The list of blockades informs about blockades that were carried out either on land, or in the maritime and air spaces in the effort to defeat opponents through denial of supply, usually to cause military exhaustion and starvation as an economic blockade in addition to restricting movement of enemy troops.

Ancient era

Opponents Blockader Conflict Details
458–457 BCE Aegina (Saronic Gulf) Athens First Peloponnesian War
431–404 BCE Athens Sparta Peloponnesian War Spartan forces surrounded Athens on land. Athens withstood the landward attack, and subsisted on food imported by ship. In the Battle of Aegospotami, the Spartan navy destroyed the Athenian navy and implemented a sea blockade, forcing Athens to surrender.[1]
31 BCE Supporters of Mark Antony
Ptolemaic Egypt
Supporters of Octavian War of the Second Triumvirate
(Battle of Actium)
Octavian blockaded Mark Antony's ships in the Gulf of Actium.

Medieval era

Blockaded Territory Blockader Conflict Details
1068–1071  Byzantine Empire Robert Guiscard Norman conquest of southern Italy Robert Guiscard's Norman forces blockaded Byzantine cities in southern Italy, most notably in the siege of Bari.
1084 Norman-occupied Corfu  Byzantine Empire
 Venice
Byzantine-Norman Wars After the Normans occupied Corfu, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos blockaded the island with Venetian naval support gained in exchange for commercial privileges.
1102  Jerusalem  Fatimid Caliphate Crusades
1104–1108 Tripoli  Jerusalem
Antioch
Edessa
Toulouse
Cerdanya
 Genoa
Siege of Tripoli Blockade of the Lebanese coast leading by the Outremer and Genoa leading to the establishment of the County of Tripoli
1110 Sidon Norway Norwegian Crusade
1337 Cadzand, Flanders England Hundred Years' War
1379–1380  Venice  Genoa War of Chioggia
1394–1402 Constantinople, Byzantine Empire  Ottoman Empire Byzantine–Ottoman wars Ottoman blockade of Constantinople[2]

Early-modern era

Duration of Blockade Blockaded Territory Blockader Conflict Details
1585–1792 Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands
(later Austrian Netherlands)
 Dutch Republic Aftermath of Eighty Years' War
1601 Banten  Portuguese Empire Dutch–Portuguese War
1639–1646 Spanish Netherlands  Dutch Republic Thirty Years' War
1653  Dutch Republic  England First Anglo-Dutch War
1656–1657  Venice  Ottoman Empire
(Dardanelles)
Cretan War
1775–1778 Thirteen Colonies
( United States from 1776 onwards)
 Great Britain American Revolutionary War The British Empire declared the American colonies to be in a state of rebellion after the First Continental Congress and refused to recognize their Declaration of Independence. The blockade ended with the Treaty of Paris recognizing U.S. independence and ending the war.
1788–1790  Sweden  Russia Second Russo-Swedish War
1793–1797  France  Great Britain War of the First Coalition
1794 Dutch East Indies
British East India Company
 France
1797  Spain  Great Britain Anglo-Spanish War
1798–1802  France  Great Britain
 Portugal
 Russia
 Ottoman Empire
 Naples
Order of St. John
War of the Second Coalition
1798–1800 French-occupied Egypt
1798–1800 French-occupied Malta
1801  Denmark-Norway  Great Britain
1806–1814  France  United Kingdom Napoleonic Wars
 United Kingdom  France and its client states
1808–1809  Russia  Sweden Finnish War
1808–1813  Denmark-Norway  United Kingdom
 Sweden
Dano-Swedish War of 1808–09
Gunboat War
1812–1845  United States  United Kingdom War of 1812
1807–1866 Africa  United Kingdom
 United States (after 1841)
Blockade of Africa The blockade suppressed the Atlantic slave trade.
1825–1828  United Provinces  Empire of Brazil Cisplatine War

Modern era

Duration of Blockade Blockaded Territory Blockader Conflict Details
1838–1840 Rio de la Plata, Argentine Confederation  France War of the Confederation
1840 Kingdom of the Two Sicilies  United Kingdom Sulphur Crisis
1845–1850 Rio de la Plata, Argentine Confederation  France
 United Kingdom
Uruguayan Civil War
1846–1848  Mexico  United States Mexican-American War
1848–1851 Germany  Denmark First Schleswig War
1854–1856  Russia  United Kingdom
 France
 Ottoman Empire
Crimean War
1861–1865  Confederate States  United States American Civil War
1854–1856  Chile  Spain Chincha Islands War
1886 Greece Greece Great Powers (excluding France) Eastern Rumelia Crisis [3]
1894–1895  China  Japan First Sino-Japanese War
1897 Constantinople, Ottoman Empire Great Powers
1898 Spanish Cuba

San Juan, Spanish Puerto Rico

 United States Spanish-American War
1902–1903  Venezuela  United Kingdom
 Germany
 Italy
Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903
1914–1919  Germany  Austria-Hungary
 Ottoman Empire
 Bulgaria
 British Empire
 France
 Italy
 United States
World War I and its aftermath

Included mainly Germany but also the entire Central Powers. The Allied blockade of Germany continued for a year after the Armistice until it signed the Treaty of Versailles.[4]

