Iron Curtain

E2410

The Iron Curtain was the political, military, and ideological barrier that separated the Soviet-controlled Eastern Bloc from the Western democracies in Europe during the Cold War.


Statements (49)
Predicate Object
instanceOf Cold War concept
ideological barrier
military barrier
political barrier
approximateEndDate 1989
associatedWith NATO
Soviet Union
United States
Warsaw Pact
borderType heavily militarized frontier
restricted travel zone
characterizedBy border fortifications
ideological confrontation
military standoff
political division of Europe
restricted flow of information
restricted movement of people
earliestWidespreadUse 1946
endedWith collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe
fall of the Berlin Wall
enforcedBy Eastern Bloc security forces
Soviet military presence
geographicalScope Europe
historicalPeriod Cold War
ideologicalSides capitalist West
communist East
included Berlin Wall
Czechoslovakia–West Germany border
Hungary–Austria border
Yugoslavia–Italy border
inner German border
influenced European integration in the West
formation of NATO
formation of the Warsaw Pact
languageOfTerm English
metaphoricalUse describes sharp political or ideological division
notableSpeech Sinews of Peace
relatedConcept bipolarity in international relations
containment policy
domino theory
separated Eastern Bloc
Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe from Western Europe
Western democracies
speechDate 1946-03-05
speechLocation Fulton, Missouri
symbolOf Cold War division
East–West rivalry
bipolar world order
termPopularizedBy Winston Churchill


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