Little Vittles was a major propaganda success because it got US children and major manufacturers all excited about the US’s presence in Germany. This gave them an upper hand in the strange situation the US and the Soviet Union were in.
ReplyDelete7. By the spring of 1949, the Berlin Airlift was clearly succeeding and, by April, the airlift was delivering more cargo than had previously been transported into the city by rail. To hamper the Allies’ success, starting on August 1, the Soviets offered free food to anyone who crossed into East Berlin and registered their ration cards there. With pride, West Berliners overwhelmingly rejected Soviet offers of food. Because this did not work, the blockade ended in May 1949, lasting a total of 11 months.
8. The Marshall Plan was also known as the European Recovery Programme. This was a program of American assistance to all European countries wanting to participate. The Marshall Plan intended to rebuild the economies and spirits of Europe, primarily Western Europe. George Marshall, Secretary of State, was convinced that the key to political stability was a thriving national economy. He also felt that stability in Western Europe would keep communism from spreading. Stalin rejected the Marshall Plan for this reason, and he wanted to maintain the Eastern Bloc as buffer states. Sixteen nations, including Germany, became part of the program. These nations received almost $13 billion in aid. This initially resulted in shipments of food, staples, fuel and machinery from the United States and later resulted in investment in industrial capacity in Europe.
1. Germany was split into western and eastern Germany; western Germany became a NATO state while eastern Germany became a totalitarian dictatorship state. Along with this the Soviet Union blocked the railways of the allies, which prohibited them from transporting goods and supplying materials to troops and civilians. This gave the axis powers strong control over Berlin even though it was in western Germany.
ReplyDelete2. The April Crisis erupted when the Russian minister of foreign affairs sent out a note to the allied government saying that he plans to see the war come to a glorious conclusion. Once word of this got out, civilians started to protest the crisis. Thus the soviets issued orders to restrict western interference in Berlin. They made a blockade to stop all trade coming into Berlin.
3. The Soviets wanted to blockade Berlin so that no western aid could be delivered. This would in turn allow Russia to supply Berlin with food and fuel, which would give Soviets practical control over the city. They attempted to achieve this by stopping all transport by rail and car and blockading all roads and rails.
4. Black Friday happened in Norway on the 9th of February. It was given this name by the allied pilots who survived the attack. The attack was to be carried out by Allied Bristol Beaufighter force that was unsuccessful in taking out the German destroyer Z33. Twelve German fighters of the Luftwaffe ambushed the allied force.
5. The allies used this candy dropping operation as a sort of propaganda. By dropping candy and other wonderful sweets that make kids happy the allied pilots assured the children that they were “good” and were trying to help the people of Berlin. This manifested into large factories and businesses donating candy to the war and influencing them to help the war effort.
6. The Russians finally lifted the blockade after the airlift had proved extremely successful. The success of the airlifts also made the West Germans extremely loyal to their side of Germany and refused any bribery from the Russians. This completely halted the Russians after which they lifted the blockade in May 1949.
7. The Marshall Plan was named after secretary of state, George Marshall and it was a program set up by America to halt the spread of Communism throughout Europe. It attempted to achieve this goal by providing and helping rebuild the European economies.
1.Describe the post war division of Germany and why this led to tensions between the Soviets and the US. (explain the allies access to Berlin)
ReplyDeleteAfter the collapse of Germany in 1945, the Allied powers of Russia, France, Britain, and the U.S divided the city of Berlin among themselves. Each of these powers controlled one zone of Germany and Berlin. However, by 1946, relations between Soviet and Western powers were on the line because of disagreements over reparations. As a result of the tension, the British, French and American zones merged in 1947.
2.What was the April Crisis?
On April 18, 1917, the Minister on Foreign Affairs sent a diplomatic note to the allies about national aspiration to finish the world war by a convincing victory. In doing so, the Soviets put new laws into affect that restricted civilian and military transport between the Western occupation zones and Western sectors of Berlin. The Soviets did not allow transportation of people or goods in and out of the city.
3.Describe how and why the Russians blockaded Berlin?
The Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies’ railway and road access to the sectors of Berlin because by forcing the western powers, they would allow themselves to start supplying Berlin with everyday necessities such as food and fuel. In doing so, the Soviets practically gained control of the entire city.
4.Explain how the Allies planned to “save” West Berlin.
In response to Soviet control over West Berlin, the Western Allies organized the Berlin Airlift to carry supplies to people living there. They provided people with daily necessities such as fuel and food to the Berliners. Over time, the airlift delivered more cargo that what was previously transported by the train. This new invention brought shame and humiliation to the Soviets who initially refused to believe this Airlift would make a difference.
5.What happened on Black Friday?
ReplyDeleteOn February 9th, 1945, a force of Allied aircrafts unfortunately suffered many casualties during an attack on German destroyed Z33. The decision to attack the Z33 was because of orders from the British Admiralty. The German ships were sheltering in a strong defensive position which forced the Allied aircraft to attack through heavy anti-aircraft fire. In the resulting attack from the Allies, they damaged at least two of the German ships.
6.How did the Allies use Operation Little Vittles to record a major propaganda victory over the Russians?
A good propaganda technique is bribing children and that is just what Gail Halvorsen did. On July 17th, Halvorsen walked over to a crowd of children gathered on the runway to watch an aircraft. Once they asked questions, he decided to hand the children two sticks of gum to share amongst the themselves as a goodwill gesture. He promised the children that if he did not fly over them he would return with more gum. Once he was in his aircraft on the way to berlin, he attached chocolate bars from a parachute and dropped them for the children. Following this day, more and more children came and the number of chocolate bars being dropped increased. He had notes and letters attached to some of the bars as well. Other pilots decided to participate and when news reached the US, children all over the country sent in their own candy to help out. In the end, over three tons of candy were dropped on Berlin and the “operation” becamse a major propaganda success.
7.Explain how the event finally ended and why the Russians finally decided to lift the blockade.
In the end, the blockade turned out to be so ineffective, and a year later, Stalin finally lifted the blockade. The atomic bomb capable planes stationed in Britain by the U.S also played a large role in the Soviet decision to end the Blockade.
8.Describe the Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was the economic extension of the Truman Doctrine. Towards the end of the war, starvation and an economic crisis threatened to overtake many European nations. The threat of a second great depression was very high and Germany was one of the hardest hit areas. Religiously, refugees fled from East to West in search of a government stable enough to provide them with the barest daily essentials. In a rare move, the Allied victors took it upon themselves to prevent an economic crisis by helping rebuild the most devastated areas as quickly as possible, thus known to be the Marshall Plan in honor of George C. Marshall.
Berlin Blockade and Airlift
ReplyDeleteIan Torbett
05/16/11
Postwar division of Germany by Soviets and United States:
During World War II, the Yalta conference, between Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt decided the fate of the soon to be defeated Germany. Stalin, the leader of the USSR, wanted the Eastern European countries, and the Eastern Germany as an Iron Curtain for the USSR, as well as a foundation to spread communism. The United States and Britain did not want Stalin to have these Eastern European countries. Instead, they wanted the countries to have a democratic leaders, but their goals failed.
April Crisis:
In 1948, the allies began an extensive air, railroad, and truck campaign to give supplies to East German citizens, going against the will of the Soviets. In April, however, the USSR implemented a blockade in East Germany that prevented the allies from giving humanitarian aid to East Germany. The Russian soldiers searched all the vehicles entering and leaving Berlin. In time though, the Soviets lessened their restrictions. Days later, British and Russian aircraft collided, causing tensions between the Soviets and allies to skyrocket.
Blockade of Berlin:
A blockade of Berlin, by Russia, was the first major crisis of the Cold War. In 1948, after the surrender of Germany and the conclusion of World War II, Germany was split into the four parts, the East side was Russia, and the West side was divided among Britain, France, and the United States. The West side of Germany recovered quickly after the war, as the allies implemented economic reforms for their area of Germany. In the East side, however, Russia stalled economic progress and implemented communism in East Germany. The Russians used a blockade around to halt the diffusion of Western ideas, and aid to East Berlin. All communication and transportation to West Berlin was blocked by the USSR.
How did the allies plan to “save” West Berlin:
After the end of World War II, Germany was divided into Democratic West, and Communist East by the allies. In West Germany, the United States, France, and Britain implemented economic reforms in order to restructure the economy and social status of Germany. The allies changed the German currency, and used the mark for the economy, instead of the Reichsmark. The United States devised the Marshall plan to increase the economic stability of West Germany by removing trade barriers, and pumping over 12 billion dollars into the Germany economy. This allowed the German economy to recuperate, and for the people to disregard communism in favor of democracy.
Black Friday:
ReplyDeleteWith the airlifts to Eastern Germany well underway by the United States, they began to have greater success. However, tensions began to rise as the Soviets imposed a no fly zone, and a blockade on East Berlin. As the flights continued, more and more conflicts arose between the allies and the Soviets. On Friday, three planes collided on an airfield in Germany. This caused an escalation in tensions between the Russians and the allies. New flight rules were mandated, and increased success in the operation to supply East Germany with humanitarian aid increased dramatically.
Operation Little Vittles:
The Operation started as a propaganda campaign against the communists. Gail Halvorsen, an American pilot, took a handheld camera and went to Berlin to film the children. He handed out candy the German children. Every day, he would drop more candy to the children. This story then made the news, and was an instant success with the American public. The commanding officer of the allied forces in West Germany began Operation Little Vittles to continue dropping candy to the children in East Germany. After recognizing this operation, the people of Germany began to recognize the allies as savors, rather than enemies. The operation weakened the Soviets grasp of Berlin.
Russians ending the airlift:
In early 1949, the allied airlift operation was running flawlessly. They were able to feed Berlin, and keep the population from starving. This humiliated the Soviets. The final act, the Easter Parade, was pinnacle of allied air support. On Easter, the allied commander in West Germany ordered the aircraft to begin an extensive undertaking, flying coal to the city of Berlin. The citizens of Berlin were freezing during the winter, and the coal led to a significant morale boost in the citizens. The planes landing in Berlin was recorded around one plane every 30 seconds. It demonstrated the full capabilities of the allied air forces, and led to a change in the Soviet mindset about continuing the blockade around Berlin.
Marshall Plan:
The Marshall Plan was a large economic recovery program, spearheaded by the Americans, to inject money into the Europe’s economy to help the country rebuild after the war. Over 12 billion dollars were pumped into the economy to stimulate change in the society. In addition to this large cash flow, the currency used by the Germans changed from the Reichsmark to the standard European mark. While specifically targeting Germany, the Marshall Plan’s main goal was to create a more prosperous and stable Europe. It helped the countries recover from the war, with an underlying goal: to stop the spread of communism into Western Europe. The other goals of the plan included: removing trade tariffs, modernizing industries, and rebuilding European economy as a whole.
Katie Nardo
ReplyDeleteMay 17, 2011
Period 4
1. Describe the post war division of Germany and why this led to tensions between the Soviets and the US. (Explain the allies’ access to Berlin)
After Germany’s surrender, the French, British, Americans, and Soviets occupied a quarter each, of Germany (French in southwest, British in northwest, United States in the south, and Soviet in the east). This led to tension between the Soviets and the US because the Soviets wanted to take over all of Berlin, and eventually Germany, while the US made it clear they were still a huge military force.
2. What was the April Crisis?
On April 18, 1917 a note was sent to the allies from the Russian Foreign Minister, which reassured them that they were going to indeed finish the war, and keep present treaties in mind, while doing so. But Russia did not allow supplies to be passed to and from, and created a blockade.
3. Describe how and why the Russians blockaded Berlin?
In June 1948, the Russians instructed soldiers to guard the railroads to make sure no goods or supplies could be sent from the United States to Berlin. Even the water was transported through them. The Soviets goal was to take over Berlin entirely not allowing any of the other Allies to compete.
4. Explain how the Allies planned to “save” West Berlin.
In late June, the Allies used planes to fly over and bring food to West Berlin in attempt to save it.
5. What happened on Black Friday?
In late July, three planes crashed on a runway. From then on, the airline regulations were modified and altered to make sure that this type of tragedy doesn’t happen again.
6. How did the Allies use Operation Little Vittles to record a major propaganda victory over the Russians?
An air pilot by the name of Gail Halvorsen used his free time to drop Wrigley’s gum as well as other candy and chocolate in packages into the streets for the children of Berlin. Eventually, so many people became aware of this that children in America would donate their candy to the children in Germany.
