"Plan whereas Central and Eastern Europe fell under the Soviet sphere of influence and eventually behind an ""Iron Curtain"". Europe was divided into a US-led Western Bloc and a Soviet-led Eastern Bloc. Internationally, alliances with the two blocs gradually shifted, with some nations trying to stay out of the Cold War through the Non-Aligned Movement. The Cold War also saw a nuclear arms race between the two superpowers; part of the reason that the Cold War never became a ""hot"" war was that the Soviet Union and the United States had nuclear deterrents against each other, leading to a mutually"
"of high metal fences and walls, barbed wire, alarms, anti-vehicle ditches, watchtowers, automatic booby traps, and minefields. It was patrolled by 50,000 armed East German guards who faced tens of thousands of West German, British, and US guards and soldiers. In the hinterlands behind the border were more than a million North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and Warsaw Pact troops. The border was a physical manifestation of Sir Winston Churchill's metaphorical Iron Curtain that separated the Soviet and Western blocs during the Cold War. It marked the boundary between two ideological systems—democratic capitalism and single-party communism. Built by East Germany"
"Bamboo Curtain The Bamboo Curtain was the Cold War political demarcation between the Communist states of East Asia, particularly the People's Republic of China, and the capitalist and non-Communist states of East, South and Southeast Asia. To the north/northwest lay Communist China, the Soviet Union, Vietnam, and others. To the south and east lay capitalist/non-Communist India, Japan, Indonesia, and others. In particular, following the Korean War, the Korean Demilitarized Zone became an important symbol of this Asian division (though the term ""Bamboo Curtain"" itself is rarely used in that specific context). The colorful term ""Bamboo Curtain"" was derived from ""Iron"
"of West German, British and US guards and soldiers. Despite the extensiveness of the Inner Border, it was the Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) that would serve as the famous and infamous representation of the ""Iron Curtain"" and the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier that divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989, constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until it was opened in November 1989. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive"
"United States and The Soviet Union, respectively. They were also referred to as the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The circumstances of these two blocks were so different that they were essentially two worlds, however, they were not numbered first and second. The onset of the Cold War is marked by Winston Churchill's famous ""Iron Curtain"" speech. In this speech, Churchill describes the division of the West and East to be so solid that it could be called an iron curtain. In 1952, the French demographer Alfred Sauvy coined the term Third World in reference to the three estates"
"onset of the Cold War is marked by Winston Churchill's famous ""Iron Curtain"" speech. In this speech, Churchill describes the division of the West and East to be so solid that it could be called an iron curtain. In 1952, the French demographer Alfred Sauvy coined the term Third World in reference to the three estates in pre-revolutionary France. The first two estates being the nobility and clergy and everybody else comprising the third estate. He compared the capitalist world (i.e., First World) to the nobility and the communist world (i.e., Second World) to the clergy. Just as the third"
"neutral. Separate international economic and military alliances were developed on each side of the Iron Curtain: Physically, the Iron Curtain took the form of border defences between the countries of Europe in the middle of the continent. The most notable border was marked by the Berlin Wall and its Checkpoint Charlie, which served as a symbol of the Curtain as a whole. The events that demolished the Iron Curtain started in discontent in Poland, and continued in Hungary, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. Romania became the only communist state in Europe to overthrow its government"
"Gate, challenging Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to ""tear down the wall"" which divided Berlin. The wall had stood as an icon for the political and economic division between East and West, a division that Churchill had referred to as the ""Iron Curtain"". In early 1989, under a new era of Soviet policies of ""glasnost"" (openness), ""perestroika"" (economic restructuring) and taken to even more progressive levels by Gorbachev, the Solidarity movement took hold in Poland. Further inspired by other images of brave defiance, a wave of revolutions swept throughout the Eastern Bloc that year. In May 1989, Hungary removed their border"