1915–1918 Lebanon  Ottoman Empire Middle Eastern theatre of World War I [5]
1936 Spanish Morocco Spain Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Republican Navy blockaded the Strait of Gibraltar to hamper the transport of Francisco Franco's Army of Africa to Peninsular Spain

1936–1939 Republican-controlled Spain Nationalist faction The Nationalists blockaded northern and southeastern Spain
1937–1945 China  Japan Second Sino-Japanese War
1939–1945  Nazi Germany and its occupied territories
 Fascist Italy (after 1940)
 Vichy France and its colonies (after 1940)
 United Kingdom
 Canada
 France (until 1940)
 Soviet Union (after 1941)
 United States (after 1941)
World War II

The Allied Powers carried out a blockade to prevent the Axis Powers from acquiring materials. Although the blockade was initially ineffective due to the use of neutral ports in the Soviet Union and Francoist Spain, it grew more severe when the Soviet Union and the United States entered the war in 1941 and when the Germans lost control of their occupied territories in France and Eastern Europe in 1944.

1940–1945  United Kingdom
 Soviet Union
 Nazi Germany

The Nazi German Kriegsmarine attempted to block shipping to Britain and Russia through the use of U-boats.

1941–1945 Leningrad, Soviet Union Eastern Front of World War II
1944–1945  Japan  United States
 British Empire
Pacific Front of World War II
1948 Changchun, Republic of China Chinese Red Army Chinese Civil War Changchun was one of the largest cities in Manchuria and was a strategic ROC Army base in Northeast China. The fall of the city led to Communist victory in the Liaoshen campaign.
1948–1949  West Berlin  Soviet Union Berlin Blockade The Soviet occupation forces in Germany blockaded West Berlin at the beginning of the Cold War, but it became ineffective due to an American-led airlift.
1949–1958  Mainland China  Taiwan Cross-Strait conflict
1950–1953  North Korea  South Korea
 United States
United Nations Command
Korean War
1956 Israel  Egypt Suez Crisis Egypt blockaded the Straits of Tiran before the Suez Crisis.
1962  Cuba  United States Cuban Missile Crisis The United States declared a "quarantine" of Cuba in reaction to the deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles.
1965–1975  North Vietnam  United States
 South Vietnam
Vietnam War
1966–1975  Rhodesia  United Kingdom Beira Patrol The British government, along with most of the international community, did not recognize Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence due to its policy of no independence before majority rule.
1967  Israel  Egypt Six-Day War Egypt resumed its blockade of the Straits of Tiran shortly before the war. Israel responded by invading and occupying the Sinai Peninsula.
1968–1970  Biafra  Nigeria Nigerian Civil War Nigeria blockaded the secessionist republic of Biafra, creating an international humanitarian crisis that resulted in Biafrans receiving aid from volunteers around the world during the Biafran airlift and inspired the formation of Doctors Without Borders.
1971 East Pakistan  India Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
1973  Israel  Egypt October war 1973
 Egypt  Israel
1982  Falkland Islands
(Occupied by  Argentina making it Argentina Islas Malvinas)
 United Kingdom Falklands War
1982–2000  Lebanon  Israel 1982 Lebanon War

South Lebanon conflict

The blockade was first imposed during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. However, it was sporadically renewed after the Israel Defense Force was forced to withdraw to the South Lebanon security belt due to its continuing conflict with Hezbollah.
1990–2003  Ba'athist Iraq  United Nations
 United States
 United Kingdom
 France
Gulf War
Iraq disarmament crisis
Enforcement of sanctions against Iraq. The U.S. Air Force, the Royal Air Force, and the French Air Force also enforced no-fly zones in the northern and southern halves of the country.
1990  Lithuania  Soviet Union Singing Revolution

The Soviet government refused to recognize Lithuania's independence.

1992–1993  Croatia  Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Croatian War of Independence Yugoslavia refused to recognize Croatia's independence. The Yugoslav Navy blockaded the Adriatic coast until it was defeated by Croatian artillery in the Battle of the Dalmatian Channels.
1993–1996  Federal Republic of Yugoslavia  North Atlantic Treaty Organization
United Nations Protection Force
Bosnian War

NATO imposed a blockade on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to enforce the UN sanctions on the country and enforced no-fly zones.

1996  Taiwan  Mainland China Third Taiwan Strait Crisis The PRC launched ballistic missiles at ROC territorial waters near the important ports of Keelung and Kaohsiung, forcing lengthy travel and shipping delays. The missile launches were believed to be intended to intimidate the Taiwanese public before the 1996 presidential election.
2001–2007  Australia Maritime protection program to prevent arrivals of unauthorized "boat people."
2006  Lebanon  Israel 2006 Lebanon War
2009 Mullaitivu, Sri Lanka  Sri Lanka
2011 Libya  United Nations Libyan Civil War The U.N. Security Council approved a no-fly zone over Libya.
2015    Nepal  India 2015 Nepal blockade Nepal accused India, on which it is reliant for petroleum and medicine imports, of imposing a blockade.
2017–2021  Qatar  Saudi Arabia
 United Arab Emirates
 Bahrain
 Egypt
Qatar diplomatic crisis Several Arab League countries accused Qatar of funding terrorism in violation of a Gulf Cooperation Council agreement. Qatar denied these accusations but Saudi Arabia, Qatar’s only land neighbor, sealed its border, imposing a “land blockade“ and shutting down all land based trade to and from Qatar. Qatar was also criticized for its close relations with Iran and the management of Al Jazeera. Qatar claims it never funded terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, and also shares a strategic alliance with the United States in the War on Terror and the international intervention against ISIL. The conflict was resolved after a diplomatic agreement brokered by the United States and Kuwait.

