Berlin Crisis

Question 1

How and when was Germany divided

Answer 1

• yalta confernence- febuary 1945
  -split into 4 occupational zones
  -berlin was also split
  -ACC set up to enable Germany to be politically and economically united

Question 2

What did the countries initially want/ aim to do with Germany

Answer 2

-US + UK- prevent it from being absorbed into the soviet sphere of influence, liberty, democracy, not making the same mistakes of ww, german revival
-USSR- form a centralised Germany, soviet safeguarding, reunify Germany and make it neutral
-France- complete disemberment up until 1947 – just make it non- existant

Question 3

When and why did the USA stop giving reparations to the Ussr

Answer 3

-may 1946
-not until an overall term plan could be agreed on about Germanys economic recovery
-soviets saw this as a strategy tocreate a capitalist society

Question 4

How did the masrshall aid plan impact germany and why was it significant

Answer 4

-april 1948
-11% is given to west germany
-plan was to revitalise germany economically and deter it from turning to communism
-helped to revitalise industries such as coal
-expanded its market
-highlighted the economic divisions between the west and east
-weakens the image of the east

Question 5

What actions did the US take up to June 1948

Answer 5

-Bizonia January 1947
-Trizonia June 1948
-Formal Constitution June 1948
-New Deutschemark currency June 1948
-Marshall aid April 1948
-Last ACC meeting March 1948

Question 6

Why did the USSR start the Berlin Blockade and when

Answer 6

• 24th June 1948
  -US actions- seen as a threat to security
  -currency- trigger
  -blocking western plan for Germany
  -protecting the security of the USSR
  -spreading communism
  -gaining global power
  -long term instability - yalta and potsdam

Question 7

What are the facts about the Berlin Blockade

Answer 7

• 15 month air lift
  -only 3 air corridots, no motorway or railway acess
  -2 million west berliners
  -planes arrived every 30 seconds at the peak
  -92 million miles travelled by the US
  -had food for 36 days and coal for 45 initially
  -US delivers almost 2 million tons of supplies
  -ends in may 1949 but airlift continues

Question 8

What are the consequences of the blockade

Answer 8

• stalin is humiliated
  -stalin shifts attention to the east - esp with the formation of the PRC
  -March 1948- Treaty of Brussels leads to the 1948 April NATO= countries use collective security to deter soviet agression
  -official split of germany into the Federal republic of germany (west, may 1949) and the german democratic republic (east oct 1949)
  -neither countries were willing to start a nuclear war even with nuclear weapons- ussr oct 1949 atomic bomb
  -usa shifts attention to east now that europe is secure