The Berlin blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, theSoviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road and canal access to the sectors ofBerlin under Allied control. Their aim was to force the western powers to allow the Soviet zone to start supplying Berlin with food and fuel, thereby giving the Soviets practical control over the entire city.
In response, the Western Allies organized the Berlin airlift to carry supplies to the people in West Berlin.[1][2] The United States Air Force and the British Royal Air Force flew over 200,000 flights in one year, providing up to 4700 tons of daily necessities such as fuel and food to the Berliners.[3]
By the spring of 1949, the effort was clearly succeeding and, by April, the airlift was delivering more cargo than had previously been transported into the city by rail. The success of the Berlin Airlift brought embarrassment to the Soviets who had refused to believe it could make a difference. The blockade was lifted in May 1949 and resulted in the creation of two separate German states.[3] The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) split up Berlin.[3] In remembrance of the airlift, three airports in the former western zones of the city served as the primary gateways to Germany for another fifty years.
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