In June 1948 the U.S. and Britain announced a proposal for establishing a new currency, the Deutschmark, into West Berlin. This immediately caused economic chaos in the Soviet Union as people frantically struggled to adjust to the new system of currency. The Soviets responded on June 24 by cutting off all road, rail and canal links between West Germany and West Berlin. This was the start of the Berlin Blockade. Stalin was attempting to get western influence out of his West Berlin. He managed to cut off all of the land and water routes however the air was still available. This began the Berlin Air Lift. During the eleven months of the Berlin Airlift, U.S. and British planes supplied West Berlin with 1.5 million tons of supplies, a plane landing every three minutes, day and night. The U.S. and British gave the people of West Berlin food, medical supplies and all sorts of other goods. In the eyes of the rest of the world this made the U.S. look like heroes. It made Stalin look like a terrible leader. On May 12, 1949, Stalin, knowing he couldn’t risk shooting down the planes and realizing the PR disaster he’d caused, lifted the blockade. The whole experience was very embarrassing for the Soviet Union and was considered a win for the U.S. and its allies. This was very important to the Cold War because in a cold war where there is no direct fighting, it is things like this that decide who wins and who loses. This was a huge win for the U.S. and put many countries on our side.
Railroads allowed for the expedient movement of much needed raw goods on the front end and movement of finished goods at the back end allowing the industry to grow.
