Lead up to the Berlin Blockade 1945-1949

Yalta Conference

Feb 4, 1945

Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin
Split Germany into 4 zones
Allow free elections
Formation of the United Nations
Russia invited to join it
Russia promised to join the war against Japan
Germany to pay reparations

Roosevelts Death

Apr 12, 1945

Roosevelt was the main peace keeper between Churchill and Stalin so when he died the prospect of future conferences between the two looked like it would go badly.

Potsdam Conference

Jul 17, 1945

Attlee, Truman, Stalin (Churchill)
Arguments about the zone bounderies
Arguments about the reparations to be paid (Russia could take what it wanted from soviet zone and 10% from the other zones)
Churchill lost UK general election so dropped out of the conference
Truman was angry since Stalin had arrested non communist leaders in Poland
UK and USA were alarmed due to communists coming to power in Eastern Europe
Truman dropped the atomic bomb on Japan but did not tell the Russians about it

Churchill Loses the General Election

Jul 26, 1945

Since Churchill lost the General Election he subsequently dropped out of the Potsdam Conference, causing an entirely new group of political leaders for the west to form.

Churchill Iron Curtain Speech

Mar 5, 1946

This speech outline Russia as a threat to the west, and that communist was spreading and it had to be stopped
This caused Stalin to become angry but he could not do anything since Churchill was no longer Prime Minister

London Conference

Nov 25, 1947

The London Conference was a conference to decide the future of Germany and was kept secret from Russia, UK, USA and France attended

Introduction of the Deutsche Mark

Jun 23, 1948

The Deutsche Mark was used to replace the Reichsmark, to stop inflation and also create ties to tie Germany to the west

Berlin Blockade

Jun 24, 1948

In response to the creation of the Deutsche Mark Russia decided to blockade all possible trade routes into Berlin in order to starve the city into his possession

Air Drops

Jun 25, 1948

UK and USA in response to the Berlin Blockade decided to air drop supplies into Berlin, (it got to a point were plains were arriving every 45 seconds). 275,000 planes transported 1.5 million tons of supplies

Russia's Satellite States

Jan 1, 1949

all the governments of Eastern Europe, except Yugoslavia, were hard line Stalinist regimes.

Abandoning of the Blockade

May 12, 1949

Because of the failure to starve west Berlin into surrender the Blockade was dropped and transportation of resources by land were allowed again

Formation of West Germany

May 23, 1949

UK, USA and France decide to make all there zones into one country West Germany, this was exactly what the Russians were hoping to prevent