7. Explain how the event finally ended and why the Russians finally decided to lift the blockade.
In May of 1949 the blockade had ended because the Soviets realized that their plan to put the blockade into effect was failing due to the airlifts from the Americans. Russia surrenders, and Germany is split into halves.
8. Describe the Marshall Plan
George Marshall started the Marshall Plan. His goal was originally to help the economies of the European nations and The Soviet Union. It was really made so that communism would never occur. However the Soviets denied this plan and made sure the other countries did so too.
With the end of WWII, the Allies decided on a temporary occupation of Germany in order to allow time for a new government to be formed. The United States, Britain, France, and Soviet Union partitioned Germany, and the same countries also divided Germany’s capital city, Berlin. Tensions between the Western allies and the Soviet Union began during the 1946 Berlin elections, when its citizens elected democratic members to the city council, and did not acknowledge the Soviet Union’s plans for creating a communist Germany. Disagreements on the creation of Germany’s postwar government started, and in 1947, the U.S., Britain, and France combined their territories to create a Trizone, looking to bring economic stability to their regions of Germany. When these nations of the Trizone could not agree with the Soviet Union on the creation of a new currency in 1948, more tensions arose between the two groups. This all culminated when the Soviet Union tried to deny the U.S., Britain and France access to the territory they controlled in Berlin, which was in Soviet controlled Germany.
ReplyDeleteThe April Crisis was the first confrontation between the Soviets and the Western allies, and began on April 1, 1948 with the Soviet Union’s restriction on military and passenger traffic between Berlin and the Allies’ occupation zones. This prompted the Allies to start flying supplies into West Berlin instead of using road and rail transportation, marking the start of the Berlin Airlift campaign.
The Soviet Union blockaded Berlin because of the western Allies’ desires to improve the West German economy and eventually establish a West German government. In response to this, the Soviet Union decided to blockade Berlin to prevent the western Allies from using the capital of Germany as a staging ground for their future plans and eventually gain control over the entire city. When the Allies introduced their newly developed currency into Berlin, the Soviet Union forcefully halted all ground transportation between western territories and Berlin. It was able to do so because no written pact had been devised between the Soviet Union and its WWII allies that said the western Allies had the right of access to Berlin. The Soviet Union was not breaking any international laws, and this allowed it to continue its blockade of Western resources and supplies to Berlin without fear of punishment.
To combat the Soviet blockade and aid the people in West Berlin, the Allies started an airlift program that flew in food and other resources. The airlift was successful, bringing more supplies to Berlin than had previously been delivered by rail, and the Soviet blockade on Berlin was lifted in May 1949.
ReplyDeleteOn August 13, 1948, three airlift C-54s became involved in accidents at a Berlin airport during a day with low cloud cover and poor radar visibility. The three aircraft clogged up the only available runways of the airport, and led to the cancellation of remaining operations for the day. Although no lives were lost, the incident was an embarrassment to the Allies, and the commander of the airlift operations instituted new safety measures in order to try and prevent any more accidents.
The idea for Operation Little Vittles came about when Airlift pilot, Colonel Gail Halversen dropped candy bars on small, handmade parachutes to German children in Berlin. The action was approved commanding officers, and other pilots soon did the same thing. Candy manufacturers and children from the United States sent in candy to aid the project, and over three tons of candy was dropped on Berlin. The Allies used this as a propaganda piece by making it seem like the Allies were on the moral side of the conflict. They tried to make it seem like Colonel Halversen’s kindness was reflective of the kindness of the Allies, and that the Allies were trying help the Berliners the Soviets were oppressing.
The Soviets’ original plan to force the Allies out of Berlin failed. The Allied Airlifts maintained a steady stream of supplies into West Berlin, and did not show any signs of slowing or stopping. While operations were running smoothly, General Tunner decided that Easter Sunday, 1949, would be the date when airlift crews would push to deliver the more cargo than had been delivered on any previous day. Airlift crews delivered 12,941 tons of coal in 1,383 flights on one single day, and morale was boosted, benefiting all airlift operations that came after. The Soviet Union was humiliated that its plan to gain control of Berlin was not working, and made the decision to lift the blockade.
The Marshall Plan was a United States program that was to send monetary aid to help rebuild the economies of European countries. It began in 1948, ended in 1952, and was considered a success, have aided European postwar recovery by bringing about higher increases in agricultural and industrial production and helping to improve standards of living. The Marshall Plan also helped reduce the influence of communist in the countries that participated and helped bring about the creation of the European Union.
David Claxton
ReplyDelete5.16.2011
History, Per. 7
After Germanys defeat the allies divided up the country into spheres of influence. The British got the north, the French the west, the Americans the south, and the Russians the east. But the capital city of Berlin was divided up also. Although Britain, France, and America were still strong allies, Russia remained an outlier. Thus it limited the access of the other allies Berlin so that the Russians could have complete control over supplies. Starting the first conflict of the cold war.
On April 1st the soviet government decided to issue orders to restrict the flow of passengers and goods through Berlin. Saying that all cargo had to be inspected by a soviet officer and then approved to leave. This made travel by truck or freight very difficult so the United States issued orders to ship by plane and this was called the “little lift”.
The Soviet Union blockaded western access to berlin because they wanted to have complete control over supplies being shipped to Berlin, thus providing them with complete control over the city. They did this by heavily restricting land passage by halting trains and trucks to Berlin. They passed many laws saying the transport had to be approved by a soviet officer and the contents had to be examined.
The allies’ plane to “save” Berlin was to basically ship the items by air instead of by other means of travel. This was less restricted by the soviets and could allow for more shipping to come in faster than it would have on land. So they could still supply the allies sections of the city without the soviet goods having to be brought in.
On black Friday there were very poor flying conditions and there was a loss of communication between the aircraft and the ground. A c-54 had crashed on the runway and due to these conditions two other airplanes crashed into it or trying to avoid it. In the aftermath of this incident new rules and regulations were set in and made it easier to maneuver and communicate with the aircraft.
Operation “little vittles” was not a real military operation. A pilot named Gail Halvorsen in Berlin had stumbled upon some children and as a gift gave them candy. He then promised to return next time with more and that started the “operation”. He would fly over and drop candy from his aircraft attached with little parachutes down to the children below. This later became a great propaganda opportunity for the allies. It was used to show how the Russians were bad in how they did not even let the ally’s ship candy over for the children. This also showed how the allies were nicer to their sectors than the Russian. This was used heavily against the Russian rule in the area.
The continued success of the Berlin airlift baffled the soviet government. They were infuriated and embarrassed of their stunt. Their plan for power over the city had lost. So in 1949 the lifted the blockade form Berlin, and began negotiations giving in to a western settlement.
The Marshall Plan was the American economic plan for Europe after World War Two. It involved many of the countries affected by the fighting and was formally under Nazi rule. Although this plan was set into effect it was ignored by the soviet bloc countries. They decided to become Soviet satellite states instead of joining the plan. He still offered the plan to other more western countries.
Noury Fekini
ReplyDeleteWorld History
Describe the post war division of Germany and why this led to tensions between the Soviets and the US. (explain the allies access to Berlin) – Germany was divided in fourths between Great Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Each power was allowed to run its own portion under a military. The differing economic and social powers created much tension as the countries were hesitant to trust each other.
What was the April Crisis? – The April Crisis occurred on April the First. The Soviet Union implemented measures that restricted the Western military and traffic between Berlin and the occupied areas. Furthermore, nothing could leave Berlin by train without permission from a higher-ranking Soviet. On April 2nd, General Clay blockaded all military trains and demanded all supplies to be transported by plane. Then on April 5th, Soviet Air Force fighter hit a British plane liner, more so damaging the relationship between the Soviets and the rest of the Allies. On April 9th, the Soviets said that all Americans in their zone must discontinue and stop the use of communication equipment to prevent the use of navigation beacons.
Describe how and why the Russians blockaded Berlin? – The Russians began to blockade Berlin on June 18, 1948. By doing so, they turned back all traffic back to Berlin. Also, water transport had to be approved by the Soviets. The blockade was an attempt to establish control of Berlin. They intended to cut off all transportation of supplies, hoping the allied powers to allow the Soviets to supply Berlin with necessary resources, and to hopeful be able to gain control over it.
Explain how the Allies planned to “save” West Berlin. – On June 24th, the Allies planned to airlift supplies (5,000 tons daily) into West Berlin using the US Air Force.
What happened on Black Friday? – July 28th, 3 aircrafts crashed on a runway of the airport. This resulted in new rules and regulations for flying that increased efficiency and safety. Aircrafts were spaced 3 minutes apart and calculated to have a daily 1440 landings in Berlin.
How did the Allies use Operation Little Vittles to record a major propaganda victory over the Russians? – A USAF pilot who dropped candy to German Children started it. Eventually the story reached the US and manufacturers donated candy to be airdropped on Berlin. It was a successful propaganda victory because it made the Germans view the Americans in a positive manner.
Explain how the event finally ended and why the Russians finally decided to lift the blockade. – The Soviets became increasingly frustrated with the airlift successes and discontinued the blockade. On May 12th 1949 the blockade was officially lifted.
Describe the Marshall Plan – The Marshall Plan was a program created by the US to provide assistance to European economies to help the spread of communism. It provided $13 billion to participating countries. In January of 1947, initial aid went to Greece and Turkey.
Niraj Madhani
ReplyDeleteBerlin Blockade
1. After WWII, Hitler’s successor was deposed and Germany was divided into four occupation zones, one zone for each of the Four Powers: the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. These zones were decided through various conferences, which were constantly held to sort out new issues. However, issues among the Four Powers began to rise and create tensions, notably between the communist Russia and the other democratic nations. Stalin aimed to spread communism throughout the territories Germany, and became successful in obtaining what he wanted. On the contrary, the democratic nations feared communist expansion, creating the tension. Thus the trust and sense of friendship slowly faded away from the relationships.
2. The April Crisis occurred during the month of April in1948 and was comprised of series of Soviet measures that restricted military and passenger transport between separated sections of Berlin. The Soviets searched vehicles and cargo that passed, and on April 2nd all military supplies were required to be transported by air. The Russians did not respect the borders, and constantly penetrated Western Berlin, and at one point a Soviet fighter plane collided with a British passenger liner, which further increased the existing tensions. Later, on April 20th the Russians denied ships entrance into Russian zones.
3. The main goal of the blockades was to set up a situation for overtaking all of Germany. Stalin realized that by blocking the Ally’s resources and supplies, he would weaken them and ultimately be able to take control of their areas, beginning with Berlin. Thus he blocked Allied transport by road, railway and ship but let three air corridors open.
4. To save West Berlin, the Allies decided that an airlift would be the most effective way to counteract the Soviet measures. The Allies began sending large amounts of food and supplies to West Berlin daily.
5. The even nick named “Black Friday” was when three aircrafts crashed on the runway of an airport. Thus, to prevent a tragic even such as this one from happening again new rules and regulations were enacted to increase efficiency and safety.
6. Operation Little Vittles was originally simply an American pilot who dropped candy down to German children. News of this reached the United States and many donated candy to be dropped over Berlin. This became a form of propaganda because it changed German perspective on America to more of a positive one.
7. The Allies effectively utilized the three air corridors the Soviets left open for transport, carrying out many airlifts. This frustrated the Soviets considering the Allies were able to effectively and efficiently supply West Berlin with supplies. Thus the blockade was lifted in 1949.
8. The Marshall Plan was created by the US to provide economic aid the Europe. This economic aid aimed to prevent the diffusion of communism. The amount totaled to about 13 billion dollars, which is indeed a very large amount.
1. After WWII Germany, and its capital, Berlin, was split up into four sections by Russia the US, Brittan, and France. Russia had a strategic advantage over the west, as Berlin was located some 60 miles inside of is slice of Germany, which meant that in order for the western powers to bring in supplies to Berlin, they needed to go through Russia. Unfortunately the rising political tensions of the time led the western nations to take their parts of Germany and form the Federal Republic of Germany, while The Russian section became the democratic republic of Germany, which left the western states portions of berlin unable to provide for themselves and completely dependant on shipments from the west.
ReplyDelete2. The april crisis started when the soviets initiated restrictions on the amount of goods that could be shipped by train into Germany. In response the Allies stopped all attempts to bring in supplies Via rail and instead resupplied themselves via airdrops.
3. In an attempt to gain control over Berlin by controlling the supplies they received Stalin started a blockade that prevented all shipping into Berlin from the west except by airplanes. Even then he allowed the allies only three air routes into berlin. However it was these airlanes that would ruin his plans
4. The allies decided that the best response to this crisis would be for them to try and completely supply Berlin from the air. Since Stalin could not shoot down the planes, as they were civilian and were carrying humanitarian aid, for fear of creating a bad international image, he had no choice but to allow the planes to land. This effort proved to extremely successful, eventually shipping in even more coal and food than had been brought in by train.
