Berlin Blockade and Airlift

Question 1

Where was Berlin located?

Answer 1

Deep inside the Soviet zone

Question 2

By 1948, what were relations like between the West and the USSR?

Answer 2

Not good - high levels of distrust had developed between the two sides.

Question 3

What had both sides started to do by 1948?

Answer 3

Increase their stockpiles of weapons

Question 4

What type of war had developed by 1948?

Answer 4

A propaganda war - with each side denouncing (criticising) the other

Question 5

What did Stalin fear about Germany?

Answer 5

That if it recovered it could once again threaten the USSR

Question 6

Why did the West want Germany to recover - at least partly?

Answer 6

So it could feed its own people

Question 7

What did Stalin want to do to Germany?

Answer 7

Keep it crippled

Question 8

What did Britain, France and the USA do in March 1948?

Answer 8

Joined their zones together to form Trizonia

Question 9

What did the West introduce into Trizonia in June 1948?

Answer 9

A single currency, which would help Germany recover economically

Question 10

How did Stalin view Trizonia and the new currency?

Answer 10

With suspicion. He felt the West was ganging up on him and saw their actions as procacative

Question 11

What was the new currency called?

Answer 11

The Deutsche Mark

Question 12

What did Stalin to in response to the introduction of the new currency (the Deutsche Mark)?

Answer 12

Blocked western access to Berlin by blocking all the roads, railways and canals

Question 13

What was Stalin’s aim in Berlin?

Answer 13

To try and force the West out of Berlin for good

Question 14

Why did Stalin not like the Allies being in Berlin?

Answer 14

The Allied sectors of Berlin were more prosperous, making capitalism look more attractive than communism

Question 15

How many people lived in West Berlin?

Answer 15

About 2 million

Question 16

Why was the Blockade a clever plan?

Answer 16

If the Americans tried to break the blockade with force, Stalin could accuse them of starting a war

Question 17

How did the USA see West Berlin once it was blockaded?

Answer 17

As a test case. If they did not stand up to Stalin now, then he might gain in confidence (as Hitler had done in the 1930s)

Question 18

What did Truman want to prove with Berlin?

Answer 18

That he was serious about his new policy of containment

Question 19

How did the Allies respond to the Blockade?

Answer 19

With the Berlin Airlift

Question 20

What were people in Berlin initially worried about with the Airlift?

Answer 20

That the Soviets would shoot down the planes - thus starting a war

Question 21

At its peak, how often were planes landing?

Answer 21

Three every minute

Question 22

What did the planes bring to West Berlin?

Answer 22

Vital supplies: food, clothing, oil, coal

Question 23

Was life good for Berliners during the Airlift?

Answer 23

No - many left - but it was just about survivable

Question 24

When did Stalin lift the Blockade?

Answer 24

In May 1949

Question 25

What did the Airlift show?

Answer 25

That the Allies would not abandon Berlin

Question 26

Why was the Berlin Blockade such a point of high tension?

Answer 26

It was the first point when the two superpowers came close to war

Question 27

How many tonnes of supplies were delivered in total?

Answer 27

1 and a half million tonnes

Question 28

Why was the Airlift a huge propaganda victory for the West?

Answer 28

The Americans were heroes who had brought food, clothing and hope to West Berliners The USSR looked cruel and callous, trying to starve the Berliners.

Question 29

What happened to Germany following the Berlin Blockade?

Answer 29

It became permanently divided into West Germany and East Germany

Question 30

When was West Germany formed?

Answer 30

In May 1949 - the month the blockade ended

Question 31

When was East Germany formed?

Answer 31

In October 1949

Question 32

What was West Germany also known as?

Answer 32

The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG - similar to President FDR)

Question 33

What was East Germany known as?

Answer 33

The German Democratic Republic (ironic, as it was not very democratic)

Question 34

Why was Berlin symbolic?

Answer 34

It was symbolic of the cold war. Americans saw West Berlin as a democratic oasis in the middle of Communist repression. The USSR saw it as an invasive cancer growing in the workers’ paradise of East Germany

Question 35

How is the Berlin Blockade/Airlift also sometimes known?

Answer 35

As the first Berlin crisis

Question 36

What did the Blockade reveal about the Cold War?

Answer 36

Neither side was willing to go directly to war with the other Both sides were not highly suspicious of each other, and would try and win support through propaganda

Question 37

What did the West form during the Berlin crisis?

Answer 37

NATO

Question 38

What does NATO stand for?

Answer 38

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

Question 39

When was NATO formed?

Answer 39

April 1949 (a month before the blockade was lifted)

Question 40

What was NATO?

Answer 40

A military alliance

Question 41

Why was NATO significant?

Answer 41

All the countries in NATO promised to defend each other if one of them was attacked. It thus increased the chance of all out war.

Question 42

How did the USSR initially react to the formation of NATO?

Answer 42

It criticised its formation, saying it made peace harder to achieve

Question 43

When did West Germany join NATO?

Answer 43

In 1955

Question 44

When West Germany joined NATO in 1955, what did the USSR do?

Answer 44

It created its own military alliance, called the Warsaw Pact

Question 45

What was the name of the Soviet military alliance?

Answer 45

The Warsaw Pact

Question 46

Why was the formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact significant?

Answer 46

- It meant the world was now divided into two military alliances - A small conflict could potentially escalate into a far larger one

Question 47

What did the USSR acquire in 1949?

Answer 47

The atomic bomb - to the shock of the world

Question 48

Why was America’s involvement in NATO significant?

Answer 48

It was the first time it had committed itself to defending western Europe during peacetime. This shows how severe the Americans believed the threat of Communism to be.

Question 49

What key positive consequence could you argue the Berlin Blockade had?

Answer 49

It ended peacefully - another war was averted