Map showing the
Iron Curtain border
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Iron Curtain Facts: Fast Fact Sheet
Fast, fun facts and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
about the Iron Curtain.
What was the Iron Curtain? The Iron Curtain
is a phrase used to describe the
"impenetrable barrier" between the Soviet
Bloc in the East and the countries of the
West.
What does the Iron Curtain refer to?
The Iron Curtain refers to the sphere of
influence that the Soviet Union had among
eight communist states of Central and
Eastern Europe during the
Cold War.
What countries were behind the Iron Curtain?
The Communist countries behind the Iron Curtain
were the Soviet Union, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary,
Poland, Romania and Albania
Who first spoke of the Iron Curtain? The
term 'Iron Curtain' was made popular in a
speech by Winston Churchill but the term
itself dates back to 1819 and was used by
U.S. diplomat Allen W. Dulles at a meeting
of the Council on Foreign Relations on
December 3, 1945.
Iron Curtain Facts
for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting information, history and
facts on Iron Curtain for kids.
Iron Curtain
Facts for kids
Iron Curtain
Facts - 1: The term "Iron Curtain" was used to
describe the boundary that separated the free democratic
countries of the West with the communist dominated
countries of the East, as shown in the map. The boundary
existed from 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991.
Iron Curtain
Facts - 2: The Eastern Bloc was another name
given to the countries of eastern and central Europe
which were under Soviet domination from the end of WW2
until the collapse of the Soviet communist system in
1991.
Iron Curtain
Facts - 3: The Iron Curtain descended between
the East and the West due to agreements that were made
by the United States, Great Britain and Russia in the
Percentages Agreement, the Yalta Conference and the
Potsdam Conference - many of these agreements were
subsequently broken by Russia.
Iron Curtain
Facts - 4: The Percentages Agreement was made
between Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill during the
Fourth Moscow Conference on October 1944, about how to
divide various European countries into spheres of
influence. Under the Percentages Agreement the UK and
USSR agreed to divide Europe into spheres of influence,
with one country having "predominance" in one sphere,
and the other country would have "predominance" in
another sphere.
Iron Curtain
Facts - 5: The
Yalta Conference
(February 4, 1945 - February 11, 1945) was a meeting
between Winston Churchill, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin to discuss the end of WW2 and plan the
occupation of Nazi Germany, the defeat of
Japan and the ensuing peace in the postwar
world. Within weeks of meeting at Yalta the
Soviets had broken many of the agreements.
Iron Curtain
Facts -
6: The
Potsdam Conference (July 17, 1945 to 2 August 2,
1945) followed shortly after the Yalta Conference but in
a matter of just a few weeks significant changes had
occurred.
Iron Curtain
Facts - 7: President Franklin D. Roosevelt had died on April
12, 1945 and Vice-President Harry Truman had assumed the presidency.
Winston Churchill lost the election and was replaced by Clement
Atlee as the British Prime Minister
Iron Curtain
Facts - 8: The political situation had radically changed
since the Yalta Conference at which time the Americans believed they
needed the Soviets to help in the war against Japan. The strongly
anti-communist Harry Truman was highly suspicious of Stalin and
adopted a hard line against the Russians.
Iron Curtain
Facts - 9: President Truman informed Stalin at
the Potsdam Conference that the US had successfully
tested the Atomic Bomb.
Iron Curtain
Facts - 10: Truman forced Stalin to back down on his demands
for heavy war reparations from Germany. Stalin was furious and
refused to uphold the Declaration of Liberated Europe which agreed
to free elections in the countries of eastern Europe.
Continued...
Iron Curtain
Facts for kids
Facts
about the Iron Curtain Facts for kids
The following fact
sheet continues with interesting information, history and facts
on Iron Curtain for kids.
Iron Curtain
Facts for kids
Iron Curtain
Facts - 11: The goodwill and relationships
quickly deteriorated between the once Allied nations and
Soviet-American wartime cooperation degenerated into
what would become the Cold War
Iron Curtain
Facts - 12: The Iron Curtain was set to descend
separating the Communist countries of Eastern Europe
under the influence of Russia from the democratic
countries of the West.
Iron Curtain
Facts - 13: Twenty million Russians had died
during WW2 and Joseph Stalin was determined that
Russia would never be invaded again. To safeguard Russia
his plan was to establish a 'buffer zone' of friendly,
Communist states around Russia.
Iron Curtain
Facts -
14: Russian military forces, the Red
Army, drove the German Nazis back and Russia occupied
large areas of Eastern Europe that had once been claimed
by Nazi Germany. There was therefore a huge presence of
the Soviet Army in Eastern Europe.
Iron Curtain
Facts - 15: In the countries "liberated" by the Soviet Red
Army, communist-dominated governments took power. Although these
countries were not ostensibly under direct Russian control they had
to remain Communist and follow policies approved by the Soviets.
Iron Curtain
Facts - 16:
The Communist countries established behind
the Iron Curtain were the Soviet Union, East Germany (1945),
Bulgaria (1945), Czechoslovakia (1948), Hungary (1947), Poland
(1947), Romania (1947) and Albania (1945).
Iron Curtain
Facts - 17:
The Communist countries behind the Iron Curtain
came to be referred to as the 'Satellite Nations'.
Iron Curtain
Facts - 18: Although Yugoslavia was Communist
politically it was not considered to be behind the Iron
Curtain. The president of Yugoslavia, Josip Tito, was
able to maintain access with the west while leading a
communist country
Iron Curtain
Facts - 19: As Winston
Churchill watched the Iron Curtain descend between the
East and the West he was invited by President Truman to
make a speech at Westminster College in Fulton,
Missouri. He gave the famous "Sinews of Peace" speech on March 5, 1946 at
in which he described the descent of the Iron Curtain
and condemned the Soviet Union’s policies in Europe. An
excepts from the speech is as follows:
Iron Curtain
Facts - 20: The policies in the Soviet Union
prevented contact of the free world with the Iron
Curtain countries, the 'Satellite Nations', and their
people.
Iron Curtain
Facts -
21: The Communists behind the Iron
Curtain controlled the army and set up a secret police
force. Opponents of Communism were beaten and many were
arrested and executed.
Iron Curtain
Facts - 22: After WW2 the country of
Germany was divided into two separate countries - East
Germany and West Germany. East Germany became a
communist country under the control of the Soviet Union.
West Germany was a democratic country and allied with
Great Britain, France, and the United States.
Iron Curtain
Facts - 23: Hundreds of thousands of people
defected from the East to the West and defection was
easier in the Berlin because it was controlled by all
four major powers. On August 12, 1961 the Soviets and
the East German leaders ordered the building of the
Berlin Wall to prevent people from leaving. The Berlin
Wall stood for 28 years until October 3, 1990 when
Germany was officially reunified into a single country.
Iron Curtain
Facts -
24: The Iron Curtain was lifted due to
the collapse of communism. The Soviet Union fell in 1991
ending the Cold War.
Iron Curtain
Facts for kids
Iron Curtain for kids - President Harry Truman Video
The article on the
Iron Curtain provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important events during his presidential term in office. The following
Harry Truman video will
give you additional important facts and dates about the political events experienced by the 33rd American President whose presidency spanned from April 12, 1945 to January 20, 1953.
Iron Curtain for kids
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Iron Curtain Facts with important dates and key
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history and information for schools,
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