5. Black Friday was one of the major setbacks of the airlifting operation. It happened when poor weather lead to a plane crashing during takeoff and causig two other planes to take damage. While no one was hurt the changes that were implemented to counter future crashes caused a major delay in supplies.
6. Operation little Vittles started after one pilot, Gail Halvorson, met some of the children in berlin and promised he would bring them some candy. This soon expanded until it became a major operation. All of the major candy companies were involved and they seceded in bringing over 6000lb of candy into Berlin. Obviously, this expression of good will from the west did wonders to make the Berliners believe that the west was doing more for them than the east.
7. Despite their attempts to take over all of berlin, the soviets eventually realized that they were bound to fail, as the Berliners had too much good will for their western allies, and the west could supply berlin indefinitely. And so the soviets eventually opened up negotiations with the west on opening up the blockade, and on May 12 the blockade was lifted.
8. The marshal plan was a massive thirteen billion dollar recovery package for Europe and Germany, with the intent of helping them repair the damage caused by WWII and modernizing their cities and infrastructure.
Ciara Corbeil
ReplyDelete5/17/11
1. Germany was partitioned into sectors controlled by Russia, Britain, America, and France. Berlin was the most important city in Germany and so was partitioned as well. However, it was surrounded by Soviet territory and so the US was forced to pass through the Soviet sector in order to bring supplies to the people of American sector. Seeing this advantage, the Russians blockaded all American transportation to Berlin in order to take control of Western Germany. These restrictions imposed during the April Crisis lead to the Berlin airlifts.
2. The April Crisis was the time when the Soviets took advantage of their monopoly over shipping into Berlin. It began on April 1, 1948 when Russia restricted passenger, military, and cargo transport between sectors of Berlin. Shortly after, Russia removed these sanctions but occasionally stopped transit by shutting down railroads and roads. They also interfered with air traffic above West Berlin, which was highlighted by a British- Russian plane crash. Russia continued to restrict transportation; on the 20th the Soviets announced that no ships could enter the Russian sector unless given clearance. Thus, throughout the month of April, (named the April Crisis), the Soviets tried to gain control over Germany by restricting transit.
3.Stalin blockaded Berlin by blocking all ports, railroads, and roads. (Importantly, however, he failed to control the airspace above West Berlin.) He did this in an effort to control Berlin because he knew that if the Americans were forced to depend on Russia to supply West Berlin, he would essentially control the city. He also wanted to eventually control Germany, and knew that taking over the capital would be a vital step towards that end.
4. The Allies decided to exploit the one hole in Stalin’s blockade: the air. Previously, the Allies had agreed that three air corridors would be left free to allow for transport into Berlin. Britain and the United States decided to use planes to fly supplies (such as food, coal, candy, etc.) in through these corridors and then drop them in their respective sectors. The airlifts put Stalin in a precarious situation. The only way to stop the aircrafts would be to shoot them down, but this military provocation would certainly cause war with the United States (who had nuclear weapons).
Ciara Cont:
ReplyDelete5. By the winter of 1945, the Axis Powers had lost much of their control over the Atlantic and therefore ability to transport supplies and troops by sea. When the Baltic froze, Germany was only able to ship out of Norwegian ports. Since Germany received much of its supplies from Sweden and needed bases to continue its Battle of the Atlantic, these ports were vital. Knowing this, the Allies attempted to destroy an important German destroyer, the Z33, to further inhibit the Axis Powers’ trade in an event called Black Friday.
On Black Friday, Friday, February 9, 1945, a force of Allied planes including Bristol Beaufighters and P-51 Mustangs from North America attacked the Z33 and its escorts above Førde Fjord, Norway. Due to the Z33’s strategic defensive positioning and its protection by twelve German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters, the Allies suffered many casualties. A total of 10 Allied planes were shot down as were four or five German planes. The Allies did not succeed in sinking the Z33 but did damage two of the accompanying ships.
6.Post-War Berlin was divided up into two major zones, one Soviet and one Allied. The Soviets blockaded Allied transportation systems so that the Allies could not ship supplies to the Berliners living in their zone and so would be forced to allow the Soviet Union to provide for them. This would allow the Soviets to virtually control the city. However, thousands of airlifts brought food and daily necessities to the Berliners, rendering the Soviet blockade useless. Operation Little Vittles was part of these air lifts.
In Operation Little Vittles, American pilots (beginning with Gail Halvorsen) dropped candy to children living in the American sector of Berlin and thus became known as Rosinenbombers, or “raisin bombers.” The effort improved German opinions of the Americans, even leading German children to affectionately call Halvorsen “Uncle Wiggly Wings,” and soon gained massive publicity. In America and Europe, candy shops sent huge donation and children helped to attach the candy to parachutes. The propaganda showcased the American success in circumventing the Soviet blockade and humiliated the USSR.
7.The Russians decided to lift the blockade because it was clearly ineffective and very humiliating. American and British planes were able to bring in more supplies than traditional transportation would have been able to anyway. The capitalists’ success showed the Russians that their strategy was not working and so they terminated it. The Berlin airlift ended about a month and a half after the Russian blockade was lifted on May 12th, 1949. Even after the blockade was lifted, planes continued to drop in supplies to build up the surplus in Western Germany.
8. George Marshall believed that people turned to communism because of poverty. Therefore, he proposed that the United States pour $13 from 1947-1951 into Western Europe to provide the people with staples, and rebuild economies and infrastructures. The plan, officially called the European Recovery Program, provided much needed aid for the countries WWII destroyed and led them to view America in a positive light. For the most part, the Marshall Plan was successful in rebuilding the economies of the 16 countries that participated in it. Western European economies grew immensely and their prosperity led to the later creation of NATO and the European Union.
Radmer van der Heyde
ReplyDelete1. In order to prevent another major war after World War Two, Germany was divided up in to mandates similar to the middle east after World War One. The east of Germany was given to the Soviet Union and the west was divided by the United States, Britain and France. Berlin was also divided in similar fashion. However, because Berlin is in the middle of East Germany under Soviet control, the Soviet union was able to blockade west Berlin increasing tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.
2. The April crisis was a month in which tensions between the Soviets and the West increased as the soviets harassed western cargo headed for Berlin. This included random searches and seizures of military and civilian cargo headed by rails to west Berlin. The tensions during this month reached their peak when a soviet and British aircraft collided causing the deaths of everyone on both planes.
3. The Berlin Blockade was the Soviet attempt to not cause a war but to make West Berlin dependant on the Soviets. Because this blockade would shut off western rails to the city, this would force west Berlin to buy food and fuel from Soviet East, which would make it under soviet control. They were able to do this because many hundreds of miles of rails connected Berlin with the west of Germany allowing them to stop transport on these rails.
4. To avoid the Soviet land blockade of west Berlin the Western Powers planned to run air drops to the city. It would consist of bombers and Gliders dropping food and fuel off to airfields in West Berlin. The two main planes in use initially were the 3.5 ton C-47 and 10 ten C-54 cargo planes. This plan also would test the limits of the soviets aggression, for if the USSR really wanted West Berlin it would shoot down the American cargo planes.
5. Black Friday was an event that occurred during the implementation of the Western powers’ plan for supplying Berlin. It occurred on a cloudy day with poor visibility for pilots; also that day was the inspection of the airlift by its CO. The event consisted of a plane crashing on a runway, another popping its tires on the same runway, and another spinning out on the backup runway. Though no one was killed it was scene as a disgrace to the program and led to its reform.
6. Operation little vittles goal was to give candy to the children in West Berlin. Because the Soviets did not produce much consumer goods like chocolate and candy, the US and the west was able to say that it was doing more to make the citizens in west Berlin that the soviets every could. This was effective as seen by the low number of people who crossed from west Berlin to the East.
7. The blockade ended on the 12 of may 1949. It ended due to the continued success of the allied air lifts. Had the Airlifts not been as successful, then the Soviets would have felt better about continuing with their blockade. However, it made no sense to spend money blockading a city when it was being supplied despite your blockade.
8. The Marshall plan was the United States way of stopping communism, preventing a third world war, and rebuilding the economies of Western Europe. The Marshall plan was a massive investment by the United States in the economies of western Europe so that they would be back on their feet quickly after World War ii. By allowing Western Europe to make a full recovery, the United States was discouraging communism in these countries as nations turn to communism when they are not well, and it was preventing the circumstances in these countries that allowed a dictator like Hitler to seize control.
Cara Hoffman
ReplyDelete5/17/11
Honors World History, P.6
1. After World War II, Germany was divided into four occupation zones, one for each of the four major super powers: United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. Berlin was also divided within itself like this. Through meetings of the four nations they decided which region of Germany each would control. However due to differences in ideology tension began to rise namely between Russia and the other democratic states. As Stalin spread of communism through his German territory the democratic nations attempted to stop this, creating the tension. Berlin unlike the remainder of the territories was in the middle of East Germany under Soviet control, and the Soviet union was able to block west Berlin increasing the tensions. Through this main difference, the friendships of the US and the USSR began to fade.
2. The April Crisis occurred during April of 1948 in which tensions between Soviets and the West increased, and the Soviets tampered with cargo headed for Berlin. The harassment included random searches of cargo both military and civilian headed for Berlin. Later in the month, the Soviets began denying entry. Tensions came to a head when later that month a British aircraft collided with a Soviet plane, killing everyone on both sides.
3. The Berlin Blockade was the Soviet attempt to force West Berlin to be dependant on the Soviets. They did this by blocking rail lines into the city forcing the Germans to purchase goods from Soviet suppliers, hence forcing West Berlin to be under Soviet control.
4. In an attempt to stop what the allies considered madness, they began to ship in food and supplies into West Berlin on aircrafts. This would test the Soviets, the allies wanted to see to what extent they were willing to go to prevent the allied help.
5. “Black Friday” was a day in which three separate allied aircrafts crashed into one German runway. These three events were cause for implementation of new rules and regulations.
6. Operation Little Vittles was an operation that attempted to provide candy and sweets to the children of West Berlin. Because the Soviets did not provide their citizens with these such luxuries, the US took advantage and made the point to any supporters who were on the fence about where in Berlin they should choose to live.
7. The blockade was ended in May of 1949. Due to the open air corridors left by the Soviets, the allies were continually able to infringe on the blockade which made the blockade essentially pointless.
8. The Marshall plan was a plan created by the United States to provide economic aid in Europe that’s main goal was to end communism and diffuse support. It was approximately a 13 billion dollar investment however the US found this important in an attempt to prevent the spread of communism.
The Postdam Agreement forced Germany to split into West and East Berlin, and one of the two sections were democratic and watched by America, while the other was communist and observed by Russia. Obviously, based on the division of fundamental beliefs in which both ideals come from, tensions would have arisen between both sides. As a result, terrorism and hate crime had a strong presence between both sides. Because the Allies strongly opposed communism, yet Russia wanted to Annex all of Germany, tensions arose between the Western European Nations (including America) and Soviet Russia. Also, the fact that France, Britain, and America all had direct access to Russia unnerved the Russians, feeling unsafe, which led to further tension.
ReplyDeleteOn April 1, 1948, Russian orders restricting Western military into Germany took effect. No cargo was allowed to leave Berlin by train without Soviet permission. The trains and the trucks were also searched by Soviet authorities. Two weeks later, Soviets softened on their restrictions of Allied military trains, but continued to inspect railroad traffic for the next three months. United States began supplying its military with air cargo. Unnerved, the Soviets began to send in planes of their own to scare off the American planes. There was also a small incident in which a Russian and British plane collided, but other than that no other damage was done. However, this was the beginning to the Berlin Blockade.
The Berlin blockade was a result of Russian’s wanting to punish Germany for it’s atrocities in the war, and not wanting Allied intervention to help Germany. It was more of a personal revenge, and was achieved through the shutdown of all rail and road traffic to non-Soviet sections of Berlin. Later, the Soviets stopped shipping food and basic supplies to those outside Soviet-controlled Berlin.
However, the Allies did not let the Germans die and suffer of food depravation as they began to airlift food into Allied-controlled sections of Berlin. This was expensive and inefficient, and sometimes did not have the manpower to unload the food fast enough, but overall was a success, leaving the Soviets ashamed and proving to the Soviets that Allied forces were capable of accomplishing such a feat.
