On Jul 18th, 1948 a small group of children calmly waited outside of the Tempelhof airfield in the western district of Berlin, as a C-54 “Skymasters” cargo plane approached; gently rocking its wings the aircraft dropped small parachutes with candy attached for them to the waiting children, the Berlin Airlift is in full swing (Grathwol, 2013). For the next 15 months, Operation Vittles, succeeded in airlifting over 2.3 million tons of supplies to western Berlin, breaking the Soviet cordon of the city.
Following World War II, Allied forces divided Germany into in four separate zones, each one to be controlled by the Americans, British, French and Soviet forces, respectively (Historynet, 2006). The capital of Berlin, which remained well inside of the Soviet Zone, was also separated into four zones that each nation would control (Miller, 1998). The Soviets granted Allied Forces access to the Berlin by way of rail and roadways, but this was through an informal agreement. The only formal agreement was the use of three established air corridors that connected the western sectors to Berlin (Miller, 1998). These agreements
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Gen Smith devised a plan to establish altitude blocks, code words, and time spacing to ensure that aircraft were safely separated from each other (Miller, 1998). This worked well at the onset, but as more aircraft were involved, the plan was added to by Lt Gen Tunner. Tunner understood that holding aircraft over the destination airport, in poor weather was a recipe for the disaster, which he witnessed on August 13, 1948, when three aircraft crashed at Tempelhof Airfield (History, 2003). Tunner mandated that if an aircraft was unable to land on its first attempt, it would return back to Rhein Mein and sequence back into the flow (Miller, 1998). This plan would remain throughout the remainder of Operation
Following the conferences during World War Two, Germany was split up into two zones. Occupying West Germany and West Berlin was France, Britain and The United States, while the Soviet Union occupied Ea...
In the year 1961, the building of Berlin Wall called upon disasters in Germany. United States controlled the west of Berlin while German Democratic Republic held the East. Being stuck under the rule of day to day terror, people from East Berlin were making their way to the West Berlin. West Berlin was a safe spot and freedom checkpoint in the middle of terror. To stop the moving of East Berliners, the East German government decided to build a barrier that limited and halted the East Berliners from leaving. But the battle to control Berlin between, the United States and the Soviet Union, had been taking place since after the division of Germany. The German Democratic Republic wanted better control over its people to spread its communist ideas
On May 5, 1945, the 6th Bomb Squadron 29th Bomb Group 314th Wing had just completed a bombing run on Tachairai air depot and was returning to our base in Guam. The following crew members were onboard: William R. Fredericks, Co-Pilot; Howard T. Shingledecker, Bombardier; Charles Kearns, Navigator; Dale Plambeck, Radar Navigator; Teddy Poncezki, Engineer; John Colehower, Gunner; Cpl. Johnson, Gunner; Cpl. Oeinck, Gunner; Cpl. Czarnecki, Gunner; Robert Williams, Radio Operator; and myself as pilot.
Actions have been taken already. Like Caesar’s Gaul, Berlin has been divided into several parts: one belonging to the Soviet Union, one to the United States, one to Great Britain, and one to France. Germany too was split up with the Russians controll...
... US and the British zones joined to become the Bizonia, shortly after, Bizonia and the French quarter launch a common currency, the Deutsche Mark. On the other hand, the soviet side of Germany had communist influences and was the complete opposite from the other parts, that’s the reason of the 1948 Berlin Blockade. Later on, the rising of the Berlin Wall in 1961 was an anti-fascist barrier, as they thought the west hadn’t been completely de-nazified. Nevertheless, ever since the demolition of the wall Germany has become one of the global powers and an example of stability and organization.
1. With reference to Sources 1 and 2, explain the strategic significance of Papua New Guinea to Japan in 1942. (4 marks)
On 7May 1945, the formal surrender of Nazi Germany was completed. On 5 June 1945, the US, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union signed the “Declaration regarding the defeat of Germany and the assumption of supreme authority with respect to Germany by the Governments of the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom and the Provisional Government of the French Republic.” This gave the Allied powers supreme authority in Germany and control over their sectors in Germany, which included a divided Berlin.