"divided by the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall. They formed competing military alliances (NATO and the Warsaw Pact) which engaged in a decades-long standoff known as the Cold War. The period was marked by a new arms race as the USSR became the second nation to develop nuclear weapons, which were produced by both sides in sufficient numbers to end most human life on the planet had a large-scale nuclear exchange ever occurred. Mutually assured destruction is credited by many historians as having prevented such an exchange, each side being unable to strike first at the other without ensuring"
"defections in 1970 caused the Soviets to open very limited ethnic emigrations. The fall of the Iron Curtain was accompanied by a massive rise in European East-West migration. The Iron Curtain took physical shape in the form of border defenses between the countries of western and eastern Europe. There were some of the most heavily militarised areas in the world, particularly the so-called ""inner German border"" – commonly known as ""die Grenze"" in German – between East and West Germany. The inner German border was marked in rural areas by double fences made of steel mesh (expanded metal) with sharp"
"with violence. The use of the term ""iron curtain"" as a metaphor for strict separation goes back at least as far as the early 19th century. It originally referred to fireproof curtains in theaters. Although its popularity as a Cold War symbol is attributed to its use in a speech Winston Churchill gave on the 5 March 1946 in Fulton, Missouri, German Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels had already used the term in reference to the Soviet Union. Various usages of the term ""iron curtain"" (; ; ; Czech and Slovak: Železná opona; ; ; ; ; ; ) pre-date"
"claimed that a second front had been opened in 1943 in Italy and were not prepared to immediately assault Nazi-occupied France. When the war ended in Europe on May 8, 1945, Soviet and Western (US, British, and French) troops were essentially facing each other along a line down the center of Europe ranging from Lübeck to Trieste. Aside from a few minor adjustments, this would be the ""Iron Curtain"" of the Cold War. In hindsight, Yalta signified the agreement of both sides that they could stay there and that neither side would use force to push the other out. This"
"uneasy. In particular, Churchill feared that the United States might return to its pre-war isolationism, leaving the exhausted European states unable to resist Soviet demands. (President Franklin D. Roosevelt had announced at Yalta that after the defeat of Germany, U.S. forces would withdraw from Europe within two years.) Winston Churchill's of 5 March 1946, at Westminster College, used the term ""iron curtain"" in the context of Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe: From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central"
"effectively cutting the city in half and making West Berlin an enclave of the Western world in communist territory. The Wall became the symbol of the Cold War and the division of Europe. Shortly afterward, the main border between the two German states was fortified. The Letter of Reconciliation of the Polish Bishops to the German Bishops of 1965 was controversial at the time, but is now seen as an important step toward improving relations between the German states and Poland. In 1969, Chancellor Willy Brandt announced that West Germany would remain firmly rooted in the Atlantic alliance but would"
"the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, German Reunification and ""Die Wende"". Tensions between East and West Germany were reduced in the early 1970s by Chancellor Willy Brandt's . In summer 1989, Hungary decided to dismantle the Iron Curtain and open the borders, causing the emigration of thousands of East Germans to West Germany via Hungary. This had devastating effects on the GDR, where regular mass demonstrations received increasing support. The East German authorities eased the border restrictions, allowing East German citizens to travel to the West; originally intended to help retain East Germany as a state, the opening of the"
"socio-political contexts there exist different ‘non-western’ geopolitical imaginations. The view of the world as two polarizing ideological blocs (western and eastern bloc) is a geopolitical imagination which was dominant during time of the Cold War. Designations such as the Iron Curtain (the boundary between the bipolar powers) helped to justify certain politics and policies, e.g. in the United States in foreign policy by containment (a military strategy to stop the expansion of the ‘enemy’) or in domestic policy with the expansion of homeland security which enforced technologies of control and disciplining. Samuel P. Huntington made a draft of a fragmented"
