Thai
Sikh International School
Year
10, History Notes. [The Berlin blockade and NATO]
1.
Explain
why Stalin decided to impose a blockade on West Berlin?
The west of Germany had long been the
industrial heartland of Europe. After Second World War the US government
decided to include western Germany in its plan for a new non-communist Western
Europe. Stalin already had control of much of Eastern Europe. News of a new
currency called Deutsch mark, introduced in west of Germany alarmed Stalin.
Stalin was worried of this and he saw this as an attempt to the formation of
West Germany.
West Berlin was controlled by the
American, French and British forces- but it was a western ‘island’ deep inside
the soviet sector of Germany. Soviet forces controlled all the land routes into
West Berlin. As a protest against the currency reforms and the move toward a
divided Germany; Stalin decided to put a
blockade on West Berlin.
2.
How
did the Berlin blockade end? Was this a victory for the Soviet Union or for the
USA?
The blockade began on 23 June 1948 when
Soviet authorities announced that the transport division of the Soviet Military
Administration is compelled to halt all the passenger and freight traffic to
and from Berlin because of technical difficulties. The Western allies were
surprised at this announcement. This could easily have led to a full scale war
with USSR. But the US government decided on a middle course: not to provoke war
by sending troops towards Berlin but to keep the city supplied by air craft. This
made Stalin to admit that his attempt to starve out West Berlin had
failed. In May 1949 the Soviet
authorities called off the blockade. The
air lift was a triumph for the American and British air forces. This
achievement clearly proved how determined the USA was to resist Stalin.
3.
How
did the blockade speed up the formation of West Germany?
Stalin’s attempt to put the creation of
West Germany was a complete failure. The blockade accelerated the move to the
creation of West Germany. As the air lift began, the military authorities in
western zones also organized to work out for a new constitution. The new state
called the “Federal Republic of Germany” was founded in Nay 1949. The Soviet
Union responded to this by setting up a new constitution for East Germany. In October
1949, the eastern state was officially established and was known as the “German
Democratic Republic”
West Germany had its first election in
August 1949. ‘Christian Democrats’ won the greatest number of seats and its
leader , Konrad Adenaver, who hated communism began to rule.
4.
How
did the blockade lead to the setting up of NATO? How did Soviet Union react to
it?
The Berlin blockade encouraged the
western allies to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The
organization was set up in April 1949. The alliance was dominated by the USA.
The formation of NATO was a milestone in American foreign policy. The alliance
was to be supported with large number of troops on the ground. By 1953, five
divisions of US troops were permanently based in Germany.
Soviet Union felt threatened by this. It
responded by setting up its own military alliance in 1955 called Warsaw Pact.
For the next three decades NATO and Warsaw pact forces faced each other and
prepared for war.
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