What is Berlin Blockade?
[[Image:Deutschland Besatzungszonen - 1945 1946.svg|thumb|Occupation zones after 1945. Berlin is the multinational area within the Soviet zone]] The '''Berlin Blockade''' was from 24 June 1948 to 11 May 1949. It began when the [[Soviet Union]] ''blocked'' railway and road access by the three Western powers (the [[United States|Americans]], [[United Kingdom|British]], and [[France|French]]) to the Western-occupied sectors of [[Berlin]]. The blockade stopped after the Western powers used airplanes to airlift food and other things that people needed. The Soviet Union began the blockade because they thought that monetary reform in the three German Occupation zones controlled by the Western powers which started on 21 June 1948 made the western parts of Germany too strong and wanted to force the west out of their occupation zone. ==Postwar division of Germany== When the Allied Powers met at [[Potsdam]] they agreed to divide [[Germany]] into four occupation zones, American, British, Soviet, and French. They divided Berlin into four zones as well. Berlin was surrounded by the Soviet occupation zone, so the only way to get to the three western controlled sectors was driving through Soviet-controlled territory. ==Causes== [[Image:1-DM-Coin-German.jpg|thumb|A 1 Deutsche Mark coin from 1992. The DM was Germany's official currency until it was replaced by the [[Euro]] in 1999.]] The Soviet Union began the blockade because they thought the western half of Germany (controlled by the UK, USA and France) was becoming too strong, because one currency had recently been introduced throughout the entire western half - the [[Deutsche Mark]]. The Soviets were worried that a single currency would help the economy of the western half recovered quickly from the damage caused by the [[Second World War]], and that this stronger western half would eventually develop into a country (it eventually did, called [[West Germany]]). The Russians wanted one Germany, without an army, that they could easily control. The [[Operation Barbarossa|Nazi