Why did an “iron curtain” fall across europe
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1. Introductiona. The term “Iron Curtain” - definition, origin and ambiguity Of the many definitions of the term “Iron Curtain”, a typical one reads as follows:
“After World War II, communist governments were set up in Eastern Europe, based on the Soviet political model. From 1945 to 1990, military, political, and ideological barriers dramatically divided the Soviet bloc nations from western Europe. This division was referred to as the "Iron Curtain".In August of 1961, the East German government built a wall between East and West Berlin to halt large numbers of defections and to prevent East Berliners commuting to the West. It was later extended along the entire border between East Germany and West Germany. The Berlin wall was one of the most visible signs of the cold war and has become a symbol of the Iron Curtain and totalitarianism.
The origin of the term “iron curtain” was borrowed by politicians and possibly their speech writers from multiple sources that have used the term before. It appears that even Babylonians have used the term, then Goebbels, also Churchill in two telegrams to Truman, before he used it in his famous Missouri speech to warn the Western allies from Soviet communist threat.
The real meaning of an iron curtain is a fire protection curtain installed in theatres between the stage and the spectators. In recent history, the term “Iron Curtain” was used predominantly as a metaphor for the ideology-based, geographical separation designed by Stalin between East and West Europe.
Indeed, Stalin was a pragmatist and knew that sovietised territories had to be sealed off from Western influence to avoid that conquered Eastern countries turn to the West.
Physically, the curtain took the form of defended electrical fences, walls, death corridors and other barriers, predominantly located in East Germany, Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Crossing of the barriers at non-official control locations were extremely risky for people