The Iron Curtain



Soviet Satellite Nations (1945)

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A satellite country is one that is formally independent, but is under heavy political, economic and/or military influence and control from another country.

Winston Churchill: The Iron Curtain Speech (excerpts)

March 5, 1946

Background:

On March 5, 1946, the former British Prime Minister during WWII, Winston Churchill, spoke at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.

…A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory. Nobody knows what Soviet Russia and its Communist international organization intends to do in the immediate future, or what are the limits, if any, to their expansive and proselytizing tendencies. I have a strong admiration and regard for the valiant Russian people and for my wartime comrade, Marshal Stalin....

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the 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, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow…The Communist parties, which were very small in all these Eastern States of Europe, have been raised to pre-eminence and power far beyond their numbers and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control…

TRUMAN DOCTRINE

In the speech below, President Truman lays out the principles of what came to be known as the Truman Doctrine. At the time, Greece and Turkey were appealing to the United States for aid to help their countries recover from war damage and fight back the Communists who were attacking along the northern and eastern borders. President Truman saw this as an attempt to spread communism and suppress democracy.

|At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one. One way of life is|

|based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, |

|freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression. The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the |

|majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms. |

|I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside |

|pressures. |

|I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. |

|I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes… |

|It would be an unspeakable tragedy if these countries, which have struggled so long against overwhelming odds, should lose that victory for which they sacrificed |

|so much. Collapse of free institutions and loss of independence would be disastrous not only for them but for the world. Discouragement and possibly failure would |

|quickly be the lot of neighboring peoples striving to maintain their freedom and independence… |

|We must keep that hope alive. |

|The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms. If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world. And we |

|shall surely endanger the welfare of this nation. |

|Great responsibilities have been placed upon us by the swift movement of events. |

|I am confident that the Congress will face these responsibilities squarely. |

|Source: President Harry S. Truman, speech to joint session of Congress. March 1947. |

MARSHALL PLAN

George Marshall, acted as secretary of state (in the United States) from 1947 to 1949, formulating the «Marshall Plan», an unprecedented program of economic and military aid to foreign nations.

Marshall Announces His Plan

In the speech Marshall outlined the problem: "Europe's requirements are so much greater than her present ability to pay that she must have substantial additional help or face economic, social, and political deterioration of a very grave character." He then suggested a solution: that the European nations themselves set up a program for the reconstruction of Europe, with United States assistance.

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Marshall Plan Countries

This map shows the countries that were part of the Marshall Plan. Almost all European nations outside the Soviet bloc were members of the plan from the beginning.

After two years of the plan and less than five years after World War II, most of the areas were at or near prewar levels and industrial production was not merely at prewar levels but 15 percent above.

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Edwin Marcus. "Can He Block It?" ca. 1947.

MARSHALL PLAN

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Berlin Airlift

Following World War II, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin headed a union of nations on his Western border, the Eastern Bloc, that then included Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, which he wished to maintain alongside a weakened Soviet-controlled Germany (East Germany).

Property and industry was nationalized in the East German zone.  If statements or decisions deviated from the described line, reprimands and punishment would ensue, such as imprisonment, torture and even death.

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Berlin, located in East Germany, was also divided into zones.

In 1948, following disagreements regarding reconstruction and a new German currency, Stalin instituted the Berlin Blockade, preventing food, materials and supplies from arriving in West Berlin.

On 24 June 1948, the Soviets severed land and water communications between the non-Soviet zones and Berlin. That same day, they halted all rail and barge traffic in and out of Berlin.

On 25 June, the Soviets stopped supplying food to the civilian population in the non-Soviet sectors of Berlin. Motor traffic from Berlin to the western zones was permitted, but this required a 23 kilometer detour to a ferry crossing because of alleged "repairs" to a bridge. They also cut off the electricity relied on by Berlin, using their control over the generating plants in the Soviet zone.

Surface traffic from non-Soviet zones to Berlin was blockaded, leaving open only the air corridors

 The United States, Britain, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several other countries began a massive "Berlin airlift", supplying West Berlin with food and other supplies.

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1948, Berliners watching a C-54 land in Berlin

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NATO

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• North Atlantic Treaty Organization – formed 1949

• A defensive military alliance between 10 Western European nations, the U.S., & Canada

• Main aim was to protect Western Europe from Communist aggression

• Over the years, NATO has obtained new members (shown below)

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NUCLEAR ARMS RACE

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KOREAN WAR

World War II divided Korea into a Communist, northern half and an American-occupied southern half, divided at the 38th parallel. The Korean War (1950-1953) began when the North Korean Communist army crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded non-Communist South Korea. As Kim Il-Sung's North Korean army, armed with Soviet tanks, quickly overran South Korea, the United States came to South Korea's aid. General Douglas MacArthur, who had been overseeing the post-WWII occupation of Japan, commanded the US forces. Although Korea was not strategically essential to the United States, the political environment at this stage of the Cold War was such that policymakers did not want to appear "soft on Communism." Officially, the US intervened as part of a "police action" run by a UN (United Nations) international peace- keeping force, and they were there to help the South Koreans.

As far as American officials were concerned, it was a war against the forces of international communism itself. After some early back-and-forth across the 38th parallel, the fighting stalled and casualties mounted with nothing to show for them. Meanwhile, American officials worked anxiously to fashion some sort of armistice with the North Koreans. The alternative, they feared, would be a wider war with Russia and China–or even, as some warned, World War III.. In all, some 5 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives during the war. In 1953 a peace treaty was signed at Panmunjom that ended the Korean War, returning Korea to a divided status essentially the same as before the war. Neither the war nor its outcome did much to lessen the era's Cold War tension.

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WARSAW PACT

• An alliance formed by the Soviet Union in 1955

• Was a response to the threat of the NATO alliance of the West

• Included the Soviet Union & its satellite nations (areas that it controlled in Eastern Europe)

• Sometimes referred to as the Eastern Block

Warsaw Pact Nations

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20 year anniversary stamp: “For security of peace and socialism”

SPACE RACE

With a single shot, the Soviet Union not only launched the first artificial satellite but also officially inaugurated a "space race" with the United States. Sputnik – sometimes called Sputnik 1 – went into space on Oct. 4, 1957. The achievement sent a shockwave through the American public, who had felt a sense of technological superiority amid a post-war economic boom. Was the United States falling behind? Could Sputnik be a play on the part of the Soviets to put arms in space? Is space a worthy place to compete for world prestige?  Both nations were soon locked in a competition to reach milestones in space first.

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