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! ===Churchill speech=== Winston Churchill's [[:s:Sinews of Peace|[https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1946-1963-elder-statesman/the-sinews-of-peace/ "Sinews of Peace" address]]] of 5 March 1946, at [[Westminster College, Missouri|Westminster College]] in [[Fulton, Missouri]],<ref> [https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/sinews-of-peace-iron-curtain-speech.html Sinews of Peace, 1946] </ref> publicly used the term "iron curtain" in the context of Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe: [[File:Iron Curtain as described by Churchill.PNG|thumb|The Iron Curtain as described by Churchill at Westminster College. Note that Vienna (''center, red regions, third down'') lies east of the Curtain, as part of the Austrian [[Allied-occupied Austria| Soviet-occupied zone of Austria]].]] {{blockquote|From [[Szczecin|Stettin]] in the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] to [[Trieste]] in the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]], an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet [[sphere of influence | sphere]], and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Churchill|first1=Winston|title=The Sinews of Peace ('Iron Curtain Speech')|url= https://www.winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1946-1963-elder-statesman/the-sinews-of-peace/|website= Winstonchurchill.org|publisher= [[International Churchill Society]]| access-date=2 December 2017|date= 5 March 1946}}</ref>}} Much of the [[Western world | Western]] public still regarded the [[Soviet Union]] as a close ally in the context of the 1945 defeat of [[Nazi Germany]] and of [[Empire of Japan| Imperial Japan]].{{cn|date=February 2023}}<ref> For public opinion in the United States, compare: {{cite book |last1 = Young |first1 = John W. |last2 = Kent |first2 = John |year = 2020 |orig-date = 2003 |chapter = Tensions in the Grand Alliance and Growing Confrontation, 1945β7 |title = International Relations Since 1945: a global history |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dLXRDwAAQBAJ |edition = 3 |location = Oxford |publisher = Oxford University Press |page = 44 |isbn = 9780198807612 |access-date = 22 February 2023 |quote = The President appeared ready to embark on a more confrontational approach as public opinion became less willing to trust the Soviets. It was in early 1946 that a crisis in Iran was to provide a basis for a confrontation [...]. }} </ref> Although not well received at the time, the phrase ''iron curtain'' gained popularity as a shorthand reference to the division of Europe as the Cold War progressed. The Iron Curtain served to keep people in, and information out. People throughout the West eventually came to accept and use the metaphor. Churchill's "Sinews of Peace" address strongly criticized the Soviet Union's exclusive and secretive tension policies along with the Eastern Europe's state form, the [[police state |Police Government]] ({{lang-de | Polizeistaat}}).<ref> {{cite web | url = https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/sinews-of-peace-iron-curtain-speech.html | title = Sinews of Peace, 1946 | last = Churchill | first = Winston | author-link = Winston Churchill | orig-date = 5 March 1946 | publisher = National Churchill Museum | access-date = 22 February 2023 | quote = In these States, control is enforced upon the common people by various kinds of all-embracing police governments, to a degree which is overwhelming and contrary to every principle of democracy. }} </ref> He expressed the western Allied nations' distrust of the Soviet Union after the World War II. In September 1946, US-Soviet cooperation would collapse due to the US disavowal of the Soviet Union's opinion on the German problem in the [[Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt| Stuttgart Council]], and then followed the announcement by US President [[Harry S. Truman]] of a hard line anti-Soviet, anticommunist policy. After that the phrase ''iron curtain'' became more widely used as an anti-Soviet term in the West.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=1146410&cid=40942&categoryId=31656 |title= μ² μ μ₯λ§: μ§μλ°±κ³Ό |language=ko |publisher=Terms.naver.com |access-date= 2015-09-16}}</ref> Additionally, Churchill mentioned in his speech that regions under the Soviet Union's control were expanding their leverage and [[power (social and political) |Power]] without any restriction.<ref> Compare: {{cite web | url = https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/sinews-of-peace-iron-curtain-speech.html | title = Sinews of Peace, 1946 | last = Churchill | first = Winston | author-link = Winston Churchill | orig-date = 5 March 1946 | publisher = National Churchill Museum | access-date = 22 February 2023 | quote = I do not believe that Soviet Russia desires war. What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines. }} </ref> He asserted that in order to put a brake on this ongoing phenomenon, the commanding force of and strong unity between the UK and the US was necessary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=72578&cid=504&categoryId=504 |title=μ² μ μ₯λ§: μ§μλ°±κ³Ό |language=ko |publisher=Terms.naver.com |access-date=2015-09-16}}</ref> Stalin took note of Churchill's speech and responded in ''[[Pravda]]'' in mid-March 1946. He accused Churchill of warmongering, and defended Soviet "friendship" with eastern-European states as a necessary safeguard against another invasion. Stalin further accused Churchill of hoping to install right-wing governments in eastern Europe with the goal of agitating those states against the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite web|author=Stalin |url= http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1946/03/x01.htm |title=Interview to "Pravda" Correspondent Concerning Mr. Winston Churchill's Speech |publisher= Marxists.org |access-date=2015-09-16}}</ref> [[Andrei Zhdanov]], Stalin's chief propagandist, used the term against the West in an August 1946 speech:<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/zhdanovlit.htm |title= Zhdanov: On Literature, Music and Philosophy|website= revolutionarydemocracy.org }}</ref> {{Block quote|Hard as bourgeois politicians and writers may strive to conceal the truth of the achievements of the Soviet order and Soviet culture, hard as they may strive to erect an iron curtain to keep the truth about the Soviet Union from penetrating abroad, hard as they may strive to belittle the genuine growth and scope of Soviet culture, all their efforts are foredoomed to failure.}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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