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Ablockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending outfood,supplies,weapons, orcommunications, and sometimes people, bymilitary force.A blockade differs from anembargo orsanction, which are legal barriers to trade rather than physical barriers. It is also distinct from asiege in that a blockade is usually directed at an entire country or region, rather than a fortress or city and the objective may not always be to conquer the area.
A blockading power can seek to cut off all maritime transport from and to the blockaded country, although stopping all land transport to and from an area may also be considered a blockade. Blockades restrict the trading rights of neutrals, who must submit for inspection for contraband, which the blockading power may define narrowly or broadly, sometimes including food and medicine. In the 20th century,air power has also been used to enhance the effectiveness of blockades by halting air traffic within the blockaded airspace.
Close patrol of hostile ports, in order to prevent naval forces from putting to sea, is also referred to as a blockade. When coastal cities or fortresses were besieged from the landward side, the besiegers would often blockade the seaward side as well. Most recently, blockades have sometimes included cutting off electronic communications byjamming radio signals and severingundersea cables. Blockades often result in the starvation of the civilian population, notably during theblockade of Germany duringWorld War I and theblockade of Biafra during theNigerian Civil War.[1]
According to modern international law, blockades are an act of war.[2] When used as a part of an effort to starve the civilian population, they are illegal as part of awar of aggression[3] or when used against a civilian population, instead of a military target.[4] In such case, they are awar crime and potentially acrime against humanity.[5][6]
Although primitive naval blockades have been in use for millennia, early attempts were limited by the time ships were able to stay at sea uninterruptedly.[7] The first successful attempts at establishing a full naval blockade were made by the BritishRoyal Navy during theSeven Years' War (1754–1763) againstFrance.[8] Followingthe 1759 British naval victory at Quiberon Bay, which ended any immediate threat of a majorinvasion of Britain,[9] the British Royal Navy established a close blockade on the French coast. This starved French ports of commerce, weakening France's economy.Admiral Edward Hawke took command of the blockading fleet offBrest and extended the blockade to cover the entire French Atlantic coast fromDunkirk toBordeaux, and also toMarseille on France's Mediterranean coast.[10]During the North American operations of the Seven Years' War, the British Royal Navy also blockaded the French on the other side of the Atlantic, specifically impeding access and supply to the colonies ofNew France on the St. Lawrence.[11]Blockades thus contributed to the French loss of Canada in 1763.[12]
The strategic importance of blockade became increasingly apparent during theFrench Revolutionary Wars of 1792 to 1802 and inNapoleonic Wars of 1803 to 1815, when the Royal Navy successfully blockaded France, leading to major economic disruptions. TheUnion blockade of southern ports was a major factor in theAmerican Civil War of 1861 to 1865. DuringWorld War I (1914-1918),the Allies blockaded the Central Powers, depriving them of food-supplies and strategic materials.Germany's attempted U-boat blockade of Britain caused some shortages, but ultimately failed. A similar outcome followed inWorld War II (1939-1945).
Naval strategic thinkers, such as SirJulian Corbett (1854-1922) andAlfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914), wrote that naval conflicts were won primarily by decisive battles, but also by blockade.[13]
Aclose blockade entails placing warships within sight of the blockaded coast or port, to ensure the immediate interception of any ship entering or leaving. It is both the most effective and the most difficult form of blockade to implement. Difficulties arise because the blockading ships must remain continuously at sea, exposed to storms and hardship, usually far from any support, and vulnerable to sudden attack from the blockaded side, whose ships may stay safe in harbor until they choose to come out.
In adistant blockade, the blockaders stay well away from the blockaded coast and try to intercept any ships going in or out. This may require more ships on station, but they can usually operate closer to their bases, and are at much less risk from enemy raids. This was almost impossible prior to the 16th century due to the nature of the ships used.[14]
Aloose blockade is a close blockade where the blockading ships are withdrawn out of sight from the coast (behind the horizon) but no farther. The object of loose blockade is to lure the enemy into venturing out but to stay close enough to strike.
BritishadmiralHoratio Nelson applied a loose blockade atCádiz in 1805. The Franco-Spanish fleet underPierre-Charles Villeneuve then came out, resulting in theBattle of Trafalgar.[15]
Until 1827, blockades, as part ofeconomic warfare, were always a part of a war. This changed when France,Russia and Britain came to the aid of theGreek rebels against Turkey. They blockaded the Turkish-occupied coast, which led to thebattle of Navarino. War was never declared, however, so it is considered the firstpacific — i.e. peaceful — blockade.[16] The first trulypacific blockade, involving no shooting at all, was the British blockade of theRepublic of New Granada in 1837, established to compel New Granada to release an imprisoned British consul.[17]
Since 1945, theUnited Nations Security Council determines the legal status of blockades and byarticle 42 of theUN Charter, the council can also apply blockades.[18] The UN Charter allows for the right of self-defense but requires that this must be immediately reported to the Security Council to ensure the maintenance of international peace.
According to the not ratified documentSan Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea, 12 June 1994,[19] a blockade is a legal method of warfare at sea but is governed by rules. The manual describes what can never be contraband. The blockading nation is free to select anything else as contraband in a list, which it must publish.
The blockading nation typically establishes a blockaded area of water, but any ship can be inspected as soon as it is established that it is attempting to break the blockade. This inspection can occur inside the blockaded area or in international waters, but never inside the territorial waters of aneutral nation. A neutral ship must obey a request to stop for inspection from the blockading nation. If the situation so demands, the blockading nation can request that the ship divert to a known place or harbour for inspection. If the ship does not stop, then the ship is subject to capture. If people aboard the ship resist capture, they can be lawfully attacked.
Whether or not a blockade was seen as lawful depended on the laws of the nations whose trade was influenced by the blockade. TheBrazilian blockade ofRío de la Plata in 1826 during theCisplatine War, for instance, was considered lawful according to British law but unlawful according to French and American law. The latter two countries announced they would actively defend their ships against Brazilian blockaders, while Britain was forced to steer for a peaceful solution between Brazil andArgentina.[20]
Blockades depend on four general factors
Blockade running is the practice of delivering cargo (food, for example) to a blockaded area. It has mainly been done by ships (calledblockade runners) across ports under naval blockade. Blockade runners were typically the fastest ships available and often lightly armed and armored. It is now also been done by aircraft, formingairbridges, such as over theBerlin Blockade afterWorld War II.
The route through theStrait of Belle Isle was actually the result of international politics: the English blockade of New France forced the French to slip though this passage.
During the French and Indian War, with Canada's population swollen by several thousand more unproductive mouths to feed, starvation stalked the colony if the supply fleet did not arrive by late spring. For the war's last three years, stomach-pinched Canadians spent months vainly scanning the Saint Lawrence before a few ships finally appeared that managed to evade the British blockade.
Based on his study of naval history, Mahan contemplated two main methods in obtaining and maintaining command of the sea: decisive battle and blockade. [...] Corbett believed that the principal methods for securing control of the sea are by obtaining a decision and by conducting a naval blockade.
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