8 Facts about Berlin Airlift

Thursday, June 18th 2015. | History

Facts about Berlin Airlift talk about the first battle of Cold War. This airlift occurred when the supplies and food were delivered by the western countries to Berlin City using the air transportation for the Soviet Union blocked all routes to the city. Find out more interesting facts about Berlin Airlift below:

Facts about Berlin Airlift 1: division of Germany

Germany was divided in four zones after World War II. Each zone was controlled by Soviet Union, Great Britain, US and France.

Facts about Berlin Airlift 2: Berlin

The Soviet Union controlled Berlin for it was located inside their zone. Since Berlin was considered as the capital of Germany, the control for this capital was also taken by US, France and Great Britain. Get facts about Berlin here.

Berlin Airlift Facts

Facts about Berlin Airlift 3: the tension between the west and east

The tension between the east and west was unavoidable. After the World War II was over, the Soviet Union wanted to spread the ideology of communism to the East Germany. The west wanted the Soviet Union to stop it. The west also had a plan to unite the Germany again under a democratic government. But the Soviet Union had different point of view about it.

Facts about Berlin Airlift 4: the new currency

Deutsche Mark was the new currency introduced by the west in Germany. But the Soviet Union did not want to use it in the East zone.

Berlin Airlift Photo

Facts about Berlin Airlift 5: the total control of Berlin

The total control of Berlin was taken by Soviet Union. To send the supplies and food, the west had to use the road and railroads. The Soviet Union decided to cut Berlin’s supplies from the west to make it under their control.

Facts about Berlin Airlift 6: the blockade

The road and railroad traffic of Berlin was totally cut off by the Soviet Union on 24th June 1948. The city was not able to be accessed via road and railroad. Moreover, the electricity was cut off too. The only way out of this problem was using the airlift.

Berlin Airlift Pic

Facts about Berlin Airlift 7: running out of food

The people in Berlin only had 36 days of food supplies. There were a lot of things that they needed which included the medical supplies and coal.

Facts about Berlin Airlift 8: the Berlin Airlift

The only way that the west had to do to give the supplies and food was by using the airlift. To make them alive, they will need around 1500 tons of food every single day. At that time, Berlin was inhabited by 2 million people. There were around 277,000 flights to Berlin conducted by US and Great Britain.