At the end of WWII, the United States, Great Britain, and France occupied the western zone of Germany while the Soviet Union occupied the east. In 1948, Britain, France, and the U.S. combined their territories to make one nation. Stalin then discovered a loophole. He closed all highway and rail routes into West Berlin. This meant no food or fuel could reach that part of the city. In an attempt to break the blockade, American and British officials started the Berlin airlift. For 327 days, planes carrying food and supplies into West Berlin took off and landed every few minutes. West Berlin might not have made it if it wasn’t for the airlift. By May 1949, the Soviet Union realized it was beaten and lifted the blockade. By using the policy of containment, the Americans and the British were able to defeat the Soviets.
After World War II, Germany was separated into four different sectors assigned to the triumphant Allied forces: the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. (Wolski) The capital was located one hundred fifteen miles into Soviet territory. (Kenny) The Western Allies believed this was unfair because Berlin was the only large city at the time. They agreed to separate Berlin into quadrants as well. (Wolski) The United States, Britain, and France joined their sectors together as a democratic state called the Federal Republic of Germany. (Taylor) Meanwhile, Russia kept their portion separate and it became known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR). However, this caused a problem because the democratic West Berlin was entirely surrounded by Soviet land. (Wolski)
The end of World War II was the beginning of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Soviet Union had control over East Berlin, which was governed by a communist government and the United States had control over West Berlin, which was regulated by a democratic government. Both countries wanted full control over Berlin, so the Soviet Union set up a blockade on the West but was unsuccessful. The Berlin Wall was then built to stabilize the economy of East Berlin, which meant that fewer people could escape the east to live in the west. In the article “The fall of the Berlin Wall: what it meant to be there,” by Timothy Garton Ash, he highlights the feelings of no longer having a “iron curtain” segregating both sides of Berlin.
On June 12, 1987, President Ronald Reagan visited the Brandenburg Gate in Germany’s capital of Berlin. In 1987, Berlin was celebrating its 750th anniversary and was host to the most dramatic symbol of the cold war, the Berlin Wall. After World War II, the Allies divided Germany among the victors, the western half under democratic control and the eastern half under communist control. Berlin too was divided just as Germany into east and west sectors and the Soviet Union erected a physical barrier in 1961 in order to quell the rampant migration of defectors to the democratic West. From the 1940’s to the 1980’s the United States and the Soviet Union had been staunch political adversaries embraced in a contest for democracy and communism (History.com Staff, 2009).
President Stalin saw the US strategy to rebuild Europe as a way to weaken Soviet influence in that region. This led to the aggressive struggle to take over control of Germany, which led to the divide of Germany. German Capital, Berlin took the hardest hit. The city was divided into the East and West. Soviets were in control of the East while the West was controlled by the Americans, British and French. West Berlin enjoyed more liberal civil and democratic freedom than their counterparts in East Berlin. Again the US and its allies were able to aggressively block any form of communist insurgencies into those areas by providing massive supply of food and other necessities for West Germany in what was known as the Berlin Airlift. This eventually led to the formation of East Germany in
War Department Office of the Chief of the Army Air Forces, “AWPD-1”, (Washington: War Department, 1941), 17.
Even though Berlin lay deep within the Soviet sector, the Allies thought it would be the best to divide this capital. Therefore Berlin was also divided into four parts. Since the Soviet Union was in control of the eastern half of Germany, they made East Berlin the capital of East Germany. The other three counties were each in control of a small part of what was to be West Germany. The Allies decided that they would come together to form one country out of their three divided parts. Those three divided parts formed West Germany. After all the land was divided the Soviet Union controlled East Germany. Just like the Soviet Union, the economy in East Germany was struggling to get back on its feet after the war. While West Berlin became a lively urban area like many American cities, East Berlin became what many thought of as a ‘Mini-Moscow’. In East Germany there was literary almost nothing. The shelves in the stores were practically bare, and what was there was not in very good quality.
This arrangement reflected the Allied solution for the whole of Germany. Berlin was an island with special status governed by four nations in the sea of the Soviet Zone of Occupation.