WESTERN CURRENCY REFORM & BLOCKADE

Question 1

What happened at the Council of Foreign Ministers in London? When was it?

Answer 1

Nov/Dec 1947.

Relations between east and west became increasingly fractured and broke up without reaching any agreement.

Question 2

Why did the Allied Control Council collapse?

Answer 2

When the Soviet delegation walked out of the meeting after Western allies refused to share details of their West German state.

Question 3

What did the Soviets do in response to the London conferences?

Answer 3

Increasingly began restricting access to Western sectors of Berlin.

Question 4

When did the ACC collapse?

Answer 4

March 1947

Question 5

When was crisis point reached in 1948?

Answer 5

When the British and Americans replaced the Reichsmark with the Deutschmark.

Question 6

What did the Soviets refuse in 1948?

Answer 6

To consider any possibility of currency reform sponsored by the West.

Question 7

When was Trizonia formed?

Answer 7

June 1948

Question 8

When was the Deutschmark introduced in the three western zones?

Answer 8

20th June 1948.

Question 9

What was the main cause of the Berlin Blockade?

Answer 9

The currency reform.

Question 10

What was the first great Cold War crisis? When?

Answer 10

The Berlin Blockade.

Began 24th June 1948.

Question 11

What was the West’s most vulnerable position?

Answer 11

Access to West Berlin.

Question 12

What did the introduction of currency reform precipitate?

Answer 12

A full scale blockade, beginning on 24th June 1948.

Question 13

What can the blockade be explained as?

Answer 13

A retaliatory action on the part of the Soviet Union.

Question 14

What did the Soviets regard currency reform as?

Answer 14

A virtual commitment to divide Germany, and also an attempt to wreck the East German economy.

Question 15

What did the Soviets intend to do through the Berlin Blockade?

Answer 15

Force the Western Powers into renewed negotiations over the future of Germany.

Question 16

How can the blockade be perceived by a western standpoint?

Answer 16

An attempt to force an Allied withdrawal from Berlin, which would’ve brought the whole of Berlin under communism.

Question 17

What can the blockade be seen as a last attempt at by the Soviets?

Answer 17

To regain political initiative.

Question 18

What can the Berlin airlift be seen as a symbol of?

Answer 18

America’s determination to contain Soviet expansionism.

Question 19

What was the Berlin Airlift?

Answer 19

An immense logistical operation achieving a level of supply the Soviets had believed impossible.

Question 20

Over the eleven month period, how many flights were made?

Answer 20

277,000

Question 21

At the height of the Berlin Airlift, how many aircrafts were landing in Berlin?

Answer 21

One every minute.

Question 22

When did the Soviet Union cease the Blockade?

Answer 22

12th May 1949.

Question 23

What was the most concrete outcome of the blockade?

Answer 23

Creation of two separate German states.

Question 24

What else did the blockade confirm?

Answer 24

The superpower Cold War conflict.

Question 25

What had been created by the Americans instead of the EDO?

Answer 25

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

Question 26

When was NATO formed?

Answer 26

April 1949.

Question 27

Why was NATO formed?

Answer 27

Political and military alliance to resist the dominance of the Soviet Union.

Question 28

When did the FRG form?

Answer 28

May 1949.

Question 29

When did the DDR form?

Answer 29

October 1949.