Current

Start of Blockade Blockaded Territory Blockader Conflict Details
1988  Armenia
 Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)
 Turkey

 Azerbaijan

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at war since the dissolution of the Soviet Union over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia is a landlocked country and therefore cannot conduct foreign trade without going through one of its neighbors. Turkey, Armenia’s historic enemy with whom it shares its largest border, is also an ally of Azerbaijan. Turkey and Azerbaijan have long refused to allow any Armenian trade over their air or land space. Lacking a sizeable enough border with Iran to facilitate major trade means Armenia is effectively dependent on the Georgia and Iran to conduct international trade. In order to avoid disturbing relations with Azerbaijan, Georgia imposes certain limits on Armenian imports.
2007  Gaza Strip  Israel
 Egypt
Gaza–Israel conflict

Israel and Egypt closed all land border crossings to the Gaza Strip after the Battle of Gaza (2007) following the election of the Hamas Party and imposed a strict air and sea blockade. Israel claims that the blockade is necessary to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas, while Egypt claims that the blockade is intended to prevent Hamas from undermining the legitimacy of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority after winning the election.

2015  Yemen  Saudi Arabia
 United Arab Emirates
 Bahrain
 Egypt
Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen

After the Houthis overthrew President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi the Saudi government accused it of supporting Iran and blockaded the country. The United States and the United Kingdom provided naval and logistical support. The international community has criticized the blockade for creating a humanitarian crisis in Yemen including famine and a cholera outbreak.

2022  Ukraine  Russia Russian invasion of Ukraine Russia blockaded Ukraine's access to the Black Sea. After negotiations with Ukraine via Turkey, a corridor to export Grain was opened. It was briefly halted after the Kerch Bridge was attacked with a Truck Bomb.[6]
2022  Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)  Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Starting in December 2022, Azerbaijan launched an illegal blockade of the breakaway Republic of Artsakh in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, trapping the 120,000 residents within the region, blocking transport of food, medicine, and other supplies, and cutting off electricity and natural gas to the region.[7][8][9] The blockade has remained in place despite calls from the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights for the blockade to be lifted.[10][11]

See also

References

  1. Boardman, John & Griffin, Jasper & Murray, Oswyn. 2001. The Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World, p. 166. ISBN 0-19-280137-6.
  2. Robert Cowley, Geoffrey Parker. The Reader's Companion to Military History New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. on Google Books.
  3. Dakin, Douglas (2012). Η Ενοποίηση της Ελλάδας 1770-1923 [The Unification of Greece 1770-1923] (in Greek). Athens: Morfotiko Idrima Ethnikis Trapezis. pp. 214–215. ISBN 978-960-250-150-4.
  4. Osborne, Eric W., Britain's economic blockade of Germany, 1914–1919, Frank Cass, London, 2004, p.230
  5. "World War I" on Countrystudies.us
  6. "Secretary-General's remarks on Signing of Black Sea Grain Initiative | United Nations Secretary-General". www.un.org. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  7. Gavin, Gabriel (Dec 19, 2022). "Supplies begin to run low as Nagorno-Karabakh blockade continues". eurasianet.org. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  8. Kitachayev, Bashir (16 December 2022). "Azerbaijani roadblock cuts tens of thousands off from food, fuel and medicine". openDemocracy. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  9. Hill, Nathaniel (2023-02-24). "Genocide Emergency: Azerbaijan's Blockade of Artsakh". genocidewatch. Retrieved 2023-05-08. Azerbaijan has repeatedly turned off the supply of natural gas and electricity to Artsakh, subjecting its people to freezing temperatures.
  10. "Statement on Azerbaijan s Noncompliance with February 22nd ICJ Order to Unblock Lachin Corridor". Lemkin Institute. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
  11. "HUDOC - European Court of Human Rights - European Court decides to indicate interim measures in the "Lachin Corridor"" (PDF). hudoc.echr.coe.int. 2022-12-22. Retrieved 2023-06-12.

Further reading

  • Medlicott, W. N. (1952). The Economic Blockade. History of the Second World War. United Kingdom, Civil Series. Vol. I. London: HMSO. OCLC 1164343573.
  • Medlicott, W. N. (1959). The Economic Blockade. History of the Second World War. United Kingdom, Civil Series. Vol. II. London: HMSO. OCLC 1164343573.
  • Elleman, Bruce A.; Paine, S. C. M., eds. (2006). Naval Blockades and Seapower Strategies and Counter-Strategies, 1805–2005. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-35466-0.
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