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What was the Berlin airlift?

The Berlin airlift, which took place during 1948 and 1949, was the response to the Soviet blockade of West Berlin in Germany. After World War II (1939–45), the German city had been divided into four occupation zones—American, British, French, and Soviet. By 1947 the Western powers (the United States, Great Britain, and France) were engaged in the cold war (1947–89; an unarmed political conflict over the spread of communism) with the Soviet Union. When the Americans, British, and French agreed to combine their three areas of Berlin into a single economic region, the Soviets responded by imposing a blockade, which involved cutting the area off from supply routes. In June 1948 all roads, railways, and water routes into West Berlin were blocked by Soviet troops. Since Berlin was surrounded by the Soviet occupation zone, the Soviets believed the blockade would be an effective way to force the...

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