When the Soviets blockaded Berlin, the United States, along with the British and the French, established an airlift to supply the Berliners.
Explanation:
During the night of June 23 to 24, 1948, all the lights of West Berlin were shut off. The Golpa-Zschornewitz power plant, which supplied electricity in Berlin for decades, was disconnected. Early on the 24th, after there had been some problems with vehicle traffic, the Soviet administration cut off all the streets and railways that led to West Berlin, and also suspended river and maritime traffic between the city and West Germany. The intention of the USSR was to force the Western powers to abandon their sectors of Berlin.
Western governments already had Soviet reactions to monetary reform, which was intended to prevent the USSR from taking over the whole city, but the blockade caught them unprepared. In addition, the relations between Washington, London and Paris were not at their best, since they could not agree on a single policy for Berlin.
The Soviet Union intensified during the blockade the division of Berlin. The municipal government, due to the discomforts caused by the Soviets, had to move to the western sector of the city in the fall of 1948. Mayor Ernst Reuter became a symbol of the resistance of Berlin citizenship. On November 20, the re-elected mayor initiated his term in the western city hall, the Rathaus Schƶneberg. On December 2, a new mayor for the eastern part, Friedrich Ebert, iwa elected, beggining his term in the new Eastern Town Hall, the Rotes Rathaus.
The blockade prevented the movement of goods between West Berlin and West Germany, but not the movement of people. The subway continued to flow smoothly between the two parts of the city. During the blockade, western companies and citizens could continue to buy the eastern sector and obtain food, fuel for heating, etc.
Western governments were faced with the disjunctive of leaving Berlin or staying in the city. The military governor of the American zone, General Lucius D. Clay, was one of the strongest supporters of staying in Berlin. He considered that the withdrawal of the city would follow other Soviet threats, and in any case had the support of the Truman doctrine, which assured assistance in the fight against communism. He proposed sending a military convoy to break the blockade, but American President Harry Truman did not refuse to avoid armed conflict.
On June 25, General Clay ordered the launch of an airlift. On June 26, the first army plane landed at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin, beginning the Operation Vittles. Two days later the British started a similar operation, called Plain Fare.
As the Soviet Union realized that the air bridge guaranteed the supply of Berlin and that it could be carried out indefinitely, on May 12, 1949, the blockade ended.
As a result of the blockade, the creation of a public reserve of foods, raw materials and other essential goods for West Berlin, well-known like Senatsreserve was become ordained.
The blockade was the first peak of the Cold War, and this behavior of the Soviets intensified the fight against communism in the capitalist block. The support that the Americans offered to western Berliners, though not selflessly, generated a feeling of gratitude in the Germans. The US, until now, "occupation forces" (Besatzungsmacht) became known as "protection forces" (Schutzmacht), and the relations between the RFA and the USA improved enormously.
