The Soviet Union lifts the Berlin Blockade
On this day · 12 May 1949
After eleven months of trying to starve West Berlin into surrender, Moscow blinked—and an airlift had already won.
Just after midnight on May 12, 1949, Soviet barriers swung open and the first Allied convoy rolled 110 miles through Soviet-occupied Germany into West Berlin. The blockade, begun on June 24, 1948, had sealed off road, rail, and canal access to the western sectors, an attempt to force the United States, Britain, and France out of the divided city.
The Western answer came not by tank but by transport plane. For nearly a year, American and British crews flew the Berlin Airlift, eventually delivering roughly 2.3 million tons of food, fuel, and coal across some 277,000 flights. At the peak, an aircraft touched down about every minute.
Having bet the airlift could never sustain a city, the Soviets found its quiet success an unbearable embarrassment.
Moscow lifted the blockade with nothing gained. Wary of a renewed squeeze, the Allies kept flying until September 30, 1949, stockpiling supplies. The episode hardened Cold War lines and helped midwife a separate West German state.
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