"even before the end of World War II. Over the following decades, the Cold War spread outside Europe to every region of the world, as the U.S. sought the ""containment"" of communism and forged numerous alliances to this end, particularly in Western Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. In 1946, speaking at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, former British prime minister Winston Churchill warned that, ""From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."" In the months that followed, Josef Stalin continued to solidify a Soviet sphere of influence in"
"the physical embodiment of the Iron Curtain that stood between East Germany and West Germany in the decades following the conclusion of World War II. The Berlin Wall stretched approximately 28 miles (45 km) through the city of Berlin and another 75 miles (120 km) around the edges of West Berlin and stood close to 15 feet (5 meters) in height. The sheer physical stature of the Berlin Wall in addition to becoming an iconic, international symbol of the Cold War and its virtues, drove it to become a popular site of tourism throughout its existence, and even after its"
"and barbed wire with the date of the Pan-European Picnic and the names of participants. On the ribbon under the board is the Latin text: ""In necessariis unitas – in dubiis libertas – in omnibus caritas."" (Unity in unavoidable matters – freedom in doubtful matters – love in all things.) The memorial symbolises the iron curtain and recalls forever the memories of the border breakthrough in 1989. There are several open air museums in parts of the former inner German border, as for example in Berlin and in Mödlareuth, a village that has been divided for several hundred years. The"
"a product of its times and historical context. In 1958 the Cold War was in full force, pitting the two geopolitical giants, the United States and the Soviet Union, against each other for military and geopolitical influence and dominance. NATO and the Warsaw Pact divided Europe into two competing visions of the world: the Western world viewed countries in the Eastern Bloc as behind an Iron Curtain (evidenced by the failed Hungarian Revolution); the Eastern Bloc countered by portraying itself as the liberator of countries that were still in thrall to colonialist machinations (evidenced by Banana republics). The nuclear arms"
"the proletariat, peasantry, and lower middle-class. Churchill observed that an ""Iron Curtain"" had been drawn across Europe, separating the east from the west. In September 1947, a meeting of East European communist leaders was held in Szklarska Poręba, Poland, from which was formed Cominform to co-ordinate the Communist Parties across Eastern Europe and also in France and Italy. Stalin did not personally attend the meeting, sending Zhdanov in his place. Various East European communists also visited Stalin in Moscow. There, he offered advice on their ideas; for instance he cautioned against the Yugoslav idea for a Balkan federation incorporating Bulgaria"
"as war would end. Following World War II, another war started. Two nations became the frontrunners for world power: the US and the USSR. This created a power struggle between who would have the most influence for capitalism or socialism. Berlin was in the cross-fire between capitalist and socialist influence and it ended up splitting the city between East and West. Winston Churchill said that there was a metal curtain between the Eastern and Western hemisphere, and Berlin actually had a curtain, the Berlin Wall. Until its destruction in 1989, the city of Berlin was physically divided with little to"
"the frontier between Slovakia and Austria. The border runs from west to east along the Morava River and subsequently the Danube. Prior to 1989, the Iron Curtain between the Eastern Bloc and the West ran just in front of the castle. Although the castle was open to the public, the area surrounding it constituted a restricted military zone, and was heavily fortified with watchtowers and barbed wire. After the Velvet Revolution the area was demilitarised. The most photographed part of the castle is the tiny watchtower, known as the Maiden Tower. Separated from the main castle, it balances perilously on"
"which would be used for the remainder of the Cold War. The iron curtain is what Churchill referred to the Soviet Union's growing influence in Eastern Europe. At the time that Churchill made the speech both the United States and his own government publicly disagreed with him. His speech would later be hailed as having great prophetic value. Later it would be shown that President Truman and the Prime Minister both shared Churchill's feelings, but felt they could not disclose this publicly. Churchill would coin another famous term, this time relating to the relationship between the United States and Britain."
