What event in 1948-49 demonstrated U.S. commitment to Western access to Berlin and shaped early Cold War crisis response?

• A. Berlin Airlift
• B. Berlin Blockade
• C. Marshall Plan
• D. NATO Formation

Answer: (A)

The event tested here is the Berlin Airlift, which demonstrated that the United States would defend Western access to Berlin through sustained, coordinated airpower rather than accepting a Soviet ground blockade. When the Soviets blocked all land routes to West Berlin in 1948, Allied forces launched a massive airlift to keep the city supplied with food, coal, and other essentials. Over about a year, thousands of flights—roughly 277,000 missions—delivered some 2.3 million tons of cargo, decades of resilience built into the air corridors that kept West Berlin alive despite the blockade. This operation showed a clear commitment to deterring coercion by nonmilitary means and managing a high-stakes crisis through practical, logistically organized action. It also reinforced Western unity and confidence in collective defense, helping to shape the early Cold War crisis response and setting the stage for the security framework that would soon include NATO.