Summary.
Soviets blocked entry by railway and also roads preventing food and supplies from being brought in, Allies were being forced to surrender to the USSR or declare war. The Airlift was began as a means of transporting goods and providing supplies for Berlin, it proved successful with the blockade ending on May 1949
The Berlin Blockade/Airlift 1948
- 24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949
- One of the first major international crises of the Cold War
- Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway
- Blocked road acces to sections of Berlin controlled by allies
- Aim was to force the western powers to allow the Soviet zone to start supplying Berlin
- This would give Soviets complete practical control over Berlin
- In response, the Western Allies organized the Berlin Airlift
- To carry supplies to the people in West Berlin
- United States Air Force and the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force provided food and supplies
- Others involved in the airlift were: Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force, and South African Air Force.
- The blockade was lifted in May 1949 and resulted in the creation of two separate German states
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