Blockade: Blockade: Strategic Encirclement and Military Tactics in Modern Warfare

By Fouad Sabry

What is Blockade

A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force.A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are legal barriers to trade rather than physical barriers. It is also distinct from a siege 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.

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Blockade

Chapter 2: Fourth Anglo-Dutch War

Chapter 3: Continental System

Chapter 4: Trent Affair

Chapter 5: Swedish iron-ore industry during World War II

Chapter 6: Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law

Chapter 7: Milan Decree

Chapter 8: Pacific blockade

Chapter 9: Operation Wilfred

Chapter 10: Union blockade

(II) Answering the public top questions about blockade.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of Blockade.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: May 27, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Blockade

A blockade occurs when a country or region is actively prevented from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, communications, and occasionally even people, via the use of military force. An embargo or sanction are legal restrictions on trade, as opposed to a blockade, which imposes physical impediments. The goal of a blockade may not always be to conquer the target area, unlike a siege, which is typically directed at a castle or city rather than a whole country or region.

While traditionally blockades were most often utilized at sea, they can also be used on land to barricade an area. For instance, Turkey and Azerbaijan embargo Armenia because it is a landlocked nation.

While blocking all land transportation to and from a region may also be seen as a blockade, a blockading force may strive to obstruct all marine travel to and from the blockaded nation. Neutrals' trading rights are restricted by blockades because they are forced to submit to inspection for contraband, which the blockading state may interpret broadly or narrowly, occasionally including food and medicine. Aviation power has also been utilized in the 20th century to increase the effectiveness of the blockade by reducing air traffic in the blockaded airspace.

A blockade is another term for the close patrol of hostile ports intended to stop naval forces from leaving port. The seaward side was frequently blocked off when coastal cities or forts were under siege from the landward side. Most recently, blockades have occasionally included breaking undersea cables and jamming radio signals to shut down electronic communications.

The British Royal Navy conducted the first successful attempts to build a full naval blockade during the Seven Years' War (1754–1763) against France, despite the fact that crude naval blockades had been in use for millennia.

When the Royal Navy successfully blockaded France during the French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic War, it caused significant economic disruptions, demonstrating the strategic value of blockade. One of the main causes of the American Civil War was the Union blockade of southern ports. The Central Powers were blockaded by the Allies during World War I, depriving them of food and other vital supplies. Britain had some shortages as a result of Germany's failing U-boat blockade. This result occurred once more during World War II.

Naval strategy strategists like Sir Julian Corbett and Alfred Thayer Mahan argued that decisive engagements were the main way to win naval warfare, although blockades may also be effective.

To assure the prompt interception of any ship entering or leaving, a close blockade comprises positioning warships within sight of the blockaded shore or port. It is the most powerful sort of blockade and also the most challenging to use. The blockading ships must remain at sea continuously, exposed to storms and hardship, typically far from any backup, and vulnerable to a sudden attack from the blockaded side, whose ships may stay safe in harbor until they decide to come out, which presents difficulties.

The blockaders attempt to intercept any ships entering or leaving the blockaded area by remaining far from the blockaded coast. The number of ships on station may increase as a result, but they may often operate closer to their bases and are therefore at far lower risk of enemy raids. Due to the design of the ships employed until the 16th century, this was practically impossible.

A close blockade is referred to as a loose blockade when the blockading ships are withdrawn from the coast but not much further (beyond the horizon). The goal of a loose blockade is to entice the opponent into leaving while remaining close enough to attack.

British admiral Horatio Nelson applied a loose blockade at Cádiz in 1805.

Then, under the command of Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, the Franco-Spanish navy emerged, culminating in the Trafalgar Battle.

Blockades were constantly used as a form of economic warfare up to 1827. This changed when France, Russia, and the United Kingdom supported the Greek insurgents in their war with Turkey. The battle of Navarino resulted from their blockade of the Turkish-occupied coast. However, as no declaration of war was made, it is regarded as the first pacific, or peaceful, blockade.

Since 1945, the UN Security Council has decided whether blockades are legal, and according to UN Charter article 42, the council may also impose blockades. The UN Charter recognizes the right to self-defense, but also stipulates that in order to maintain international peace, this must be immediately reported to the Security Council.

The San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea, 12 June 1994, which has not yet been approved, states that a blockade is a legal form of maritime warfare as long as certain guidelines are followed. The guidebook outlines what is never allowed to be illegal. The nation enforcing the blockade may choose any other item from a list that it must publicize as contraband.

Typically, a blockaded region of water is created by the nation imposing the blockade, but any ship may be subject to inspection after it is determined that it is attempting to circumvent the blockade. This inspection shall not take place within the territorial waters of a neutral nation, but only within the blockaded region or in international waters. A neutral ship must abide by the blockading country's order to stop for inspection. The blockading nation may ask the ship to reroute to a known location or port for inspection if the circumstances call for it. The ship is vulnerable to capture if it does not stop. People on the ship may be attacked legally if they refuse to be captured.

A blockade's legality was determined by the legal systems of the countries whose trade it affected.

The Brazilian blockade of Río de la Plata in 1826 during the Cisplatine War, for instance, was regarded as legal under British law, but unconstitutional under French and American law.

The two latter nations declared they would vigorously defend their ships against Brazilian blockaders, During the time that Britain was compelled to promote a diplomatic resolution between Brazil and Argentina.

There are a variety of protest acts with the express purpose of partially or completely severing goods, people, or communications from a given region. Such blockades require both human interaction and lock-on mechanisms to be effective.

A sit-down strike is a type of civil disobedience in which a group of organized employees, typically employed at a factory or other central location, seize control of the workplace by sitting down at their desks, thereby preventing their employers from reassigning strikebreakers to their positions. Another illustration of the distinctiveness of the blockade is a peaceful picket. Pickets may demand that certain traffic be blocked while other traffic is allowed, such as workers but not consumers or customers but not workers.

Early in the 20th century, the Mau movement promoted Samoan independence from colonial domination without resorting to violence. Participants,