The lifting of the blockade Essay Example for Free

The lifting of the blockade Essay Further negotiations took place between Malik and the representatives of the United States, Great Britain, and France on May 2 and May 4. Finally, on May 5, 1949, an agreement was reached and a communique was issued by the four countries. Under their agreement, the USSR would lift the Berlin Blockade on May 12, 1949. Then the Council of Foreign Ministers would meet on May 23, 1949 in Paris to â€Å"consider questions relating to Germany and problems arising out of the situation in Berlin, including also the question of currency in Berlin. † Finally, the barriers which stopped the rail, road, and water traffic to Berlin were removed a little after midnight of May 12, 1949. As a result, supplies started entering Berlin by road, rail, and water for the first time since the start of the Berlin Blockade (Giangreco and Griffin [a]). The aftermath When Clay learned that the USSR had already agreed to the lifting of the blockade, he recommended that the airlift should be continued until the Council of Foreign Ministers had concluded their meeting. He said that the airlift was still necessary for the purpose of building up vital reserves of supplies of fuel and food just in case the Soviets decided, for any reason, to reinstitute the blockade. Washington agreed with him and the airlift continued. Finally, the United States, Great Britain, and France issued another official announcement on July 30, 1949, stating that the airlift of supplies into Berlin would officially end on October 31, 1949 (Barlow). The meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers took place as scheduled on May 23, 1949 in Paris. The United States delegation was headed by Dean Acheson. The British delegation was headed by Bevin while the leader of the French delegation was Robert Schuman. Finally, the head of the Soviet delegation was Andre Vyshinsky. The delegations of the four powers came to the conference with official positions which essentially guaranteed the division of the German nation. The formal division of Germany occurred when the zones occupied by the western powers were unified to give rise to the Federal Republic of Germany while the Russian zone became the German Democratic Republic (Giangreco and Griffin [a]). Works Cited Barlow,Jeffrey G. â€Å"The U. S.Navy’s Participation in the Berlin Airlift. † Naval Historical Center. 5 February 1998. 12 May 2009. http://www. history. navy. mil/download/berlin-n. htm BBC Bitesize. â€Å"The Berlin Blockade and Airlift. † 12 May 2009. http://www. bbc. co. uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir2/berlinblockaderev1. shtml â€Å"Berlin Blockade. † 12 May 2009. http://www. secmyl. com/uploads/BerlinBlockade1948. pdf Berlin Information Group. â€Å"The Berlin Airlift. † 12 May 2009. http://www. berlinfo. com/Traveltime/Sights/sights/divided_city/hist. htm Byrnes, Rebecca. â€Å"The Berlin Blockade: The First Major Battle of the Cold War. † 4 July 2008. 12 May 2009. http://militaryhistory. suite101. com/article. cfm/the_berlin_blockade Giangreco, D. M. and Griffin, Robert E. â€Å"Airbridge to Berlin – Background. † Harry S. Truman Library Museum. 12 May 2009. . http://www. trumanlibrary. org/whistlestop/study_collections/berlin_airlift/large/ Giangreco, D. M. and Griffin, Robert E. [a]. â€Å"Airbridge to Berlin – The Berlin Crisis of 1948, Its Origins and Aftermath. † Harry S. Truman Library Museum. 12 May 2009. http://www. trumanlibrary. org/whistlestop/BERLIN_A/BLOCKADE. HTM PBS Online. â€Å"Berlin Blockade. † 12 May 2009.