Berlin Blockade

by John Man

(Ballantine's illustrated history of the violent century. Politics in action)

Genres: History

156 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1973

About the author

John Anthony Garnet Man is a British historian and travel writer. His special interests are China, Mongolia and the history of written communication. He takes particular pleasure in combining historical narrative with personal experience.

He studied German and French at Keble College, Oxford, before doing two postgraduate courses, a diploma in the History and Philosophy of Science at Oxford and Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies, completing the latter in 1968. After working in journalism with Reuters and in publishing with Time-Life Books, he turned to writing, with occasional forays into film, TV and radio.

In the 1990s, he began a trilogy on the three major revolutions in writing: writing itself, the alphabet and printing with movable type. This has so far resulted in two books, Alpha Beta and The Gutenberg Revolution, both republished in 2009. The third, on the origin of writing, is on hold, because it depends on access to Iraq.

He returned to the subject of Mongolia with Gobi: Tracking the Desert, the first book on the region since the 1920s. Work in Mongolia led to Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection, which has so far appeared in 18 languages. Attila the Hun and Kublai Khan: The Mongol King Who Remade China completed a trilogy on Asian leaders. A revised edition of his book on Genghis Khan, with the results of an expedition up the mountain on which he is supposed to be buried, was upcoming in autumn 2010.

The Terracotta Army coincided with the British Museum exhibition (September 2007- April 2008). This was followed by The Great Wall. The Leadership Secrets of Genghis Khan combines history and leadership theory. Xanadu: Marco Polo and the Discovery of the East was published in autumn 2009, and Samurai: The Last Warrior, the story of Saigō Takamori's doomed 1877 rebellion against the Japanese emperor, was published in February 2011.

In 2007 John Man was awarded Mongolia's Friendship Medal for his contributions to UK-Mongolian relations.

Reviews

[Joe Krakovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the many things that are going on in the world today it is easy to forget about that world event known as the "Berlin Blockade." Some armchair generals viewing history through hindsight goggles may even say it was a none event. But believe me buddy, like the Cuban missile crisis, it was a big event at the time and there was even talk in some circles of going to war over it. At the end of WWII, Berlin was divided into Russian, Americans, British, and French zones. Being in the eastern part of Germany occupied by the Russians, it was an island of democracy in an ocean of Communism. In an attempt to starve the people into submission the Russians cut off the city from the west. The only way to get food, coal, and supplies was through a military airlift.

This little book describes not only the events leading up to it but the airlift itself in a fair amount of detail for a small book. Included is the building of the Berlin Wall and the people's response to it. Hundreds risked their lives fleeing to the west. Those who were gunned down were often left to bleed to death in plain sight for all to see, even if they were children. Of special note was the escape tunnel planned and financed by the Berlin staff of NBC. Over a period of months some fifty-nine people, including babies, made it to freedom. I couldn't see CNN doing anything like that!

There are a lot of photos included as well as fine prints of the major aircraft used.

At a special meeting of the city assembly, Ernst Reuter mentioned the forty-eight American and British pilots who lost their lives in crashes. He gave a special tribute to American General Clay, the man who stood up to the Russians and organized the airlift. He said that the memory of General Clay will never fade in Berlin. He was answered by a stormy applause. I wonder if today's Berliners even remember General Clay?

[إيمان · Rating 3 out of 5]

يتناول الكتاب أثر تقسيم ألمانيا لمناطق نفوذ تسيطر عليها قوات الحلفاء بعد نهاية الحرب. فبسبب رغبة السوفييت في السيطرة على كل الأراضي الألمانية (على
.حسب رواية المؤلف) تنهار الإتفاقية الرباعية و تبدأ قصة برلين التي ستشغل العالم لعقود و سيظل جدارها المنيع رمزا لأكثر الحقب توترا على مر التاريخ
يبلغ الصراع الجيوسياسي الذي اكتسى طابعا ايديولوجيا أوجه عندما يقرر السوفييت وقف امدادات الغذاء و الطاقة إلى الجزء الغربي من برلين, لتجد كل من الولايات المتحدة خاصة و بريطانيا و إن بدرجة أقل نفسيهما أمام مسؤولية إنقاذ مليوني و نصف المليون ساكن من المجاعة. و لأن الأمركيين دائما ما يضربون
المثل في الإصرار ( أو على الأقل فإن هذا ما يشيعونه عن أنفسهم) تقوم القوات الجوية الأمريكية بمساعدة من نظيرتها البريطانية بنقل ألاف الأطنان من حاجيات السكان عبر إنشاء جسر الجوي. لأحد عشر شهرا (24 جوان 1948_12ماي 1949) بعد ذلك ستقوم قرابة 277 ألف رحلة جوية بنقل ما يناهز المليونين و ثلاثمئة و ثلاثة و عشرون ألف من السلع الموجهة للشق الغربي من المدينة.
ينتهي بعدها حصار برلين و تبدأ مساع حثيثة لتوحيد شقي المدينة إداريا (حيث كان يوجد مجلسان بلديان و قوتان للشرطة) و إقتصاديا (توجد عملتان) إلا أن أزمة خليج الخنازير و ما سببته من حرج سياسي لإدارة الرئيس كينيدي المنتخب حديثا أضعفت من موقف الولايات المتحدة سياسيا و جعلها تخير المهادنة حتى لا تؤجج التوتر أكثر. السوفييت من ناحيتهم إستغلوا الموقف و قاموا بتقسيم برلين و معها ألمانيا عن طريق بناء الجدار الشهير
الكتاب كتب سنة 1973 أي أن الحرب الباردة لم تنتهي بعد كما أن التقسيم مازال قائما لذلك سينتهي الكتاب برأي المؤلف الذي يرى أنه حتى و إن كانت الولايات المتحدة قد خانت و خيبت ظن الألمان بوقوفها مكتوفة الأيدي و مكممة الفاه أمام ما قام به السوفييت إلا أنها تجنبت الوقوع في فخ الصراع النووي الحراري, و أن الوضع القائم ليس بالسيء و سقع التعود عليه
تمت
15/12/2017

[Marc Lamot · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this ages ago. It was an useful introduction at the time, but now of course really outdated.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harry Truman dealt with the Communist blockade of West Berlin in 1948 in a way that busted the embargo of the divided city and kept the peace. In typical Truman audacious fashion he ordered an airlift to Berlin from American bases in West Germany, a country that did not officially exist then, of coal, the most vital supply in demand by Berliners, potatoes, baby formula and anything else the starved inhabitants needed. Truman correctly surmised Stalin would not order U.S. planes shot down and risk war with a nuclear-armed America just to maintain a Communist regime in East Germany, another country-in-waiting. His policy of containing Communism, proclaimed in the Truman Doctrine the previous year, without waging war with the U.S.S.R. was soon tested in Korea and later adopted by John F. Kennedy in dealing with the Russians in Berlin and Cuba. This lively books smartly details one of the more bizarre but historic turning points of the Cold War.