WWII ends; the Cold War begins. Rivalry among the victors of the war in Europe began even before they had won it. Stalin spurred on his military commanders to take Germany at a brutal pace; he wanted his soldiers occupying the continent as far west as possible, and for this reason (and Allied commander Eisenhower's misguided conviction that Hitler was hiding out in Bavaria) the Soviets were the first to liberate Berlin from Nazi rule. The Red Army promptly set about pillaging the city and raping its female inhabitants, a grim revenge for German war atrocities committed on Soviet soil. The Soviet flag over the Reichstag
Fast forward to 1949. The Allies had divided Germany into four sectors, controlled by the Americans, British, French, and Soviets respectively; however, Berlin was located deep within the Soviet sector. Due to its importance, it too was divided up among the four powers, and French, British, and American Berlin became a small island of western control in a sea of red. Berliners could travel among sectors and compare the two systems, and rapidly it became clear which offered the better deal. The east could not compete with the west's bustling commerce and political freedoms.
So, the Soviets did what seemed logical; they decided to starve West Berlin until it capitulated. The western Allies had control of the city, but not the roads, railways, and water channels providing it with food and supplies, and on June 26, 1948, the Soviets sent out advisories to the effect that said roads, railways, and water channels were "under construction." Additionally, they cut off the power to West Berlin; 80% of Berlin's power came from the East. Quickly, the situation became dire for our heroes in the West.
Thus, the Berlin Airlift was launched. Berlin Airlift Everything necessary to keep the city alive was flown in by British and American forces--and we do mean everything. The Allies flew in an entire power plant, piece by piece, to be built on West Berlin soil. They flew in the coal to supply it. They flew in an entire landing strip (West Berlin had only two) so that they could fly things in in greater quantities. They flew in food and medical supplies. At the height of the Airlift, a plane was landing in West Berlin once or twice a minute.
International opinion of the Soviets plummeted, and rightly so. On May 11, 1949, after eleven months, they backed down and reopened the roads, railways, and water channels, with some hastily applied fresh paint to indicate that construction had indeed occurred. Seventy-nine British and American airmen had died in crashes and accidents; they are memorialized on Platz der Luftbrücke (Airlift Square) in Tempelhof. The moral was clear: Soviet Union = Evil.
Shortly thereafter, the countries of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the Democratic Republic of Germany (East Germany) were created--and the rest, as we historians like to say, is history.