The Berlin Blockae (June 24, 1948 – May 11, 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post-World War 2 Germany, the Soviet Union -- a wartime ally of the three other occupying nations (the U.S., UK, and France) -- blocked the three Western powers' railroad and street access to the western sectors of Berlin that they had been controlling. The crisis abated after the Western powers bypassed the blockade by establishing the Berlin Airlift, demonstrating both their dedication to the cause of supplying their respective zones.