1. Cold War was just getting started (e.g. Czechoslovakia, March 1948) 2.

Aims Stalin wanted to destroy Germany Britain and the USA wanted to rebuild Germany.

3. Bizonia The Russians were taking German machinery back to the USSR. In January 1947, Britain and the USA joined their two zones together to try to get German industry going. They called the new zone Bi-zonia (two zones). 4. American Aid Congress voted for Marshall Aid on 31 March 1948. started searching all road and rail traffic into Berlin.

Immediately, the Russians

5. New Currency On 1 June, America and France announced that they wanted to create the new country of West Germany; and on 23 June they introduced a new currency into Bizonia and western Berlin. The next day the Russians stopped all road and rail traffic into Berlin. The Soviet Union saw the 1948 Berlin crisis as an attempt to undermine Soviet influence in eastern Germany; Stalin said he was defending the east German economy against the new currency, which was ruining it. The western powers said Stalin was trying to force them out of Berlin. The Marshall Plan In June 1947, the American general George Marshall went to Europe. He said every country in Europe was so poor that it was in danger of turning Communist! Europe was a breeding ground of hate. He said that America should give $17 billion of aid to get Europes economy going and stop Communism. Marshall said that it was up to the countries of Europe to decide what they needed. In July 1947, led by Britain and France, the countries of western Europe met in Paris, and asked for substantial economic aid. Cominform The Soviet Union hated Marshall aid (see Source D). Stalin forbade Communist countries to ask for money. Instead, in October 1947, he set up Cominform. Every Communist party in Europe joined. This allowed Stalin control of the Communists in Europe.

Then, in January 1949, Stalin created Comecon - an economic union of the Communist countries in eastern Europe. This allowed Stalin to control the Iron Curtain economies for the benefit of Russia - for instance, one of its rules was that all inventions had to be shared. Czechoslovakia At first, the American Congress did not want to give the money for Marshall Aid. But then, in February 1948, the Communists took power in Czechoslovakia, followed on 10 March by the suspicious suicide of the popular minister Jan Masaryk. Congress was scared, and voted for Marshall Aid on 31 March 1948.

Berlin Airlift
After World War II, the Allies partitioned the defeated Germany into a Soviet-occupied zone, an American-occupied zone, a British-occupied zone and a French-occupied zone. Berlin, the German capital city, was located deep in the Soviet zone, but it was also divided into four sections. In June 1948, the Russianswho wanted Berlin all for themselvesclosed all highways, railroads and canals from western-occupied Germany into western-occupied Berlin. This, they believed, would make it impossible for the people who lived there to get food or any other supplies and would eventually drive Britain, France and the U.S. out of the city for good. Instead of retreating from West Berlin, however, the U.S. and its allies decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air. This effort, known as the "Berlin Airlift," lasted for more than a year and carried more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into West Berlin. It was quickly settled: The Allies would supply their sectors of Berlin from the air. Allied cargo planes would use open air corridors over the Soviet occupation zone to deliver food, fuel and other goods to the people who lived in the western part of the city. This project, code-named Operation VITTLES by the American military, was known as the Berlin airlift. (West Berliners called it the Air Bridge.) The Berlin airlift was supposed to be a short-term measure, but it settled in for the long haul as the Soviets refused to lift the blockade. For more than a year, hundreds of American, British and French cargo planes ferried provisions from Western Europe to the Tempelhof (in the American sector), Gatow (in the British sector) and Tegel (in the French sector) airfields in West Berlin. At the beginning of the operation, the planes delivered about 5,000 tons of supplies to West Berlin every day; by the end, those loads had increased to about 8,000 tons of supplies per day. The Allies carried about 2.3 million tons of cargo in all over the course of the airlift. Life in West Berlin during the blockade was not easy. Fuel and electricity were rationed, and the black market was the only place to obtain many goods. Still, most West Berliners supported the airlift and their western allies. Its cold in Berlin, one airlift-era saying went, but colder in Siberia.