On July 28, three airplanes crashed all during the same day. However, there were no fatalities and everyone got out okay. However, this did spark a transition into using only larger airplanes for transportation of supplies, as well as an announcement of new air regulations. It also increased the amounts of supplies being airdropped into Berlin, and at the height almost 5,000 tons a day of supplies were dropped.
A US Air Force pilot began by dropping candy over German children, which then turned into a national effort for candy to be dropped into Berlin. Manufacturers began to join in as well, and soon massive amounts of candy were airdropped into Berlin. This piece of propaganda was extremely useful as many Americans began to become aware of the situation in Germany, as well as provide food for the German people.
As the Russians realized the airdrops were successful, the blockade looked foolish as it did nothing. As a result, they discontinued the blockade and America was able to supply Germany at an increasing level. The blockade was officially lifted on May 12, 1949.
The Marshall Plan was the program that the US created in order to help the European economies. However, the main underlying goal of this plan was to stop the spread of communism and to fight against Russia. In total, the Marshall Plan helped foster $13 billion in aid and support to Europe.
- Hope your daughter is okay.
1) The Division of Germany was extremely fragile. There was little trust of Germany from Communist and Capitalist states. Germany was split into sections to be controlled by the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union. There was much tension in Germany because of this foreign control. Tensions grew stronger after the dropping of the atomic bomb in Japan. The Soviet Union was fearful of the United States sharing Germany.
ReplyDelete2) The April Crisis was when the Soviet Union stopped military traffic of the U.S and Britain through the German city of Berlin.
3) Russia blockaded Berlin by the control of water transport. The Soviets wanted complete control over Berlin and this was their first step.
4) Black Friday was when three air planes crashed on a major runway. This resulted in new flight regulations and travel by air became common and safer.
5) Little Vittles started when a pilot from USAF dropped candy to German children. Eventually the story reached the United States and this became a big event. German children and adults began to see America as good and not bad.
6) This was a success because the Soviet Union did not see the success that they wanted with the blockade. There were still ways that the U.S. and Britain could supply Berlin with necessities.
7) The Marshall Plan was a program created by the U.S. to Provide assistanve to European economies to weed out signs of communism. It provided around $13 billion to participating countries. Initial aid went to Greece and Turkey in January.
1.) After WWII ended there was large debate on what to do with Germany. Germany at this point was under allied and soviet control and had no stable economy or government. As a result, the Allies and Soviets had to decide what to do with the country. Both parties wanted pieces so they compromised. The allies controlled West Germany and the communist soviets controlled the East. This separation led to massive tensions. As well as being unhappy with the other party’s presence the Soviets and the Allies had conflicting ideologies. The Allies disagreed with the Soviet communism and the Soviets disagreed with the Allies capitalism.
ReplyDelete2.) The April crisis started on April first. Essentially, the soviets were upset with the Allies and decided to employ many different tactics to antagonize the Allies. Essentially, the Soviets didn’t allow goods to flow in and out of West Germany (Berlin). They restricted access to railways and essentially implemented a land blockade. The Allies got around this buy bringing in all the goods by air. More than unfair and unjust blockades and such the April crisis indicated the start of hard-core tensions between the Allies and the Soviets.
3.) The soviets blockaded Berlin because they believed it was theirs and they wanted to cut the ties Berlin had to the Allies. The Soviets did rightfully take control of Berlin at the end of the war, and because of this they believed it was theirs to keep and not share. They also blockaded Berlin in an effort to cut the ties it had with the Allies. The Soviets had hopes that the Allies would withdraw and then they would have complete control of Berlin. They blockaded Berlin by not allowing any goods come or go by train. The soviets assumed that the Allies did not have enough air power to support the city so they decided to just blockade on the ground. Ultimately they were hoping that West Berlin would need the Soviets; therefore, the Soviets would have control.
4.) Black Friday occurred while the Allies were in the process od supplying aid to East Germany via air. On Black Friday three planes collided on an airfield in Germany. This raised tensions even more between the Allies and Soviets. Additionally new rules were mandated by the Allies, which increased efficiency and safety while flying to East Berlin.
5.) An America pilot who was involved in the Berlin Airlift, Gail Havorsen, was responsible for the creation of Operation Little Vittles. Gail talked to some children in Berlin one day and gave them bubble gum. He gave them 2 pieces and demanded they did not fight over them or he wouldn’t drop more candy. Gail then continued to drop candy over Berlin. He gained support from many large candy corporations and soon got children in the United States to donate their own candy. This proved to be a large propaganda victory because it publicized and cemented the bond between Berlin and the Unites states.
6.) The Soviets soon recognized the success of the Berlin Airlift and the failure of their blockade. They were humiliated by their failure and soon lifted the blockade. Soon after this Germany was split into two sectors, East and West.
7.) The Marshall plan was a plan for Europe to get back on their feet economically. The U.S implemented this plan. It is accepted that this plan was employed by the U.S. to try and limit the spread of communism. Not surprisingly the Russians did not take part in this plan.
1. According to plans drawn up by the Allies during conferences at Yalta and Potsdam, Germany was divided between the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France into four sections after WWII. While the communist Soviets controlled most of Eastern Europe, Western Europe was under the influence of the capitalistic United States. Due to this, relations between the Soviet Union and the U.S became extremely tense.
ReplyDelete2. The April Crisis began when the Soviets issued orders on March 25, 1948 restricting Western military and passenger traffic between Berlin and the America,French,and British occupation zones. These measures actually began on April 1, 1948. In addition to this, an announcement was made stating that no cargo could leave Berlin by rail without the Soviet Commander’s permission.
3.The Soviets cut off land access and transportation of supplies to Berlin from the West because they wanted to take control of all of Berlin. However, Stalin only blocked this transport by boat, railway,and road but allowed air transport.
4. Since the Soviets were unable to stop the Allies to send materials by air transport due to thei previous agreement, the Allies believed that an airlift would be the most wise decision. Supplies and food were transported to Berlin. This plan proved to very successful and beneficial to the people of Berlin.
5. On July 28, 1948, General Tunner arrived in Weisbaden to take over the airlift operation. Two weeks after his arrival, Tunner decided to fly to Berlin, however, clouds covered over Berlin and there were heavy rain showers which reduced the visibility. As a result of this, three aircrafts crashed and burned on the airport runway. General Tunner noted that the success of the airlift stemmed due to the consequences of that day.
6. Gail Halvorsen, an airlift pilot, decided to use his off time to fly into Berlin on July 17 and walked over to a crowd of children who had gathered at the end of the runway to watch the aircraft. Once he introduced himself , they asked him questions about the aircraft and their flights. As a goodwill gesture, he handed out candy and promised that, if they did not fight over them, the next time he returned he would drop off more. He continued to follow through with his promise and Tunner had eventually heard about this. He approved of it and immediately expanded it into "Operation Little Vittles". Other pilots participated, and when news reached the US, children all over the country sent in their own candy to help out. Major manufacturers eventually joined in and over three tons of candy ended up being dropped in Berlin. “Operation Little Vittles” was considered to be a huge success.
7. Although the Soviets were determined to control all of Berlin, they realized that most of their attempts were unsuccessful and their plans were foiled due to the airlift successes. Therefore, the blockade was lifted on May 12, 1949.
8. The communities and infrastructure of Europe were devastated after WWII. The United States instituted the Marshall Plan in 1947. This plan aimed to provide economic assistance to all of the European countries. $13 billion was the total amount of money sent to aid European countries, which greatly benefited the European economy.
1. At the conclusion of WWII there remained American, Soviet, British and French troops within Germany. The Allies negotiated a plan, the Postdam agreement, which divided the German state into four divisions, each division to be ruled by one of the four world powers of the Allied party. Berlin would similarly be divided into four sections. In the soviet territory of Germany Stalin began building and uniting a German communist party to eventually, he planned, take over the rest of the country. Unfortunately for the western allies situated in Germany (not the soviets) much of the Soviets land contained trains and railway tracks accessing the collectively-owned capital Berlin. The Soviets denied the westerners total access of these railroads seeing as how there was no formal agreement upon who controlled them. In fact the Soviets only allowed the other western allies one railway into Berlin and a maximum of ten trains on that single railway in one day. Additionally, the soviets vetoed the Allies’ requests to construct other tracks. The Soviets stopped exporting the goods their zone specialized in making. The Americans responded equally in that they halting imports into the Soviets division. The Soviets began tampering with the pre-determined economic system in Germany and opposed the United States’ policies.
ReplyDelete2. On the first the April, in 1948 the Soviets passed an act to disallow citizen access from the Western Ally zones to Berlin. In addition, the Soviets decided that no unchecked goods could leave the capital without certain permission of a Soviet commander. In response the Americans began to airlift goods and supplies into their division of Berlin. Subsequently the Germans checked the trains less periodically for illegally transported goods, while the Americans effectively flew everything they and the Germans needed in to Berlin. The Soviets counteracted the Americans’ airlifts by snooping around the skies illegally in their own planes.
3. June 18, 1948 the Soviets halted all access of Western cargo trains into Berlin unless given special permission to enter. The Soviets created a new currency for their division in Berlin and planned for it to spread throughout the entire capital when the Soviets imposed economic sanctions on the other three occupying powers in Germany: France, Britain and the United States. Furthermore, the soviets began a propaganda campaign in Berlin to convince native Germans of the Westerners’ evilness. As mentioned, Stalin wanted to control all of Germany and all of Berlin not just a single region. His blockade of Berlin was imposed to allow easier access to the rest of the German capital; after gaining control of the capital he would expand to the rest of Germany.
4. Stupidly, although land routes to Berlin were blockaded, the Germans allowed the Western allies large air passages into Berlin. The Westerners took advantage of these passages and decided that the only way to effectively feed and provide for their zones was by means of transport by aircraft. A massive airlift would soon begin.
5. On August the 13th, 1948 a new commander of the airlift effort in Germany, Turner, decided to fly in to Berlin to personally present an important pilot with an award his successful efforts in the airlift. The day turned out to be a gloomy, dreary one; clouds and heavy rain filled the skies and made radar more difficult to read. Resultantly, three planes crashed. No one was hurt on Black Friday, though the day is memorable in that the Americans looked very foolish and weak.
6.The United States began a propaganda complain in Berlin with candy. The Americans flew their planes over the capital and dropped boxes of candy for the kids. Support for the United States and the United States army grew exponentially. The campaign continued and soon the major candy manufacturers in America would help the efforts.
7. The Westerners great successes humiliated the Soviets. There was no use in continuing the blockade. The Soviets and the Western powers began thorough diplomatic negotiations and reached a conclusion in the Westerners’ favor; the blockade would end and all the allies would be granted free access to Berlin.
ReplyDelete8. The general plan of the allies was to further develop Germany’s industry and economy and therefore stabilize the country as a whole. If successful the plan would create a self-sustainable Germany. Negotiations between the allied powers began but in the end the Soviets disapproved or (moreover did not care about) the plan to industrialize and strengthen Germany. But a resolution to save Germany was imperative, so the Americans announced a European Recovery Program to all of the European countries nicknamed the Marshall plan. Stalin especially opposed the Marshal Plan.
Keri McGlothlin
ReplyDeleteHonors World History, Per. 6
Mr. Webber
May 17, 2011
The Berlin Blockade
1) Germany was divided up under France Britain US and Soviet control. The Soviets got the eastern part of Germany and the Allies got the western part. Although this provided a problem when it concerned Berlin, Germany’s capitol. Giving the capitol to just one of the countries would give too much power to that country so they divided it. Berlin is in eastern Germany, so it was surrounded by the Soviet controlled East Germany. It ended up that the city was divided in half with the Allies getting the western half and the Soviets controlling the east. This led to numerous tensions between the Soviets and the U.S. The Soviets wanted full control of Berlin and so they began the Berlin Blockade where they set up blockades so that resources could not get to the half of Berlin that was under Allie control. This resulted in the Soviets getting full practical control over Berlin.
2)The April Crisis began on April first when the Soviets put in a new decree that prevented any Western military and passenger movements between Berlin and West Germany; also, there was to be no transportation of goods through that area without official Soviet permission. The Allies still had to transport goods between Berlin and West Germany so they decided to use airplanes to do this, this was called “Little Lift.” The Soviets knew that this could be dangerous because they could not check aircrafts, so in the 10th they eased up on the train’s trafficking of goods with only a few random checks of the trains. The United States kept fueling the army they have in Berlin through aircraft though. The Soviets were still weary of the Allie’s aircrafts so they invaded West Berlin’s airspace and interrupted the flights going in and out there. On April 5th a Soviet aircraft and a British one collided and everyone in the accident was killed, this escalated the tensions between the US and Soviets even further. April 20th the Soviets demanded that all aircraft flying over Soviet territory obtain permission first.
