Source: Iron Curtain –Hungary, Wikipedia
The United States' fear of communism dated back to the "Red Scare" in the early 1920s when some thought that communists were coming into the United States to turn it into a communist nation. The United States and Soviet Union only became allies in World War II because they each had a common enemy, Germany.
Following World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as superpowers. As a result of rising tensions, the two countries entered into the Cold War. The United States, a democracy, did not approve of the aggression the Soviet Union was showing in Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union "kept" the countries it marched through while trying to defeat Hitler. In addition, the United States felt the Soviet's communist government was a threat to freedom everywhere.
Source: Iron Curtain –Hungary, Wikipedia
The U.S. President, Harry Truman, and the other Allied leaders (mainly Winston Churchill from Britain and Charles DeGualle of France) were very worried that Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union would continue to take over the remaining European countries.
Source: Winston Churchill, Wikipedia.
On March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill delivered a famous speech called "The Sinews of Peace." He made the speech while receiving an honorary degree from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. The speech was made at the beginning of the Cold War. His terminology of the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe and the outbreak of Communist insurrections all over the world helps us understand the phrase Iron Curtain:
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent....From what I have seen of our Russian friends and allies during the war, I am convinced that there is nothing they admire so much as strength, and there is nothing for which they have less respect than for military weakness. . . . If the western democracies stand together in strict adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter, their influence for furthering these principles will be immense and no one is likely to molest them."
Watch the video of Churchill's "Sinews of Peace" and complete the activity that follows. (Click here to access the transcript of the speech.)
Activity:
In your notes, write your own definition of Iron Curtain. Based on Churchill's description, explain what you think he meant by the phrase. Your answer should be three to five complete sentences.