THE IRON CURTAIN 265
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1947
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1946
AUST
R
IA
P O
L A N D
A RIFT IN EUROPE
Germany became the frontline for the Cold War in the years
after World War II, when vast financial investments, economic
cooperation, agreements, and mutual defense treaties split Europe
into two politically opposed blocs.
1944 1948 1950 1956
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1
TIMELINE
1946 1952 1954
THE CURTAIN FALLS
1946–1949
On March 15, 1946, Churchill delivered a speech
at a college in Fulton, Missouri. Flanked by President
Harry Truman, he spoke of the “special relationship”
between Britain and the US, but also warned that
the relationship between the West and the USSR
was deteriorating. He used the metaphor of an “iron
curtain” to describe the threat of Soviet expansionism.
Churchill’s plea to form an alliance to counter the
threat grew in urgency as Communism spread further.
2
Dates Communist takeover completed
“Iron curtain” from 1948
Communist states by 1949
DIVIDING EUROPE: THE YALTA AND POTSDAM
CONFERENCES FEBRUARY–AUGUST 1945
In February 1945, Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill met
at Yalta on the Crimean Peninsula to discuss Europe’s
future. Germany and Austria were to be occupied
by Soviet, US, and British forces, with their capitals
divided into occupied zones. However, by the time the
leaders met again in Potsdam, Germany, in July, Poland
was already under Soviet control and had annexed
Germany’s territories east of the Oder–Neisse Line.
1
Soviet occupation zones
British occupation zones
French occupation zones
US occupation zones
Soviet territorial gains
Polish territorial gains
Oder–Neisse Line
Cities divided into
four occupation zones
THE IRON CURTAIN
After the end of World War II, Europe was divided by an
ideological “iron curtain” that separated the Communist states
of the East from the democracies of the West. The division
deepened to create two economic and military blocs that
existed at a tense stand-off for the next 40 years.
The goodwill between the USSR and its
Western allies drained away toward the
end of the war, and historic tensions
between the powers began to resurface
by the time the Allied leaders met to
discuss the reorganization of Europe at
Yalta in February 1945 (see pp.230–231).
As much of Eastern Europe fell into
Communist hands over the next few
years, the US gradually came to heed
Churchill’s warning—originally
dismissed as warmongering—that an
“iron curtain” was descending on Europe
and that the West needed protection
from the spread of Communism. Rivalry
and antagonism between the former
allies grew rapidly into the Cold War,
a term originally coined by the English
writer George Orwell. This war was
expressed not through direct military
conflict, but rather through general
non-cooperation, propaganda, and
economic measures, which created
two opposed economic blocs—Western
Europe and North America on one
side, and the USSR and her satellite
Communist states on the other.
The Cold War nearly tipped into
armed conflict during the Berlin blockade
in 1948. After this, both sides created
mutual defense treaties—the North
Atlantic Treaty and the Warsaw Pact—
that successfully prevented war, despite
later moments of crisis, such as the
Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Relations
between the two blocs would eventually
thaw in the 1980s with the liberalization
of the USSR under Mikhail Gorbachev.
△ Germany divided
This map, produced in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1945, shows the
division of the country into Occupation Zones. The symbol
over Berlin shows the split of the city into four sectors.
THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE AND
THE MARSHALL PLAN 1947–1949
In March 1947, President Truman pledged support
for “free peoples resisting subjugation by armed
minorities or outside pressures.” Arms were sent to
anti-Communism forces in the Greek Civil War; under
the Marshall Plan, $13 billion went to Europe to stop
Communism gaining a foothold. The USSR responded
by establishing the Council for Mutual Economic
Assistance (COMECON) to coordinate the economic
policies of the Eastern European Communist states.
3
Greek Civil War 1946–1949
Recipients of Marshall Aid
Members of COMECON
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