3)The Russians did not want the Allies having control of land that is in the middle of an area completely controlled by the Russians. This could be a very dangerous having the two different government types so close to each other while considering the recent tensions that were formed in the Pacific. The Russians tried to get the Allies out of Berlin by blockading it. They did this by blocking transportation to and from the part of Berlin controlled by the Allies.
4)The Americans decided that they could send aircrafts over to Berlin from West Germany and get supplies that way. These made Stalin realize that it is not a good investment to hold the blockade any longer after 324 days if it was not doing anything. The blockade was lifted.
5)Black Friday was on Friday August 13, Tunner flew to Berlin to give an award to a pilot who had made the most flights to Berlin at the time. Due to extreme weather, fog and rain making it hard to see, there was countless problems with aircrafts flying at the time and a few crashes; the seen was disastrous. Because of this a new policy was put in place for the pilots, any aircraft that missed its approach was to continue back to its station via the outgoing center corridor. If a pilot were to miss his landing he was not to try again, but to go back to where he came from; this created an endless loop of aircrafts to and from Berlin. The aircrafts were all to fly in exactly the same patterns also, this was crucial to the success of the operation. He also decreased the number of unused planes in the terminals down to 25 minutes.
ReplyDelete6)Operation little vittles was when Gail Halvorsen was one of the airlift pilots going to Berlin and decided that he was going to make movies with his camera in Berlin. He gave some kids there two pieces of gum that he had with him and told them that if they could share without fighting then he would come back with more gum later. He told them that he will wiggle his wings to show that the plane over head is his. The next day he rocked his wings back and forth and dropped some chocolate bars to the waiting children below. After more drops the number of children increased each time. Soon several letters were sent to Base Ops addressed to Gail, calling him things like “Uncle Wiggly Wings.” This expanded into “operation little vittles” where several other pilots dropped candy for the children below. News soon reached the U.S. and children all over sent candy over to try and help.
7)The Russians found out after 324 days that it was not helping them to keep the blockade on West Berlin. Keeping the blockade would only waste resources since it was not doing anything of significance. West Berlin was getting all the supplies they needed by aircraft, the blockade did not change too much. Stalin finally decided to lift the blockade.
8)The Marshall Plan started when Harry Truman told to Congress what was to soon become the Truman Doctrine. This included a pledge for the United States to support for "free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." Later, Truman’s Secretary of State put in place the Marshall Plan. This provided American financial aid for European economic recovery. The British agreed with the plan, but the Soviets did not want it put in place. A conference was held in London and it was decided that there will be a four year recovery plan for sixteen nations in Western Europe. This plan was considered a success and by the end of three years they had spent $12,500,000,000 on the Marshall Plan.
1. After World War II Germany was divided into four territories controlled by Britain, France, the United States, and USSR. The USSR, however, wanted control of all of Germany, as did the Allies. At this point in history, there also were many tensions between those who were pro- and anti-communist. Berlin was located in the midst of the Soviet territory of Germany, but since it was the capital Allie powers occupied the western part of Berlin.
ReplyDelete2. The April Crisis was a widespread disagreement in Russia in the year 1917 when the Provisional Government still held power. The argument was primarily between the Petrograd Soviet, who denounced the Provisional Government’s involvement in WWI attributing the financial hardships to the involvement, and the pro-war Provisional Government. Vladimir Lenin became involved promoting neither side but rather offering the consolidation of these “dual powers” into the hands of the Soviets. On April 18, the situation worsened when the foreign minister, Pavel Miliukov, sent a letter to the Allies solidifying Russia’s commitment to the war. This resulted in mass uproar when the news of the letter spread, marking the downfall of the Provisional Government.
3. The Berlin Blockade, beginning June 1948 and implemented by the Soviet Union, resulted in response to tensions from the Marshall Plan and the London Conferences. The Marshall Plan assisted free European countries financially. Some of these countries included Greece and Turkey both of which were rebelling against the Soviets. The London Conferences caused West Germany’s currency to become uniform everywhere except in West Berlin. In response, the USSR constrained the military supplies entering into West Berlin. However, the western nations continued with the plan. Furthering the London Plan, the western nations implemented a new currency in Berlin causing the Soviet Union to legally blockade Berlin from Western contact. As a result, the western nations performed an airlift.
4. In response to the Berlin Blockade, the Allies planned to “save” West Berlin by airlifting necessities such as coal and food to the western sectors. This airlift lasted for 324 days and was decided upon after the November 1945 agreement, which stated that a 23-mile wide airspace was freely accessible. Any unarmed aircraft would have to be shot down.
5. Black Friday marked the beginning of the airlift successes. In July 1948, Major General William Tunner was put in control of the airlift operation. Black Friday occurred on August 13 when three cargo planes were damaged while landing in Berlin due to a lack of control by the Tempelhof control tower. Tunner then ordered all planes carrying cargo to return home. From this event, Major General Tunner decided to put new measure in place, which made the program more effective and efficient.
ReplyDelete6. Gail Halvorsen, who was one of the pilots involved in the Berlin Airlift, started Operation Little Vittles. Once, while filming in Berlin in his time off, he agreed to supply a group of kids with candy. They asked him how they would be able to distinguish his plane, and he told them that he would wiggle the wings. This kind gesture began being performed by more and more pilots until it became the Operation Little Vittles. In America, word of this operation spread through the news, and American children began sending in their own candy. Therefore, this became a major propaganda success over the Russians since this operation demonstrated the “cruelty” and “deprivation” that the USSR was creating in Berlin.
7. On May 12, 1949, the agreement to lift the Berlin Blockade was finally reached after negotiations between the Allies and Soviet Union. This blockade was abolished primarily due to the successes of the airlifting operations. However, the Allies continued to airlift some supplies into Berlin to assure a surplus of adequate materials.
8. The Marshall plan, also known as the European Recovery Plan, was instigated to supply American financial aid to European countries in financial crises. George C. Marshall, who was Harry Truman’s secretary of state, implemented this June 1947. However, the Marshall Plan was rejected by the Soviet Union. This program was officially in effect from April 3, 1948 to December 31, 1951 with the total amount spent reaching approximately $12.5 billion. This was an extension of the Truman Doctrine.
Connor Asbill
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
History 10, Period 6
17 May 2011
1. The post war division was the division of Germany by France, Britain, America and the Soviets. Each country claimed their own quarter of the country. The united states were in the south, Britain in the North, the Soviets in the East and the French occupied the West. With Russia feeling like an outlier tensions were created between them and America over the city of Berlin. Germany wanted complete control of Berlin and to achieve it they cut supplies coming from the East to the city raising the tensions between the two countries.
2. On April 1st the soviet government put severe restrictions on goods brought through to Berlin. They made it so that all the incoming cargo had to be inspected before it could be sent to the people living within Berlin. This caused the U.S to be forced into using aircraft to drop the needed resources into Berlin with the option of trucking the goods being too challenging. This furthered the tensions between the U.S and Soviet Russia greatly.
3. The blockade was used in a hope that Russia would be able to gain control over all of Germany. By blocking the Allies supply transports of trucks, ships and trains, Stalin knew that the Allie forces would be become increasingly weaker. This would then allow Stalin to easily takeover all of Germany including Berlin.
4. With all of the land and sea shipping routes blocked the allies new they had to think of something in order to save West Berlin. What they decided is that using aircraft they could deliver the necessary food and supplies without Russian interference. This caused the Allies to ship very large amounts of supplies to Berlin each day.
5. On the day known as “black Friday” three planes crashed during the U.S airlift attempts to save Berlin. Due to bad weather the first airplane crashed witch then caused a chain reaction causing two more planes to take damage. This further raised tensions between the U.S and the Soviets. This led to new flight rules to insure that no similar accidents would occur.
6. Operation Little Vittles began when an American pilot dropped candy down to the German children down bellow. This news quickly spread and people in the United States began donating to help the cause. However this also worked as a source of propaganda because it portrayed the U.S as the saviors who were helping the German people.
7. The blockade came to an end on May 12, 1949 because the Soviets realized that the blockade was not effective. The Allied forces were able to drop in very large amounts of supplies from the air and it was clear that the blockade was failing. This caused the Soviets to end the blockade realizing that it had become pointless and a waste of resources.
8. The Marshall plan was devised to help stop communism and rebuild the economies of Western Europe. The plan invested 13 billion dollars into the European countries to help rebuild their infrastructure after the major damage that had been dealt during World War II. It also helped to discourage the idea of communism within these countries. It allowed the European countries to grow rapidly and
Madison Catchpole
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Honors Modern World History
5/16/11
The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
1. After the end of WWII the US, France, Britain and the Soviet Union split Berlin & the rest of the country in four quarters. But the countries disagreed on how the reparations should go, which caused the US, France and Britain to merge their share of Germany, which worried the Soviet Union. In 1948 the Western Allies introduced a new currency to the merged zone, which was enough for the Soviet Union to snap and they built the Berlin Wall, which split Germany in half.
2. On April 18th the Soviet’s Minister of Foreign Affairs sent a diplomatic note to the allies about aspiration. The contents of this note were leaked to the public, which caused an anti-war demonstration in Petrograd. The Government explained that under "convincing victory" exceptionally achievement of tasks, which were laid down in the address of March 27, was meant. The executive committee of Petrograd Soviet was satisfied with these explanations.
3. The Russians blocked all trade going into Berlin, and cut all ties with the Us, France and Britain.
4. The Allies believed the best way to respond to the blockade was to airlift supplies to the people in Berlin.
5. Black Friday was where three planes crashed into each other at a Berlin airport.
6. Operation Little Vittles was where candy was dropped down to kids in Berlin. The story got out and children from the US began sending candy for the children in Berlin. This was a huge propaganda success for the Western Allies.
7. Russia lifted the blockade because it was useless, the people of Berlin had plenty of supplies because of the airlifts and there was no more use of the blockade. After they gave up Germany was split into East and West Germany.
8. The Marshall Plan was an economic extension to the Truman Doctrine. The Allies agreed to help the Germans in order to avoid an economic crisis. They did this by rebuilding the most damaged cities from the war as quickly as they could.
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ReplyDeleteKatie Dillon
ReplyDeleteModernWorldHistory
May 18, 2011
1. Post war Germany was divided into four parts, each zone covered by a different allied power. The Soviets occupied the Eastern half while the French, British, and American troops occupied the West. The Allies wanted to unite the economic system of all German Zones, but the Soviets disagreed and pulled out of the Alliance while still maintaining their place in the East of Germany and the four-power rule of Berlin.
2. Starting April 1st, 1948, the Soviets began to regulate traffic through occupation zones to and from Berlin. Heavy searches were conducted on every vehicle leaving Berlin and military supply lines were suspended on and off for 3 months. The Allies began to have supplies delivered by aircraft from the USA.
3. The Soviets pulled out of the alliance so the Allies went through with their economic plan. However, the Soviets still occupied all of Western Germany. The Soviets began to blockade outgoing supplies from Berlin in retaliation to the Allies’ violation of agreements. They claimed that the Allies had violated their agreement and now had no place in the four-power rule of Berlin. The Soviets began to block all Allied shipments of trade, supplies, and water to West Berlin. The logic behind this was that the Soviets would have to provide the water and supplies, gaining control over Berlin in its entirety. They announced the introduction of a new currency for Soviet Germany, and guaranteed that Berlin would be part of the new economy.
4. The Allies planned to save West Berlin by transporting cargo by plane. The only way the Soviets could react was to ignore the efforts or to take military action and shoot down the planes. This airlift was successful until April 1949 when the Soviets were sick of being humiliated and agreed to lift the blockade.
5. On Black Friday, due to bad weather, one plane crashed on the runway. It created a domino effect, damaging 2 planes behind it. This closed the whole airport for a day.
6. Gail Halvorsen, a pilot and cameraman, started to drop candy and gum for children from his plane during airlifts. This goodwill act got the support of major candy manufacturers and provided a propaganda opportunity, with people sending in candy and supporting the kindness of the Allies.
7. The blockade ended on May 12, 1949 after much negotiation. The Soviets were tired of being outwitted due to the success of the airlifts and agreed to lift the blockade.
8. The Marshall Plan was a plan created by General George Marshall which would fund European countries as they rebuilt after the war and avoided communism. The United States saw Europe as an essential trading partner and wanted to aid the economy. This plan was also extended to the Soviets who refused it.
