Cold War The Iron Curtain
The berlin airlift 1948.
Cold war the iron curtain. For a comprehensive outline of the origins key events and conclusion of the cold war click here. The term symbolizes the efforts by the soviet union ussr to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the west and its allied states. The formation of a soviet bloc in europe occurred after world war ii. The term symbolized efforts by the soviet union to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the west and non soviet controlled areas.
It was coined by winston churchill in 1946 during a speech in fulton missouri. This article is part of our larger collection of resources on the cold war. 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 iron curtain formed the imaginary 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.
The attempts by the central intelligence agency funded radio free europe rfe to provide listeners behind the curtain with uncensored news were met with efforts by communist governments to jam rfe s signal. The iron curtain largely ceased to exist in 1989 90 with the communists abandonment of one party rule in eastern europe. The iron curtain was a cold war name for the borders between western and soviet europe. During the cold war the iron curtain extended to the airwaves.
The communist coup in czechoslovakia in february 1948 the soviet blockade of berlin in june and the subsequent allied airlift publicly demonstrated the growing antagonism. It was only in 1991 when the cold war ended and the one party communist rule in eastern europe was abandoned that the iron curtain ceased to exist. This attempt aimed at preserving its cultures and ideology from western influence.