The blockade of Berlin was the first serious crisis of the ... to close all rail traffic from the western zones went into effect at 6:00AM on the morning of June 24, 1948, the three western ...

the Soviets cut electric power to West Berlin. On June 24, the Soviets halted all land and water access to the city; the blockade had begun. Despite having run a mini-airlift to re-supply the ...

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 ...