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 ...

Seventy years ago, in May, 1949, much to the relief of many in the world, the Soviets ended their 327-day blockade of West Berlin, located about 110 miles into Soviet-controlled East Germany.

But of all the mechanisms, the most carefully calibrated is the squeezer known as the Berlin Blockade. It is so sensitive that it can register cold-war pressure by the raising or lowering of a ...