The only way to go was up.
The Airlift

On June 26, 1948, planes from all over the world were employed to begin an airlift to fly 8,000 tons of food and other daily necessities to the 2.5 millions West Berliners. Cross sectional view of flight into Berlin as of September 1948.This arrangement allowed for landing at the rate of one plane every 3 minutes. Later, two levels were used with spacing that allowed for landing at the same rate. Goods were sometimes dropped from the air by parachute to save landing time.

By early 1949, the Soviets, realizing that they had failed in their attempt to force the Allies out, were looking for a way to save face. Finally, they agreed to end the blockade. On May 11, 1949, when the Soviets turned the electrical power back on, the lights came on all over Berlin for the first time in more than a year. At midnight on the next day, the Soviets reopened land and water routes into Berlin. However, the airlift continued until September 30 to build a backlog of supplies. The airlift had saved Berlin from Soviet takeover and had taught valueable lessons in air traffic control. Cost of the effort in human lives totaled more than 65 U.S., British, and German personnel, including 31 Americans.

Creation of NATO

To prevent further aggression by the Soviet Union, the North Atlantic treaty Organization (NATO) was created on April 4, 1949. The Charter members included the United States, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Italy, Portugal, Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Greece and Turkey joined in 1952, West Germany in 1955, and Spain in 1982. This was the first time that the United States participated in a defensive alliance during peacetime. The countries banded together to collectively provide national security- Article 5 of the NATO charter states, “The parties shall agree that an armed attack against one or more of them…shall be considered an attack against all of them.” But NATO also promoted political, social, and economic ties among the members.

Two Governments

The blockade also sped the desire of the Western powers to establish an internal government for the western zones of occupation. The Western-occupied territories in Germany adopted a constitution on May 23, 1949, establishing the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), with a multiparty system. And on August 14, 1949, the West Germans voted in national elections for the first time since 1932, with 78% of eligible voters participating. The German Democratic Republic (GDR), or East Germany, was born on October 7, 1949. It was dominated by the Communist Socialist Unity Party (SED).