BERLIN-BLOCKADE

Soviet guards open the Soviet checkpoint to an american jeep few minutes after the end of the Berlin blockade, Germany on May 12, 1949. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocks the three Western powers' railroad and street access to the western sectors of Berlin from June 24, 1948 to May 12, 1949. The Soviet blockade of Berlin is lifted at one minute after midnight, on May 12, 1949. On June 24, 1948, during the Cold War, the Soviet Union (USSR) blocked all road and waterways to Berlin by which Americans, British and French communicated between their zones of occupation in Germany and Berlin, since the end of the Second World War. Western Allies organized in return a large airlift to supply their garrisons and the civilian populations of Berlin. The Berlin Blockade was one of the earliest and most serious crises of the Cold War. (Photo by INTERCONTINENTALE / AFP) (Photo by -/INTERCONTINENTALE/AFP via Getty Images)