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ReplyDeleteTony Ibrahim
ReplyDeleteProfessor Webber
History, Period 4
May 17 2011
The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
“The Berlin blockade was a diplomatic crisis and military operation during the cold war precipitated by the Soviet Union's blockade of the city of Berlin from June 18, 1948, to May 12, 1949, and the subsequent relief effort launched by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to provide provisions for the western half of the city.” This aforementioned statement gives a synopsis of what the Berlin blockade and airlift actually was according to Facts on File’s Database. Well I beg to differ. What this statement blatantly leaves out are the main victims of the entire series of events as well as the repercussions of the Soviet Union’s actions. These victims were the citizens of Berlin who were caged like zoo animals and unable to flee; moreover, the people of Berlin, aka the “zoo animals,” were confined to their cage and had to be fed by the hands of others.
Before we delve into the pathos portion of these events that ultimately lead into the Cold War, we must first discuss the aftermath of World War II, as well as the division and occupancy of Germany. There is much discussion among historians to when the Second World War officially ended, but it is safe to say that on May 8th, 1945, Germany threw in the white towel when Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signed the documents ending WWII for Germany.
With the defeat of Germany after World War II, the country was partitioned into four occupation zones which were controlled by the former allies of the war. Russia, France, Britain, and the United States occupied these four areas of Germany; the communist regime under rule of Joseph Stalin controlled Eastern Germany while the democratic governments comprised of France, Britain, and Russia controlled Western Germany. Tensions were growing exponentially simply due to the fact that the Soviet Union believed in the ideologies of communism while the Western Powers all believed in capitalism. More specifically, the Soviet Union controlled all of East Germany except for one particular city; this city was Berlin which was occupied by all four Allies and had “Four Power Status.” The Soviets wanted to ultimately take over Berlin and acted swiftly and harshly to do so. These actions turned into the infamous blockade of the people of Berlin on June 18, 1948.
After months of trying to keep the allies out of Berlin, the Soviet Union knew they needed to step up their restriction if their attempt at controlling Berlin was going to be successful. On April 1st, 1948, the Soviet Union implemented these measures and restricted trade and travel from any Western occupation zone to Berlin and vice versa. On April 2nd, restrictions were made further and prohibited all military trains belonging to the west along with other actions. 3 days later on April 5th, a Soviet Air Force Fighter collided with a British European Airliner killing all who were on board both aircrafts. Not only was this event devastating, but this raised tensions between the Western Powers and the Soviet Union even further and resulted in the Berlin Airlift months later.
The Russians motives for blockading Berlin were simple and ignorant. Russia wanted Berlin all to itself and was going to go as far as to starve the people of Berlin. The Russians kept the blockade up for a total time of 11 months and failed to meet their goals. Joseph Stalin locked off supply routes by train, ship, and aircraft all over Berlin in an effort to take control over the city. Stalin left 3 airways open for the Western Powers to transport supplies which he believed would be of no significance. These 3 airways actually led to the fall of the Stalin’s plan and his Berlin Blockade.
The Allies were on a mission to “save” West Berlin and were going to use all the resources and supplies they had. The operation was codenamed operation “Vittles” and had high hope for sending around 3,000 tons to 4,000 tons of supplies to Berlin a day; instead, the operation surpassed these hopes and Berlin was receiving anywhere from 5,000 to 6,000 tons of supplies a day. The operations were carried out by highly decorated and respected General William H. Tunner. He used his past experiences of shipping goods from World War II and applied them to the situation in Berlin. He especially used to his advantage two aircrafts in particular, the C-47 Dakota and the C-54 Skymaster to optimize the transportation process.
ReplyDeleteShortly after the airlift began, another catastrophe occurred. Luckily, this catastrophe did not lower the moral of operation “Vittles,” it only increased them and maximized transportation efficiency and resulted little to none air traffic or complications during the loading and unloading process. The date that marked the catastrophe was July 28th, 1948, commonly reffered to as “Black Friday.” On this day, three aircrafts crashed on the runway due to problems with visibility. Though no personnel were killed, it engendered an entire set of rules that were implemented all day every day and became known as the Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). These rules optimized efficiency, reduced error, and shortened the time of Soviet control in Berlin.
Not only were major operations being carried out daily such as operation “Vittles” but other small operations were being carried out as well. United States Airman Gail Halvorsen otherwise known as “Uncle Wiggle Wings” decided one day to distribute Wrigley’s Doublemint Gum to the little German kids in Berlin. He promised he would bring more to the children if they did not fight over the pieces. After Airman Gail Halvorsen distributed the gum and started to leave, one of the kids asked how they would be able to tell that it was him flying in the plane. Mr. Halvorsen humbly replied that he would wiggle his wings and thus gave him the name of Uncle Wiggle Wings. He continued this process, and soon started attaching parachutes to boxes of chocolates and candies. Word started to spread and before the humble airman knew it, children all over the U.S. were sending their candy to children in Berlin. The United States came out victorious and positively spread this story as much as they could as a form of positive propaganda which worked wonders.
The Soviets couldn’t help but notice all the successes the Western Powers were having and became increasingly infuriated. On May 12th, 1949, the Soviet Union decided to lift the blockade and put an end to the madness. What they thought would result in victory and the takeover of Berlin actually resulted in the exact opposite with defeat coming to the Soviets and the Western Powers remaining in the German City. When this blockade was lifted, not only was Berlin affected, but all of Germany was affected. The entire country split into two, with the west being referred to as the Federal Republic of Germany and the east being referred to as the German Democratic Republic.
With divisions occurring all over Germany and countries not being able to provide for themselves, the United States had to draft a plan to stabilize Europe and revive its broken economy. President Harry S. Truman appointed General George Marshall to take control of this situation and to take charge in the necessary areas of the project. Negotiation talks were sought out by General Marshall but the Soviets were close minded and unwilling to comply with the demands. General Marshall was forced to initiate the European Recovery Program, otherwise known as the Marshall Plan, which was a program that ensured any willing European country to get back on its feet and to be greatly aided by the United States. The U.S. put an approximation of $13.3 billion into the project.
Dillon Lerach
ReplyDeleteWebber 4
17-5-11
1. Describe the post war division of Germany and why this led to tensions between the Soviets and the US. (explain the allies access to Berlin)
After allied victory in Europe, the Western powers divided Germany into five occupied zones: the French controlled two zones the Saar and the Southwest (Rhineland); the British controlled the Northwest zone; the Americans controlled the Southeast zone; and the U.S.S.R. the controlled the Northeast zone.
The allies also divided the capital city of Berlin into four distinct zones – one controlled by each power. However, because Berlin lied within the Northeast zone, controlled by the Soviets, it was impossible for the allies to access without crossing into the Soviet controlled North East. Because of Western/Soviet tensions over German reparations and reconstruction in 1947, the Western powers merged their zones and created a state known as West Germany. Berlin remained under joint allied and Russian control within the Soviet zone: West Berlin belonged to the Americans, British and French; East Berlin belonged to the Soviets.
2. What was the April Crisis?
The April crisis refers to Soviet restrictions beginning on April 1, 1948, prohibiting Western military and passenger traffic between Berlin and the allied zones without express permission from the Soviet commander. The Russians barred the entrance and exit of people and goods to and from the city in an attempt to starve the city and force control of Berlin. As the Soviets forbid rail, truck and barge cargo both in and out of Berlin, Americans supplied the city by air. In response, Soviet military aircraft began to “buzz” flights in and out of West Berlin, violating its airspace. On April 5, a Soviet Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter collided with a British Airways Vickers Viking 1B airline near RAF Gatow airfield, killing everyone aboard both planes. The Gatow air disaster heightened tensions between the Soviets and the allied powers.
3. Describe how and why the Russians blockaded Berlin?
The Soviet Union wished for complete control of Berlin and did not want a western presence in the city. They decided to restrict all allied water and land access to West Berlin so that West Berlin would lack access to food and coal and would thus be forced to capitulate to the Soviets. The Soviets did allow some military trains’ access to Berlin but were steadfast in restricting cargo and passengers in and out of the city.
4. Explain how the Allies planned to “save” West Berlin.
The allies planned to supply West Berlin entirely by air -- an airlift of unprecedented proportion, gravity, and difficulty. The reason that the Soviets could not restrict airspace and prevent the allies from running planes to Berlin was because the flying corridors that the allies used were explicitly guaranteed in the German division agreements. If the allies could supply West Berlin with enough supplies and provisions, West Berlin would not have to succumb to Soviet reign. The allies faced many difficulties: West Berlin had but two unpaved airstrips, they had to supply millions of people with coal, food, and medicine via a scaled-back post-war air force that had twenty percent of its wartime fleet. Because of the enormous and unrelenting demand for life-saving supplies to a city of millions flights would have to land every one to two minutes. Lastly, the planes that the allies could use had to have a long enough range to reach Berlin from Munich and Hamburg while being small enough to land on short, primitive runways. The Western powers, nevertheless, were able to save Berlin by air and delivered more goods to West Berlin via airplane than they had been able to previously using rail, road and sea.
5. What happened on Black Friday?
ReplyDeleteOn Friday, August 13, 1948, the airlift’s 50th day, William Tunner, General of the United States Air Force traveled to Berlin to give a medal of recognition to the pilots who had been crossing the blockade. While circling the airport in bad weather (clouds and rain) a cargo plane crashed on the runway into two other parked planes causing a massive explosion and fire in sight of many people. No one was killed but Tunner was embarrassed. He grounded all aircraft and made major changes to almost all aspects of the airlift. He also requested civilian air traffic controllers from the U.S. to aid the airlift operation and successfully centralized control of the operation from the other allied Air Forces.
6. How did the Allies use Operation Little Vittles to record a major propaganda victory over the Russians?
Gail Halvorsen, an airlift pilot spending time off in Berlin, gave a group of children his last sticks of Juicy Fruit gum. He promised them that he would drop off more candy if they shared the gum without fighting. True to his word, he dropped chocolate bars attached to parachutes. More children came to the candy drops and Halvorsen expanded his operation. After Halvorsen’s candy drops made the news, other pilots began to drop candy too. General Tunner decided to make the candy drops official and dubbed them “Operation Little Vittles.” The American public donated large quantities of candy, as did the major candy manufacturers. Children in the U.S. also donated their own candy to the effort. In the end, more than 3 tons of candy were delivered to Berlin children by the end of the airlift – a propaganda success that fostered solidarity with the children of Berlin.
7. Explain how the event finally ended and why the Russians finally decided to lift the blockade.
The Soviet blockade of Berlin eventually proved to be a failure and became a point of shame and humiliation rather than heroism for the U.S.S.R. The allies were able to fly in more supplies than they were able to import using ports, rail and roads. They proved to the Soviets that they were superior in military skill and tenacity. The allies won a crushing mental victory over the Soviets and saved West Berlin from the horror of the Iron Curtain.
8. Describe the Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was named for US secretary of state George Marshall and offered $12 billion (USD in 1945) in financial assistance and equipment to countries damaged in World War II. The Marshall Plan expedited Europe’s recovery, created new markets for American goods, and reduced the threat of a communist takeover. Europe’s economic growth reached spectacular levels due to the Marshall Plan’s infusion of money and equipment. For example, by 1950, West Germany’s economic production was greater than that of pre-war Germany.
Meghan Bacher
ReplyDeleteHonors Modern World History
Mr. Webber
16 May 2011
The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
The allies divided up Germany into four different zones. Berlin was caught in the middle and was therefore divided into sections again. France, Britain, America, and the Soviets each received a sector of Berlin to look after. The western Allies (Britain, France, and America) eventually combined their zones into one through talks at the London conference. On the other hand the Soviets kept their section very separate which made the growing schism between the east and west very apparent.
The April Crisis was the first step in the Russian blockade of Berlin. In April of 1948 the Soviets began to limit military supplies coming into their zone of Berlin from the west. Everything moving in and out of the Soviet sector was meticulously inspected. It all came to a head when a Soviet and a British pilot were killed in a plane crash that was deemed to be caused by the Soviet pilot’s harassment of the British pilot.
In June the the blockade further escalated when the Russians and the allies from western Europe issued different currencies in their respective zones of Berlin. This created an even deeper schism between the eastern and western parts of Berlin. The Russians ended up severely restricting travel from the western Europe zone to the Soviet zone. The reason behind the the blockade was the tension created from the April Crisis and London Conference between the Soviet Union and Western Europeans.
In response to the blockade of Berlin, the western Allies began airlifts to save the people of west Berlin which was under the control of the Soviets. They flew in supplies to the Germans in the Russian zone like coal and food. By the time the blockade was ended, the airlifts had gone on for around a year.
