The Iron Curtain is a term describing the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991.
What countries is the Iron Curtain?
The Europan countries which were considered to be “behind the Iron Curtain” included: Poland, Estearn Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and the Soviet Union.
Why was the USSR called the Iron Curtain?
The term “iron curtain” was the symbol Churchill used to denote the separation of Europe into two rival camps. On one side of the iron curtain were the democracies of western Europe while on the other side were the totalitarian countries of central and eastern European that were dominated by the Soviet Union.
What does the Iron Curtain symbolize?
Iron Curtain, the political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West and other noncommunist areas.
Does the Iron Curtain still exist?
The Iron Curtain Is Gone, but Europe’s East and West Are Again Divided – WSJ. News Corp is a global, diversified media and information services company focused on creating and distributing authoritative and engaging content and other products and services. U.S.
What stopped the Iron Curtain?
The Iron Curtain largely ceased to exist in 1989–90 with the communists’ abandonment of one-party rule in eastern Europe.
Why was the Iron Curtain a problem?
During the Cold War, the Iron Curtain represented military alliances, spheres of influence, and divisions between democratic and communist nations. The Iron Curtain was a problem because the United States feared that the Soviet Union could easily influence the nations behind it.
Is China a part of the Iron Curtain?
The Iron Curtain is a Western term referring to the boundary which divided Europe into two separate areas of political influence and ideology from the end of World War II until the end of the Cold War. A variant of the Iron Curtain, the Bamboo Curtain, was coined in reference to the People’s Republic of China.
How long did the Iron Curtain last?
Then, on March 5, 1946, at Westminster College in Fulton, Churchill’s famous words “From Stettin in the Baltic, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent,” ushered in the Cold War and framed the geo-political landscape for the next 50 years.
Why was NATO formed?
Its purpose was to secure peace in Europe, to promote cooperation among its members and to guard their freedom – all of this in the context of countering the threat posed at the time by the Soviet Union. The Alliance’s founding treaty was signed in Washington in 1949 by a dozen European and North American countries.
Who was hidden behind the Iron Curtain?
Before the end of the Cold War, the Iron Curtain sealed off the Soviet Union from the rest of Europe. Life in the Soviet Union was restricted, but as its leaders changed, rules became more relaxed and western influence began to reach its residents.
Why was Churchill worried about the Iron Curtain?
Churchill hated the Soviet Union and wanted to cause problems for it. Churchill was worried that the USA would withdraw from international affairs as it had done in the 1930s and he thought this would be bad for international relations.
What was life like behind the Iron Curtain?
High prices and constant shortages of basic goods, the ever-present surveillance by secret police, the scarcity of opportunity: life behind the “Iron Curtain” of Communism was often brutal.
Why did so many people try to escape from behind the Iron Curtain?
Many East Germans felt trapped after the wall was constructed and tried to escape. A look at 10 dramatic escapes. For some people living behind the Iron Curtain, the wish for freedom became so strong that they were willing to risk their lives to cross the heavily guarded border between East and West Germany.