Berlin Airlift And Formation of Nato

AT THE POTSDAM CONFERENCE IN 1945, THE ALLIES HAD AGREED TO TEMPORARILY DIVIDE GERMANY INTO FOUR OCCUPATION ZONES ADMINISTERED BY THE U.S., GREAT BRITAIN, THE SOVIET UNION, AND FRANCE. THE GERMAN CAPITAL OF BERLIN, WHICH LAY DEEP WITHIN THE SOVIET ZONE, WAS PARTITIONED IN THE SAME WAY. BUT THREE YEARS LATER, GERMANY REMAINED DIVIDED, AND BERLIN HAD BECOME A MICROCOSM OF THE COLD WAR STRUGGLE FOR ALL OF EUROPE. THE SOVIET FOREIGN MINISTER EMPHASIZED THE IMPORTANCE OF THE GERMAN CAPITAL: "WHAT HAPPENS TO BERLIN, HAPPENS TO GERMANY. WHAT HAPPENS TO GERMANY, HAPPENS TO EUROPE." THE SOVIETS HAD PLUNDERED THE EASTERN ZONE OF GERMANY, HAULING OFF MACHINERY, EQUIPMENT, TRAIN TRACKS, EVEN ENTIRE FACTORIES TO REBUILD THE SOVIET UNION. AT THE SAME TIME, THE ZONES UNDER WESTERN CONTROL WERE BEGINNING TO THRIVE. TO AID IN THE RECOVERY, A NEW CURRENCY WAS INTRODUCED: THE DEUTSCHE MARK. STALIN CONDEMNED THE MOVE AS AMERICAN ECONOMIC IMPERIALISM AND RETALIATED. ON JUNE 24, 1948, HE ORDERED ALL LAND ACCESS INTO THE CITY OF WEST BERLIN TO BE SEALED OFF, BEGINNING THE BERLIN BLOCKADE. ROADS AND RAILWAYS WERE SHUT DOWN. SHIPMENTS OF GOODS LANGUISHED AT BORDER CROSSINGS. POWER TO THE CITY WAS TURNED OFF. STALIN WAS DETERMINED TO FORCE THE WESTERN ALLIES OUT OF WEST BERLIN AND STARVE ITS PEOPLE INTO SUBMISSION. THE GERMAN CAPITAL SYMBOLIZED AMERICAN COMMITMENT TO EUROPE, BUT WAS SAVING WEST BERLIN WORTH THE RISK OF WAR WITH THE SOVIETS? THERE WOULD BE NO DEBATE. PRESIDENT TRUMAN DECLARED, "WE ARE GOING TO STAY, PERIOD."   WITHIN DAYS, THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN ORCHESTRATED THE BERLIN AIRLIFT TO RESUPPLY THE BELEAGUERED CITY. DAY AND NIGHT, PLANES FERRIED IN FOOD, COAL, AND MEDICAL SUPPLIES. ON AVERAGE, A FLIGHT LANDED IN WEST BERLIN EVERY THREE MINUTES. MORE THAN 2 MILLION TONS OF CARGO WERE DELIVERED TO BERLIN DURING THE 15-MONTH OPERATION. EACH MISSION BROUGHT THE THREAT OF SOVIET MILITARY INTERVENTION, BUT IT NEVER CAME, AND THE FLIGHTS CONTINUED UNCHALLENGED. [children yelling] FINALLY, IN MAY 1949, THE SOVIETS RELENTED AND LIFTED THE BLOCKADE. IN ITS WAKE, ANY HOPES TO REUNIFY THE COUNTRY WERE ABANDONED, AND A PERMANENTLY DIVIDED GERMANY BECAME A REALTY: DEMOCRATIC WEST GERMANY AND COMMUNIST EAST GERMANY. [cheers and applause] THE BLOCKADE UNDERSCORED THE NEED FOR A UNITED DEFENSE AGAINST SOVIET AGGRESSION. IN 1949, THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA JOINED WITH TEN EUROPEAN NATIONS TO FORM A MILITARY ALLIANCE: THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION, OR NATO. A REBUILT, REARMED WEST GERMANY WOULD JOIN THE ALLIANCE IN 1955. IN RESPONSE, THE SOVIET UNION AND ITS SATELLITES FORMED A COMPETING ALLIANCE: THE WARSAW PACT. THROUGH 1948, THE SUCCESS OF THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE, THE MARSHALL PLAN, AND THE BERLIN AIRLIFT HAD FRUSTRATED SOVIET PLANS TO DOMINATE EUROPE. BUT THE RED STAR WAS RISING, AND 1949 WOULD BE AN EXPLOSIVE YEAR FOR WORLD COMMUNISM. [explosion] IN AUGUST, THE SOVIETS STUNNED THE WORLD WHEN THEY SUCCESSFULLY TESTED THEIR OWN ATOMIC BOMB, YEARS AHEAD OF EXPERT PREDICTIONS. AND IN CHINA, COMMUNIST REVOLUTIONARY MAO ZEDONG PREVAILED IN A DECADES-LONG CIVIL WAR AGAINST THE CHINESE NATIONALIST GOVERNMENT. NEARLY 500 MILLION CHINESE FELL UNDER COMMUNIST RULE. [cheers and applause] FOR DECADES TO COME, MAO WOULD BE THE LINCHPIN OF REVOLUTION IN ASIA, SUPPORTING FLEDGLING GOVERNMENTS IN CAMBODIA, LAOS, VIETNAM, MALAYA, AND IN KOREA, WHERE THE COLD WAR SUPERPOWERS DREW PERILOUSLY CLOSE TO WORLD WAR III. [explosions]