The Iron Curtain
InformationThe Iron Curtain is the name for the "barrier" that separated the communist and non-communist territories. This "barrier" was not a physical wall or barrier but, just a means of separation and isolation. It was "set" by the Soviet Union after World War II to separate itself and its dependent Eastern and Central European allies from any contact in the west and any other non-communist areas. The "barrier" was recognized as the Iron Curtain by Winston Churchill in a speech at Fulton, Missouri on March 5th 1946.
Click here for an interactive map of the Iron Curtain. It shows what life is like in the towns on the border of the Iron Curtain.
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Communist Eastern Europe |
After World War II, the Soviet Union wanted to establish communist buffer states that would protect it from future attacks. The Soviets turned to Poland as their first buffer state. The United States and Britain did not want communism to spread. Tensions ran high as the Soviets tried to make buffer states. Many of the Eastern European States owe their freedom to the Soviets who saved them from German Nazi governments in WWII. These recently liberated states suffered from economic hardships and the communist policies looked very promising and attractive. Consequently, these states were slowly consumed by communist governments. First came Albania and Bulgaria in 1945. Then came Romania, Poland, and Hungary in 1947 and Czechoslovakia in 1948. Finally, the Soviet zone in Eastern Germany became communist when it turned into the German Democratic Republic in 1949. By then, the Iron Curtain had descended on Europe and divided Europe geographically, socially, and ideologically.
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