<P> In response, the Western Allies organized the Berlin airlift (26 June 1948--30 September 1949) to carry supplies to the people of West Berlin, a difficult feat given the size of the city's population . Aircrews from the United States Air Force, the British Royal Air Force, the French Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and the South African Air Force flew over 200,000 flights in one year, providing to the West Berliners up to 8,893 tons of necessities each day, such as fuel and food . The Soviets did not disrupt the airlift for fear this might lead to open conflict . </P> <P> By the spring of 1949, the airlift was clearly succeeding, and by April it was delivering more cargo than had previously been transported into the city by rail . On 12 May 1949, the USSR lifted the blockade of West Berlin . The Berlin Blockade served to highlight the competing ideological and economic visions for postwar Europe . </P> <P> From July 17 to August 2, 1945, the victorious Allies reached the Potsdam Agreement on the fate of postwar Europe, calling for the division of defeated Germany into four temporary occupation zones (thus re-affirming principles laid out earlier by the Yalta Conference). These zones were located roughly around the then - current locations of the allied armies . Also divided into occupation zones, Berlin was located 100 miles (160 km) inside Soviet - controlled eastern Germany . The United States, United Kingdom, and France controlled western portions of the city, while Soviet troops controlled the eastern sector . </P> <P> In the eastern zone, the Soviet authorities forcibly unified the Communist Party of Germany and Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the Socialist Unity Party ("SED"), claiming at the time that it would not have a Marxist--Leninist or Soviet orientation . The SED leaders then called for the "establishment of an anti-fascist, democratic regime, a parliamentary democratic republic" while the Soviet Military Administration suppressed all other political activities . Factories, equipment, technicians, managers and skilled personnel were removed to the Soviet Union . </P>

How did the location of berlin enable the soviets to blockade the city successfully
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