June 26th
Learn Our History Today: On June 26, 1948, pilots from the United States and Britain began what became known as the Berlin Airlift, dropping thousands of pounds of food and supplies into Berlin.
Following the end of World War II, Germany was divided into different zones of occupation for each of the Allied powers. The United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia each controlled a section of Germany, with Russia controlling a large section in the east and the other nations controlling swaths of territory in the west. These lands soon took on the governmental styles of those occupying them. The country of East Germany was formed out of Soviet territory and became communist, while the other Allied countries merged their occupation zones and formed a democratic West Germany. To further complicate things, the German capital of Berlin had been divided as well following the war. Again, the Allies used the same east/west dividing method, and each section of the city took on the government of its respective occupiers.
Problems soon began to form due to the fact that Berlin sat well within the Soviet occupation zone. Because of Berlin’s symbolic importance the Allied powers had agreed to occupy it together, but by 1948, with the Cold War well under way, the Soviets were no longer happy with that arrangement. The Soviet Union attempted to gain control the city by cutting off the land and sea routes into West Berlin in order to force the Allies to evacuate. Because of the Soviet blockade, West Berlin’s two million residents were soon starving and in need of many other supplies. Not wishing for a military confrontation, President Harry Truman instead ordered a massive airlift operation to bring in the necessary supplies to the starving Berliners. On June 26, the airlift started and continued until September 1949, bringing in almost 2,500 pounds of food and supplies a day. Germany existed as two separate nations up until the end of the Cold War, when, with the rapid collapse of Communism in Europe, a reunification plan was put in to action. East and West Germany were reunited on October 2, 1990.
Also, on this day in U.S. history:
- 1917: The first U.S. troops arrive in France during World War I.
- 1956: Congress approved the Federal Highway Act with a vote of 89 to 1, setting aside thirty billion dollars for the construction of 41,000 miles of interstate highway, the largest construction project in the history of the United States.
- 1977: American icon Elvis Presley performs the last concert of his career in Indianapolis, IN.
Note: Information and photograph from Learn our History — This week in History.
