THE IRON CURTAIN
What: A metaphor for the political,
military and ideological division of
post-World War II Europe
Who:Winston Churchill
Joseph Stalin
Harry Truman
Josip Broz Tito
When: 1946-1990
Winston Churchill
Office: Prime Minister of
Great Britain
Role:
Made the term “Iron
Curtain” famous in his
Sinews of Peace Speech
(text)
Original figurehead of
the Western Bloc
Encouraged US and
Western Europe
cooperation in what
eventually became NATO
Harry S. Truman
Office: President of the
United States of America
Role:
Allied with Great Britain
and the Western Bloc
Employed Containment
policy to keep Soviet
influence from expanding
beyond the Iron Curtain
Oversaw the European
Recovery Program (the
Marshall Plan)
Responsible for US
participation in NATO
Joseph Stalin
Office: General Secretary of
the Soviet Union
Role:
Leader of the Eastern Bloc
Controlled much of Eastern
Europe through annexed
territories and Soviet
Satellite states
Established COMECON and the
Warsaw Pact as the Eastern
Bloc equivalent of the
Marshall Plan and NATO
Josip Broz Tito
Office: President of Yugoslavia
Role:
Declared independence from the
Eastern Bloc in 1948
Led an independent Yugoslavia
acting as a buffer zone between
the Eastern and Western Blocs
Founding member of the NonAligned Movement (along with the
leaders of Indonesia, India,
Egypt and Ghana) whose members
remained neutral throughout the
Cold War
Sources:
Gaddis, John Lewis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War
History, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 1998,
ISBN 0-19-878071-0
Ramet, Sabrina P.; The Three Yugoslavias: Statebuilding and Legitimation, 1918–2005; Indiana
University Press, 2006 ISBN 0-253-34656-8
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/294419/Iron
-Curtain
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/churchill-iron.asp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2PUIQpAEAQ
(Churchill speech excerpt and explainer video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJxUAcADV70
(Churchill full speech audio)
All images are Public Domain