After General William Tunner took over the operation of the airlifts, he personally went to Berlin to recognize a long time airlift pilot who had done the most lifts at the time. As his plane was landing, it crashed at the end of the runway and the plane landing behind it ran into the first plane. Another plane just sitting on the runway was also hit. No one died, but it pointed the obvious lack of safety procedures. This event is now known as Black Friday and it led to a reform in the flying procedures to make the endeavor more safe.
Operation Little Vittiles was started by a airlift pilot, George Halvorsen, who began giving out candy to the local children during his drops. Eventually this act was expanded to an operation where many pilots began to drop candy tied to little parachutes for the children. The children in the U.S. began to donate candy to the cause and the major candy companies joined in too. This operation further put the western Allies in good light with the Germans trapped in Berlin by the Soviets.
Eventually the Soviets grew so humiliated by the airlifts that they began to move towards negotiations with the west. By April of 1949 the Soviets were in negotiations with America, Britain, and France over the blockade. It was eventually decided to lift the blockade on May 12. Once the blockade of Berlin was over though the airlifts continued to make sure that the locals had enough supplies. By September of 1949 the airlifts ceased and Berlin was free of Soviet control.
The Marshall plan was an attempt to help war torn Europe rebuild itself. President Truman's secretary of state, George Marshall announced the bill that appropriated over 5 billion dollars in the first year to the recovery effort in the western Europe. The bill basically provided financial aid to “free” people in Europe that wanted help rebuilding after WWII.
After the official end of hostilities in Europe ended May 8, 1945, Germany was temporarily divided into 4 zones of occupation – each located roughly around where each allied army was when the war ended. America, France, Britain, and Russia each had a sector. Tensions began to escalate between the allies and Soviet Russia when Joseph Stalin ordered the incorporation of a part of Eastern Poland into the Soviet Union and giving it part of its German territory. Stalin told German communist leaders in a June 1945 meeting that he would slowly weaken the British and the United States would soon withdraw, leaving Germany free to be incorporated into the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union stopped delivering food into Allied controlled territory, limited the allies to only three air corridors giving access to Berlin, and even started a PR campaign against Allied policies. The restricted access the Allies had to newly occupied Germany quickly escalated tensions. To supply the military garrisons in the newly occupied Allied territory, Allied supply convoys had been sending supplies through road and rail. On March 25th, however, the Soviets issued orders restricting the flow of cargo to Berlin, and required each train and truck was to be searched. To get around these restrictions, Allied General Clay ordered all supplies to military garrisons be transported via Air. This led to the April Crisis of April 5th. On that fateful day, a Soviet Yak-3 Fighter collided in midair with a British Vickers 1B Airliner near Gatow Airfield and elevated tensions to a point where nearly everyone was sure World War III was just around the corner. On April 9th, further damaging Soviet-US relations, the Soviets required that all American personnel in the Eastern zone must remove all of their navigation beacons in order to stop them from marking air routes through Berlin. In an unrelated event, Allied forces had introduced a reformed currency, the Deutsch Mark, to non-Soviet zones of Germany. In response to this, the Soviets began stopping all traffic leading from Western Germany into Berlin. On June 24th, the Soviets completely cut off land and water communications between the non-Soviet zones and Berlin, halting all rail/barge traffic in and out of Berlin. The next day, the Soviets stopped supplying food to the large civilian population in the non-Soviet sectors of Berlin. The only way to effectively access Berlin was through air corridors. The Soviets felt that the Allied forces didn’t have a large enough air force to supply the entire city of Berlin, so felt that they only needed to blockade land routes. The Soviet’s end goal was to force the hand of the Allies and take Berlin for themselves. The Allies knew they could never give up Berlin, and realized that continuing to supply the city would be a major propaganda victory. The Allies also knew that the Soviets would never shoot down an unarmed, civilian cargo plane. The decision was finally made to fly in 5,000+ tons of food and coal to Berlin each day, so that Berlin could be self-sufficient and not require aid from the Soviets. The effort was massive, with planes from the United States, France, Britain, Australia, South Africa, and other western allies. The citizens of Berlin joined in, building an entire airport in 90(!) days. The airlift was so efficient that more raw tonnage of supplies was being brought in by air than by rail before the blockade.
ReplyDeleteOne of the only setbacks suffered by the Berlin Airlift was Black Friday, where General Tunner (newly appointed commander of the Airlift operation) made many changes to nearly every aspect of the airlift operation, from loading and unloading procedures to navigation protocols and approach patterns. Although the changes were originally viewed as negative, they were one of the driving forces in the great overall success of the operation. The most heartwarming Operation of the Cold War was undoubtedly Operation Vittles. Airlift Pilot Gail Halvorsen had been entertaining the children of Berlin by dropping chocolates and candies out of his airplane as he flew over, and the children loved it. His commanding officer was upset when he read the story in the local newspaper, but when General Tunner found out what Halvorsen had been doing, he expanded it into “Operation Little Vittles”. Many other pilots contributed, and children and major corporations from all over the United States were soon sending their candy to be dropped. The operation was a massive propaganda success. The Soviets soon realized that the Allies would supply Berlin indefinitely, and when faced with the truth that they had less than 20% of the popular vote in Berlin, the Soviets admitted defeat, negotiating an end to the blockade. The Airlift operation was considered a huge success. Flights continued for two months past to ensure the city would be well supplied in the case of another blockade.
ReplyDeleteThe Marshall plan was an enormous American economic recovery package meant to bring about the modernization of Europe and allow it to fully rebuild after the horrors of WWII. The package consisted of $13 Billion in aid. The money allowed Europe to rebuild nearly all its damaged infrastructure and turned Europe into a player in the global economy. The aids from the Marshall plan was also offered to the Soviet union, but the Soviets rejected it.
Sasha Bechtler-Levin
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber Honors
Modern World History
16. May 2011
The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
1. After the war, Germany was divided into four zones which then condensed to become East Germany and West Germany. West German was a parliamentary democracy and controlled by the Allied forces while East Germany was a totalitarian state allied with and controlled by the Soviet Union. The Allies desperately wanted control over Berlin because it was the important capital and they did not like the idea of Soviets controlling such an important part of Germany. Berlin was split into four zones as well, but the Allies wanted entire control.
2. The April Crisis occurred when the Soviets restricted western traffic (both military and civilians) between British, French, and American-occupied zones and Berlin.
3. The Russians set up a blockade of Berlin by cutting off food and electricity supply to non-Soviet zones of Berlin. Also, they halted all land and water communications between non-soviet zones and Berlin. This entire blockade occurred because the Soviets refused to accept and integrate the new currency (ie: Deutsche Marks), endorsed by the Allies, into Berlin.
4. The Allies planned on saving West Berlin by airlifting supplies into non-soviet zones using US navy and military planes. They counted on needing to send an estimated 750 tons of supplies per day in order to sustain the population of Berlin.
5. Black Friday was a catastrophic event in which a three-way plane crash occurred due to poor radar visibility. The planes crashed into each other, due to a series of unfortunate events, at the end of a runway at the Berlin airport.
6. Gail Halvorsen, a pilot on the side of the Allies came up with the idea to drop pieces of candy attached to parachutes over Berlin for the children to enjoy. Soon, other pilots joined in and the goodwill gesture turned into an operation dubbed “Operation Little Vittles”; it was a huge propaganda success for the allies because the Berliner children viewed the pilots (and the Allies by association) as people giving them free candy from the sky.
7. Eventually, the Soviets grew tired of being humiliated by the persistently successful Allied airlifts and began negotiations with the other 3 major powers. Soon, the Allies emerged victorious in the negotiations and they announced that the blockade would end in eight days. Even after the blockade was lifted, the airlifts continued for awhile to ensure a reasonable surplus should there ever be a similar problem again.
8. The Marshall Plan was established by the United States in an effort to aid Europe in rebuilding itself economically. The plan involved sending financial support to different countries in Europe to both rebuild them economically and to prevent any further communist expansion.
At the end of world war two, with Germany’s unconditional surrender came the division of the country itself into four occupation zones. The British took the northwest, the French the southwest, the United States the south, and the Soviets the east. This divison created tension between the Soviets and the United States as niether side wanted to share the country with a potential enemy.
ReplyDeleteThe April crisis was a crisis concerning the political power in Russia. This began after on April 20th P.N. Milyukov the Russian minister on Foreign Affairs sent a diplomatic note to allies about national aspiration "to finish the World War by a convincing victory". Days later, protests broke out in Russia, demanding Milyukov’s resignation. In the end Milyukov did resign and as a result of the protests, on May 5th it was decided that 6 socialist ministers would join the cabinet.
On the 24th of June, the Russians established the Berlin Blockade. The blockade was established with the intentions of preventing the allies’ rail and road access to the parts of Berlin under allied control. This was done with the purpose of cutting off the allied sectors of Berlin from supplies, making them dependant of the Soviet sectors of Berlin. This would give the Soviets total control over the city.
To circumvent this occurrence the allies organized the Berlin Airlift. The United States air force and the British air force flew over 200,000 flights in a year to provide 4,700 tons of daily necessities to the people of Berlin. By April of 1949, more cargo had been delivered than had been transported into the city by rail and road before the blockade. This humiliated the Soviets who had a firm belief in their blockade’s effectiveness. In May of 1949, the blockade was lifted, and two German states were created: East Germany (controlled by the Russians) and West Germany (controlled by the Allies).
During the airlift, on August 13th three plane accidents occurred, shutting down an airport, and reducing the effectiveness of the airlift. This was quoted as being a low point in the airlifts, but the allies recovered quickly, and the airlifts ended a success. Because of the accidents, airport regulations were changed, which aided in the efficency of the airlift process.
On July 17th Gail Halvorson arrived in Tempelhof, Germany. Halvorson was on his time off as an airlift pilot and had decided to fly into Berlin to make movies and see the sights. When he landed he met a few German children, whom Halvorson gave gum and promised that he would drop more candy the next time he flew over the airfield. He kept his promise and was nicknamed Onkel Wackelflügel, which means Uncle Wigglewings by the German children because to identify himself when flying over, Halvorson would wiggle his wings. Following Halvorson’s example, many other American pilots started to drop candy for the German children. This collective effort between the American pilots, candy donors and American schoolchildren was named “Operation Little Vittles” and was a huge unintended propaganda success. The allies had won over the German children, who would grow up remembering the generosity of the Allies.
The Marshal Plan, or the European Recovery Program was intended to help rebuild European countries that had been damaged during the war to halt the spread of communism. It was thought that if the U.S. aided these countries they would ally with the U.S. and a stable economy would remove the appeal of communism. Developed in June of 1947, the plan offered the same assistance to the Soviets it offered to the European countries, however, the help was refused. The plan ran for four years, starting in April of 1948. During this time, 13 billion dollars were given to European countries for recovery. At the end of 1951, the Marshall plan was replaced by the Mutual Security Act, which intended to give similar aid as the Marshall plan but on a smaller scale.
1. After World War II, Germany was divided into four zones, which condensed into two main halves, eastern and western Germany. Western Germany was controlled by the western Allies, France, Britain, and the United States. Eastern Germany was controlled by the Soviets. Unfortunately for the Western powers, the capital of Germany, Berlin, was in Eastern Germany. Though Berlin was also divided into fourths, access was limited.
ReplyDelete2. On April 1, 1948, the Soviets basically put Berlin on lockdown. They restricted all civilian and military transportation to and from the Western and Eastern sections, and no cargo could be moved in or out without the permission of the Supreme Soviet Commander. Land resupply was useless, so this began the use of planes for supply drops.
3. Stalin wanted complete and total control of Germany, for nationalistic reasons as well as revenge for Hitler’s betrayal. By blockading Berlin, he ultimately controlled the largest and most important city in the country, placing the Western powers at a disadvantage.
4. The United States, France, and Britain had already made an agreement with the Soviets that air corridors would remain open. The Western Allies decided to use airdrops to resupply their portion of the city with food and coal. Stalin could not take action against them without using military force, so this succeeded.
5. The Black Friday of April 13, 1948 three planes crashed into each other on the runway. There was bad visibility, and radars were of limited use. Though no one died, this closed operation at the airport for the entire day. New safety measures and protocols were put in place to prevent another such event.
6. Operation Little Vittles began when United States pilot Gail Haverson dropped candy for the children of Berlin. This was a success, and major candy corporations started donating, and children in the United States donated their own candy as well. This became a major propaganda point, cementing the bond between Germans and Americans, and support for Americans increased.
