Iron Curtain Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Building antagonism=== {{Further|Origins of the Cold War|Cold War (1947–1953)}} [[File:DNV opona.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Remains of the "iron curtain" in [[Devínska Nová Ves]], [[Bratislava]] (Slovakia)]] [[File:Čížov (Zaisa) - preserved part of Iron curtain.JPG|thumb|Preserved part of "iron curtain" in the Czech Republic. A [[watchtower]], [[Dragon's teeth (fortification)|dragon's teeth]] and electric security fence are visible.]] The antagonism between the Soviet Union and the West that came to be described as the "iron curtain" had various origins. During the summer of 1939, after conducting negotiations both with a British-French group and with [[Nazi Germany]] regarding potential military and political agreements,{{sfn|Shirer|1990|pp=515–540}} the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed the [[German–Soviet Commercial Agreement (1939)|German–Soviet Commercial Agreement]] (which provided for the trade of certain German military and civilian equipment in exchange for Soviet raw materials){{sfn|Shirer|1990|p=668}}{{sfn|Ericson|1999|p=57}} and the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] (signed in late August 1939), named after the foreign secretaries of the two countries ([[Vyacheslav Molotov]] and [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]]), which included a secret agreement to split Poland and Eastern Europe between the two states.<ref>Day, Alan J.; East, Roger; Thomas, Richard. ''A Political and Economic Dictionary of Eastern Europe'', p. 405.</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Stalin offered troops to stop Hitler |publisher=NDTV |location=London |agency=Press Trust of India |date=19 October 2008 |url=http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080069304 |access-date=4 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090317090544/http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080069304 |archive-date=17 March 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Soviets thereafter occupied Eastern [[Poland]] (September 1939), [[Latvia]] (June 1940), [[Lithuania]] (1940), northern [[Romania]] ([[Bessarabia]] and [[Northern Bukovina]], late June 1940), [[Estonia]] (1940) and eastern [[Finland]] (March 1940). From August 1939, relations between the West and the Soviets deteriorated further when the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany engaged in an extensive [[Nazi–Soviet economic relations|economic relationship]] by which the Soviet Union sent Germany vital oil, rubber, manganese and other materials in exchange for German weapons, manufacturing machinery and technology.{{sfn|Ericson|1999|pp=1–210}}{{sfn|Shirer|1990|pp=598–610}} Nazi–Soviet trade ended in June 1941 when Germany broke the Pact and invaded the Soviet Union in [[Operation Barbarossa]]. In the course of World War II, Stalin determined to acquire a buffer area against Germany, with pro-Soviet states on its border in an [[Eastern bloc]]. Stalin's aims led to strained relations at the [[Yalta Conference]] (February 1945) and the subsequent [[Potsdam Conference]] (July–August 1945).<ref> {{Citation |first=Gar |last=Alperovitz |title=Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam: The Use of the Atomic Bomb and the American Confrontation with Soviet Power|orig-date=1965 |year=1985|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-008337-8}}</ref> People in the West expressed opposition to Soviet domination over the buffer states, and the fear grew that the Soviets were building an empire that might be a threat to them and their interests. Nonetheless, at the [[Potsdam Conference]], the Allies assigned parts of Poland, Finland, Romania, Germany, and the Balkans to Soviet control or influence. In return, Stalin promised the Western Allies that he would allow those territories the right to [[Self-determination|National Self-Determination]]. Despite Soviet cooperation during the war, these concessions left many in the West uneasy. In particular, Churchill feared that the United States might return to its pre-war [[United States isolationism|Isolationism]], leaving the exhausted European states unable to resist Soviet demands. (President Franklin D. Roosevelt had announced at Yalta that after the defeat of Germany, U.S. forces would withdraw from Europe within two years.)<ref>[[Antony Beevor]] ''Berlin: The building of the Berlin Wall'', p. 80</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page