The Berlin Blockade/Airlift 1948
The Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Airlift
- Began with currency reforms in West Germany
- Russians block the transportation routes into West Berlin.
- Allies had to decide if they wanted to give up Berlin, or make other plans.
- War was an option.
The Berlin Airlift
- Instead, the US decided on a massive airlift to supply the Western side of the city.
- One aircraft lands every two minutes for 15 months straight.
- It became a public relations victory for the US as they showed industrial might.
- Example of the Truman Doctrine.
- One cause for the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
"All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, Ich bin ein Berliner."
-John F. Kennedy
“We have to get tough with the Russians. They don’t know how to behave. They are like bulls in a china shop. They are only 25 years old. We are over 100 and the British are centuries older. We have got to teach them how to behave.”
- Harry Truman
-John F. Kennedy
“We have to get tough with the Russians. They don’t know how to behave. They are like bulls in a china shop. They are only 25 years old. We are over 100 and the British are centuries older. We have got to teach them how to behave.”
- Harry Truman