The blockade of Berlin was the first serious crisis of the Cold War. By 1948, the Western allies began moving towards consolidating their occupation zones in Western Germany into a single ...

On June 24, the Soviets halted all land and water access to the city; the blockade had ... a month's extra food rations in the city and 45 days of coal. Furthermore, West Berlin had only two ...

This became known as the Berlin blockade. Stalin did not intend to risk war over Berlin, he likely wanted to show that the Soviets also had power in Germany which could match the demonstrations of ...

In municipal elections held at the darkest hour of the Berlin blockade in 1948, West Berliners showed their defiance of the Reds by giving their beloved mayor, Ernst Reuter, a record 64.5% of the ...