What is Blockade?
A '''blockade''' is a physical blockage of a [[Harbour|port]] or other place. Usually used of enemy [[ships]] surrounding a port. By extension, a blockade is any effort to make sure that supplies, [[wikt:troop|troops]], information or aid do not reach an opposing force. Blockades are used in nearly all [[military]] [[campaign]]s and the tool of choice for economic [[warfare]] on an opposing [[nation]]. The [[International Criminal Court]] planned to include blockades against coasts and ports in its list of acts of war in 2009. == Historical blockades == Historical blockades include: * The [[Sparta]]n blockade of [[Athens]] following the [[Battle of Aegospotami]], depriving Athens of the ability to import grain or communicate with its empire. * The [[Dutch Republic]]'s blockade of the [[Scheldt]] between 1585 and 1792, denying [[Spain|Spanish]]-ruled [[Antwerp]]'s access to international trade and shifting much of its trade to [[Amsterdam]]. * [[United Kingdom|British]] blockade of [[France]] and its allies during the [[French Revolutionary War]] and [[Napoleonic War]] * [[United Kingdom|British]] blockade of the [[United States]] east coast during the [[War of 1812]] * [[Union Blockade]] – the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] blockading the coasts of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] as part of the [[Anaconda Plan]] during the [[American Civil War]] * [[Battle of Iquique]] during the [[War of the Pacific]] * [[United Kingdom|British]] [[blockade of Germany]] during [[World War I]] as a part of the [[First Battle of the Atlantic]] resulted in many deaths *[[Battle of the Atlantic|The Second Battle of the Atlantic]] during [[World War II]] * [[United States]] blockade of [[Japan]] during [[World War II]] * The [[Germany|German]] blockade of the [[Scheldt]] between September 1944 and November 1944, denying to allied shipping use of the port of [[Antwerp]]. (See [[Battle of the Scheldt]]). * [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] land blockade of [[West Berlin]], 1948–1949, known as the [[Berlin Blockade]]. *