The Berlin Blockade was an early Cold War confrontation that prompted a massive Western airlift and helped draw West Germany into NATO by 1955.
Key Facts
- Blockade duration
- 24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949
- Total airlift flights
- 278,228 flights
- Total tonnage delivered
- 2,334,374 tons
- Peak daily delivery
- 12,941 tons
- Total fatalities
- 101 people
- Distance flown by US aircraft
- 92,000,000 miles
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Following World War II, Germany and Berlin were divided into occupation zones. Tensions rose when the Western Allies introduced the Deutsche Mark in their sectors. In response, the Soviet Union, seeking to force the West to withdraw the new currency from West Berlin, blocked all railway, road, and canal access to the Western-controlled sectors of the city on 24 June 1948.
The Western Allies responded to the Soviet blockade by organizing the Berlin Airlift, flying more than 278,000 flights into West Berlin between June 1948 and September 1949. American and British aircraft delivered over 2.3 million tons of supplies, including food and coal, with planes landing every thirty seconds at the airlift's peak. The operation continued even after the Soviets lifted the blockade on 12 May 1949.
The USSR lifted the blockade on 12 May 1949, having found the airlift's success an increasing embarrassment amid economic difficulties in East Berlin. The crisis deepened the ideological divide between East and West, firmly aligned West Berlin with the Western powers, and accelerated West Germany's integration into NATO, which was formalized in 1955.