7. The Berlin Airlift was a huge success; the Western Allies were able to get more supplies to Berlin during the airlift than any other time. The Soviets made a feeble attempt at giving more food and rations to anyone who crossed to the East, but this failed. By April of 1949, the Soviets lifted the blockade.
8. The Marshall plan was a ploy by the United States to help other countries resist the pulls of communism. The United States offered financial economic aid to European countries, so they would not succumb. A total of about $13 billion was spent on Europe to prevent Communism by the United States.
Brian Haist
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Honors World Hist.
18 May, 2011
The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
1. After WWII, Germany was divided to four main states: France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States. The East was given to the Soviets and the West was given to the Allies. When Russia sought to make Germany an extension of the Soviet Union, the U.S. became uneasy and dropped its initial plans of further punishing Germany economically. Instead, the U.S. and the other Allies now wanted to make Germany an ally so there would not be another communist society in Europe. This fear of communism developed into the Red Scare and was elevated further when the Soviets successfully developed an atomic bomb.
2. The April Crisis was an event that started on April 18th, 1917 when the Minister of Foreign Affairs, P.N. Milyukov, sent a note to the Allies stating that the Soviets would continue their fight in the war. Upon hearing this, mass protests broke out in parts the Soviet Union such as Moscow. When the army was sent to quell the protesters, the soldiers as well as the officers refused to listen to the command. This was a sign that the Soviet Union was less unified and was starting to degrade.
3. The Russians blockaded Berlin to keep out the Allies that were supplying Russia's part of Germany. This was done so that Russia could have complete control over Berlin. This soon failed, however, because the Russians obviously weren't considering the possibility of air-drops.
4. The Allies wanted to keep West Berlin as non-communist, and preferably by the U.S., a democratic state. Many air drops were made to keep Western Berlin well supplied and to help persuade the Berliners to the Allies' side.
5. Black Friday was on June 28th where three drop planes crashed because of poor airport organisation. Two of the planes were damaged and one was totaled. This error created a need for a more sophisticated deployment and landing of the planes.
6. Operation Little Vittles was used to persuade the public in Berlin. An American photographer and pilot named Gail Halvorsen went to Berlin to take pictures of the children there. He would hand out candy to the children in Berlin, and this improved the Allies' image. After this routine was made public, it was supported by some of the higher-ups that were against the Soviet Union. This convinced the children that the Allies were “good” and made the Soviets look bad for not doing something similar.
7. The conflict was finally ended when the Soviets realised that the Allies could not be stopped helping Berlin. The effort that was put in to keep the Allies' land transports out was not worth it because the Allies simply flew over the blockade and dropped supplies. The Soviets were embarrassed with this blunder and decided to cease blockade. As well, Berlin was being fed propaganda from the Allies.
8. The Marshall Plan was initiated by Secretary of State George Marshall and run by the United States. The Marshall Plan was designed to keep sending supplies to Europe to help stop the spreadof Communism. The logic in doing this is propaganda as well as preventing communist states from maintaining or gaining control of a society using absolute economic control.
Jaclyn Hirbawi
ReplyDeleteWebber
Modern World History Period 7
18 May 2011
The Berlin Blockade and Airlift Questions
1. After WWII, Germany was divided into two then four sections, one for each of the powers: the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. After a series of conferences, which were filled with disputes over the partition of the important city of Berlin, the eastern part of Germany was given to the Soviet Union while the west was split between the three nations. Since Berlin was surrounded by Soviet territory, the United States was forced to pass through in order to transport supplies. This vantage, along with issues between the warring governments of communist Russia and the other democratic nations, led to rising tensions.
2. On April 1, The April Crisis was issued by the Soviet Union. It detailed restrictions on the military and passenger travel of the United States, Britain, and France. All cargo had to order Soviet permission before going through Berlin, and even carrier sips were denied any form of access or entrance. The Russian attempt to assume total control of the capital in order gain more territory left the United States with the only option of transporting military weapons and supplies by air. The blockade imposed by the Soviet Union ensued more conflict with the United States in Germany.
3. The Berlin Blockade was arguably Stalin’s grand effort to ‘takeover’ all of Germany. By blocking all transports of trucks, trains, and ships and trains on June 18 1948, he hoped that the lack of resources would weaken United States, Britain, and France. These Allied Forces, however, utilized the remaining three open airways to supply Berlin and Stalin’s plan failed.
4. To preserve the western portion Berlin, the Allies decided that an airlift would be the optimal way to thwart the actions of the Soviet Union. After the treaty signed with Russia, the three nations used granted airways to successfully fuel Berlin by sending large, daily of amounts of food and supply via aircraft.
5. On Friday the 13th, cleverly nick-named “Black Friday,” three aircrafts crashed simultaneously on the runway of an airport. Although no one died at this tragic event caused by poor weather conditions and unreliable radar visibility, Major General Tunner called for new rules and regulation to increase efficiency, safety, and to prevent another accident like this one.
ReplyDelete6. Operation Little Vittles began with Gail Halvorsen, an American pilot involved in the Berlin Airlift. During his time off in Berlin, he met a group of kids and kindly gave them some sweets. After asking how they would distinguish his plane in the future, Halvorsen explained that he’d wiggle the wings. His dropping of candy to the children of Berlin became news and popular among other pilots. These gestures as well as the support of America’s own youth became a major propaganda success over the Russians, as is displayed the “scarcity of the simple joys in life” imposed by the Soviet Union. German notions of the United States improved to good ones because Americans in a literal sense “swooped down to drop pieces of happiness” to the population of Germany.
7. In 1949, the Berlin Blockade was finally lifted. After the “Easter Parade,” the Soviet Union admitted this defeat once they realized that the three remaining airways due to the treaty actually allowed the Allies to travel more supplies than ever before. The substantial maintenance of resources in western Berlin served as the final straw of Russian frustration.
8. The Marshall Plan, or the European Recovery Plan, was created by the United States to provide economic aid and prevent the spreading of communism in western European countries. Initiated by the Secretary of State, George Marshall, the program promised a whopping amount of thirteen-billon dollars to nations in need of modernized industries, reconstruction of war-devastated regions, or plain financial assistance.
At the Yalta Conference in February of 1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill discussed what would happen to Europe after the war had finished, specifically pertaining to the reestablishment of the war-torn European states. While proceeding seemingly, the façade of a relationship between Stalin and the West fell after Yalta, leading to the dark Cold War era that would dominate the world’s affairs for the rest of the 20th century. The conference’s main concerns revolved around Germany itself, and how to consolidate its borders once more. It was decided that Germany would be partitioned in between the Soviet Union, Britain, France, and the United States, in order to help the country get back on its feet. With each country governing over its own territory, the reparation efforts would be able to go smoothly, resulting with free elections in the near future; this was the ultimate goal of the Western powers obviously. The capital city, Berlin, was situated in the middle of the Soviet Union’s ‘slice’ of Germany, and it was agreed to partition the city as well, in order to provide the political infrastructure needed to rule over Germany in the near future.
ReplyDeleteThe fundamental differences in between the representative government system in the western-occupied parts of Germany and Communism in the Soviet-occupied created conflict, therefore the city of Berlin was one of the few hot-spots of the Cold War. The Berlin Blockade, and the resulting airlift represent a rather scary moment in world history, a potential precipitate for nuclear war. The relations between the Soviets and the West began to deteriorate rapidly as Europe approached the 50s. The Soviets, upset with having Western troops deep in their territory ordered a blockade of West Berlin, not allowing any goods or people to cross the border. They essentially wanted to gain control over West Berlin by providing them with necessities such as food and fuel. The Allies were not keen on letting this happen, and started airlifting supplies to the city for nearly a year (June 1948-May 1949). This humiliated the Soviets, and led to the establishment of the independent states of West and East Germany, leaving Berlin an ‘occupied city.’ While Stalin wanted a sphere of influence to protect Russia, Truman and his advisors wanted to accomplish the exact opposite of the Treaty of Versailles. The Marshall plan, created by General George Marshall, aimed to help Germany get back on its feet economically, requiring the injection of billions of (1950s era) dollars.
Black Friday was incident that occurred in 1948, in which three planes collided on an Allied airstrip. This event led to the reorganization of the airstrips all across Allied Germany, preparing them with the necessary infrastructure to orchestrate the Berlin Airlift.
The April Crisis was a period of heightened tension between the Soviet Union and the United States in 1948. The Soviets had begun their blockade, and had started to fly unauthorized throughout Allied airspace. The crisis climaxed with the collision of a Soviet military plane and an Allied civilian aircraft, leading to the mobilization of troops on both sides.
Operation Little Vittles started as a small operation with a pilot giving out candy to German children, documenting it with a handheld camera. The camera footage of the children hit home with the American public, embarrassing the Soviet Union even more, as they were portrayed as the ones depriving these children of food and resources.
Casey Tirshfield
ReplyDeleteMr. Webber
Honors World History
17 May 2011
The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
Describe the post war division of Germany and why this led to tensions between the Soviets and the US. (explain the allies access to Berlin)
Post war Germany was divided primarily into four secrete zones controlled by different powers. The Eastern half was occupied by the soviets, whereas the allied countries of France, Brittan, and America occupied the West. It was the Allies’ intention to unite Germany however the Soviets disagreed and as a result proceeded to attempt preventing their efforts.
What was the April Crisis?
The “April Crisis” of 1948, marks the USSR’s deliberate blockade of the transport of goods by the allies to East Germany by all means of transport they were able to restrict, automobiles, and railroads especially. This was in response to the extensive air, railroad, and truck campaign, which was intended to give needed supplies to East German citizens. What resulted by this blockade had a serious impact on East Germany because it prevented the allies from administering much needed humanitarian aid to East Germany.
Describe how and why the Russians blockaded Berlin?
The Russian’s blockaded Berlin by stationing troops all major railroads in order to assure that no goods or supplies could be transported from the allies to Berlin; this blockade also restricted the passage of water. Russia’s primary intention was to take over Berlin entirely eliminating the allies as any form of a threat.
Explain how the Allies planned to “save” West Berlin.
In the June of 1948, roughly two months after the blockades by the USSR had been implemented in an attempt to secure East Germany, the Allies utilized their planes to transport much-needed goods and food to West Berlin it proved a successful method and the blockades were lifted in May of 1949.
What happened on Black Friday?
Black Friday is the day in which 3 aircrafts crashed due to a lack of communication during take off and landing, as well as poor visibility conditions. What resulted as a direct result of these accidents were new rules and regulations which improved the overall safety of pilots, their crew, cargo and plane.
How did the Allies use Operation Little Vittles to record a major propaganda victory over the Russians?
In Operation Little Vittles the allies’ pilot Gail Halvorsen dropped candy over the streets of Berlin. When the story became widely know children in the US began sending candy over to those it Berlin, this as you can image was a great success to the allies especially after the supply shortages Berlin had been experiencing.
Explain how the event finally ended and why the Russians finally decided to lift the blockade.
A year after putting in place the blockades, Soviets recognized that the Berlin Airlift was thwarting their efforts. They were both humiliated by this, and recognized that the financial and moral tolls of keeping the blockade were not worth the minimal success it had, as a direct result decided to lift the blockade in the May of 1949.
Describe the Marshall Plan
Initiated by George Marshall the then Secretary of State and eventually directed by the United States, the Marshall Plan was put into affect with the express purpose of aiding Europe in rebuilding itself through economics. The plan would end all financial support to various countries in Europe which they felt would halt further communist expansion and allow them to get back on there feet from an economics standpoint
1) During the Potsdam conference, Germany was divided into French, British, American, and Russian occupied zones. Tensions between these four countries increased because of blockades limiting Ally access to Berlin.
ReplyDelete2) The April crisis was Russia's increase in blockades and restrictions that resulted in the crashing of an American plane, killing all aboard.
3) Russia stopped boat and road methods of communication and transport, isolating allied occupied territory. All transportation from then on relied on air transport.
4) The allies implemented an idea of a massive airdrop, bringing in large quantities of food, supplies and materials through a series of airlifts.
5) Black Friday was an event where several planes crashed due to poor plane management. The then leader of the operation, Tunner, was embarrassed that it had happened while he was at the airport, and the momentum of the airdrops was lost.
6) Operation little vittles, a series of small parachute drops of candy and gum to children, was used to portray the good the allies were doing, and Tunner supported this immensly.
7) After a long time of Russian humiliation, the Russians withdrew, ending the blockade of Berlin.
8) The Marshall plan was a series of economic recoveries within European economies, funded by the United States, to prevent the spread of Communism.
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