Berlin Airlift (24 Jun 1948 Jahr – 12 Mai 1949 Jahr)

Beschreibung:

The Reaction of the Western Allies
The Berlin Blockade was the first real test for the American policy of containment. As forcing their way into the city by land could have led to another war, the Allies decided that their sectors of Berlin would be supplied by air. This became known as the Berlin Airlift and it lasted for eleven months until the Blockade was lifted in May 1949.
At the height of the Berlin Airlift, a plane landed at Berlin’s Templehof Airport every minute. Keeping West Berlin supplied in this way cost the USA $350 million and Britain £17 million.
Stalin was powerless to stop the Berlin Airlift. To shoot down the planes could have provoked World War Three, and at this stage, unlike the USA, the USSR did not have nuclear weapons.

The Aftermath of the Berlin Blockade
Berlin would remain a source of tension in Europe for the duration of the Cold War.
In April 1949 the USA, Britain and France officially announced the formation of the German Federal Republic (West Germany).
Elections in the Germany Federal Republic in August 1949 resulted in victory for the anti-communist politician, Konrad Adenauer, and the Christian Democratic Union.
The formation of NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) in April 1949 – an alliance of countries around the North Atlantic for their mutual defence.
The USSR responded to the formation of NATO with the Warsaw Pact in May 1955– similarly an alliance of the communist countries of Eastern Europe for their mutual defence.
Finally, on 29 August 1949, the USSR exploded its first atomic bomb. The USA no longer had a monopoly on nuclear weapons.

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