Why Was the Berlin Blockade so Important

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Why Was the Berlin Blockade so Important? By early 1948 Stalin had control of most of Eastern Europe. The Americans responded to this by making the Western Europe wealthy and pro-American because they saw the Soviet Union as a threat and a weak Germany could be taken over by communism and a strong Germany could act as a buffer against communism. On the other hand Stalin thought that a strong Germany could repeat the invasions on 1914 and 1941 so he stripped them of all useful equipment and machinery. In 1947 Britain and France decided to join their zones together (Bizonia) and then a few months later France joined to make it (Trizonia). Stalin saw these acts as betrayals because he had not been consulted, which was agreed must happen when they were are Potsdam, so he became increasingly suspicious. On 23 June a new Currency, the Deutschmark, was introduced into Bizonia, this caused an economic crisis in the Eastern zone of Germany, in response to this on the 24 June 1948 Stalin closed all roads, canals, and railways the led from the West of Germany into the West of Berlin. This was called the Berlin Blockade. The Western people said they the USSR was trying to make them give West Berlin away by starving the population. The West sent in supplies starting on 26 June by plane by using special air corridors where they could fly without being attacked, the USSR didn’t attack the Americans flying in supplies, as it would be an act of war. By spring 1949, 8000 tonnes of supplies were flown in every day. Stalin called off the blockade in May 1949. This was a very important event in the cold war. There were two major reasons why this blockade was very important. The first reason being that it showed the determination of the USA to stop communism, it showed that they would spare no financial assets or important assets such as planes and pilots to buffer against
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