"the many diverse cultures and languages within the state. Yugoslavia was divided on national, linguistic, economic, and religious lines. Eastern Front (World War I) The Eastern Front or Eastern Theater of World War I (, , ""Vostochnıy front"") was a theatre of operations that encompassed at its greatest extent the entire frontier between the Russian Empire and Romania on one side and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and the German Empire on the other. It stretched from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south, included most of Eastern Europe and stretched deep"
"United States and British to supply the Soviet Union, and the Allies agreed to withdraw from Iran within six months after the cessation of hostilities. However, when this deadline came, the Soviets remained in Iran under the guise of the People's Republic of Azerbaijan and Kurdish Republic of Mahabad. Shortly thereafter on March 5, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered his famous ""Iron Curtain"" speech in Fulton, Missouri. The speech called for an Anglo-American alliance against the Soviets, whom he accused of establishing an ""iron curtain"" dividing Europe from ""Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic"". A"
"title ""Behind the Iron Curtain"". It discussed ""the iron curtain that more than ever before separates the world from the Soviet Union"". The German Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels wrote in his weekly newspaper ""Das Reich"" that if the Nazis should lose the war a Soviet-formed ""iron curtain"" would arise because of agreements made by Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at the Yalta Conference: ""An iron curtain would fall over this enormous territory controlled by the Soviet Union, behind which nations would be slaughtered"". The first recorded oral intentional mention of an Iron Curtain in the Soviet context"
"Soviet Union took no overt actions against Hungary, taking a hands-off approach. Removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria The removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria occurred in 1989 during the collapse of communism in Hungary, which was part of a broad wave of revolutions in various communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The dismantling of the electric fence along Hungary's long border with Austria was the first fissure in the ""Iron Curtain"" that had divided Europe for more than 40 years, since the end of World War II, and caused a chain reaction in East Germany that"
"of an iron curtain between us and everything to the eastward"". At the Potsdam Conference, Churchill complained to Stalin about an ""iron fence"" coming down upon the British Mission in Bucharest. The first American print reference to the ""Iron Curtain"" occurred when C.L. Sulzberger of ""The New York Times"" first used it in a dispatch published on 23 July 1945. He had heard the term used by Vladko Maček, a Croatian politician, a Yugoslav opposition leader who had fled his homeland for Paris in May 1945. Maček told Sulzberger, ""During the four years while I was interned by the Germans"
"Cold War The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union with its satellite states (the Eastern Bloc), and the United States with its allies (the Western Bloc) after World War II. A common historiography of the conflict begins with 1946, the year U.S. diplomat George F. Kennan's ""Long Telegram"" from Moscow cemented a U.S. foreign policy of containment of Soviet expansionism threatening strategically vital regions, and ending between the Revolutions of 1989 and the 1991 collapse of the USSR, which ended communism in Eastern Europe. The term ""cold"" is used because there was no large-scale"
"Eastern Front (World War I) The Eastern Front or Eastern Theater of World War I (, , ""Vostochnıy front"") was a theatre of operations that encompassed at its greatest extent the entire frontier between the Russian Empire and Romania on one side and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and the German Empire on the other. It stretched from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south, included most of Eastern Europe and stretched deep into Central Europe as well. The term contrasts with ""Western Front"", which was being fought in Belgium and France."
"Removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria The removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria occurred in 1989 during the collapse of communism in Hungary, which was part of a broad wave of revolutions in various communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The dismantling of the electric fence along Hungary's long border with Austria was the first fissure in the ""Iron Curtain"" that had divided Europe for more than 40 years, since the end of World War II, and caused a chain reaction in East Germany that ultimately resulted in the demise of the Berlin Wall. In April 1989,"
"of Europe between East and West, with the East under the control of the Soviet Union and the West dominated by NATO. The two sides engaged in the Cold War, with actual conflict taking place not in Europe but in Asia in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The Imperial system collapsed. The remaining colonial empires ended through the decolonisation of European rule in Africa and Asia. The fall of Soviet Communism (1989– 1991) left the West dominant and enabled the reunification of Germany. It accelerated the process of a European integration to include Eastern Europe. The European Union"