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The Iron Curtain was a physical and ideological division separating Warsaw Pact countries from NATO countries from 1945 to 1991. Countries east were connected to or influenced by the Soviet Union, while those west had democratic governments. Winston Churchill popularized the term in 1946. The Iron Curtain fence stretched for thousands of kilometers, with the Berlin Wall being a symbol of its division. Monuments now recall this era.
The “Iron Curtain” is a term used to describe the border that separated the Warsaw Pact countries from NATO countries from around 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The Iron Curtain was both a physical and an ideological division that represented the way Europe was seen after the Second World War. East of the Iron Curtain were the countries that were connected to or influenced by the former Soviet Union. This included part of Germany (East Germany), Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania (until 1960 when it aligned with China). While Yugoslavia was politically communist, it was not considered part of the Eastern Bloc or behind the Iron Curtain. Josip Broz Tito, the president of Yugoslavia at the time, managed to maintain access to the West while running a communist country. The other countries west of the Iron Curtain had democratic governments.
Although the term “Iron Curtain” has been used previously in literature and politics, it was popularized by Winston Churchill, who used it publicly in a speech in March 1946. The term was first used to refer to the actual metal barrier that cut the continent in two, but it soon also became a reference to the ideological barrier. When Churchill first referred to the barrier he wasn’t trying to emulate the words of others. In a telegram to US President Harry S. Truman, Churchill spoke about the European situation and said: “An iron curtain has descended on their front. We don’t know what’s going on behind it.” This was his first official mention of the term Iron Curtain.
The Iron Curtain fence stretched for thousands of kilometers to separate eastern and western countries, and was particularly strong in Germany, where the Berlin Wall became an unmistakable symbol of the Iron Curtain’s division. In some regions, the Iron Curtain was nothing more than a simple wire mesh fence, while in other places it was a highly guarded area that could only be approached by people with special government permits.
There are monuments of the Iron Curtain that recall an era long gone. One is located in the Czech Republic and includes an original watchtower with signs explaining the origins and reasons for the Iron Curtain. The second monument, a simple homage, is located in Bratislava, Slovakia.
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