Today in History, May 12th
On May 12, 1949, the Soviet Union lifted its blockade of West Berlin after the Berlin Airlift. Plus George VI's coronation and the Sichuan quake.
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May 12 is best known for 1949, when the Soviet Union ended its 11-month blockade of West Berlin, a standoff the U.S. and Britain had answered with a giant airlift. The date also saw George VI crowned king in 1937 and a massive earthquake strike China’s Sichuan province in 2008.
The big story: The Berlin blockade ends (1949)
After World War II, Berlin sat deep inside the Soviet zone of Germany but was split among four Allied powers. In June 1948 the Western powers brought a new Deutsche mark into West Germany and West Berlin. Moscow called it an attack on the eastern currency, and on June 24 it cut every rail, road and water route into West Berlin, home to roughly two million people. The aim was to starve the city into Communist hands. The U.S. and Britain flew in supplies instead. Planes landed around the clock, at the peak one every minute, and more than two-thirds of the cargo was coal because the Soviets had also cut off power. On May 12, 1949, the Soviets gave up the blockade, and British and American convoys drove 110 miles across Soviet-held territory into the city. The airlift kept going until September 30 to build a stockpile, finishing with 278,288 flights and 2,326,406 tons of supplies.
More events on May 12
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1780 | Maj. Gen. Benjamin Lincoln surrendered about 7,000 Continental troops at Charleston, South Carolina, the worst American defeat of the Revolution. |
| 1846 | The Donner party set out from Independence, Missouri, for California. |
| 1896 | New York City passed the nation’s first anti-spitting law, aimed at slowing the spread of tuberculosis. |
| 1926 | Roald Amundsen, Lincoln Ellsworth and Umberto Nobile made the first undisputed flight over the North Pole, in the airship Norge. |
| 1937 | George VI was crowned king of the United Kingdom after Edward VIII abdicated. |
| 1961 | Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson met South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in Saigon and promised more military aid. |
| 1963 | Bob Dylan walked off the set of The Ed Sullivan Show after network censors rejected the song he planned to play. |
| 1965 | The Rolling Stones finished recording “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” |
| 1967 | The Jimi Hendrix Experience released the album Are You Experienced. |
| 1975 | Cambodian gunboats seized the American freighter Mayaguez and its 39-man crew. |
| 2008 | A massive earthquake struck China’s Sichuan province, killing about 90,000 people. |
Born on May 12
- 1820: Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing, born in Florence, Italy, and named after the city.
- 1907: Katharine Hepburn, American actress and four-time Academy Award winner, born in Hartford, Connecticut.
- 1925: Yogi Berra, baseball player and manager who won 10 World Series with the New York Yankees, born in St. Louis.
Sources
- Berlin blockade lifted, History.com
- This Day in History: May 12, History.com
- On This Day: May 12, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Florence Nightingale, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Katharine Hepburn, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Yogi Berra, Encyclopaedia Britannica
