Download Iron Curtain: Division of Europe

Iron Curtain:
Division of Europe
Drew Cuthill & Robbie Scimeca
General Overview
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Used as the term to refer to the division of Europe.
Germany had split into two different countries, one communist and the
other side Democratic
The Soviet Union dominated eastern Europe, while opposing forces
reigned in the west.
It started with the Berlin Wall in Germany and expanded both ways
east and west.
Different Perspectives
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Winston Churchill said during one of the most famous speeches during
the Cold War to explain the “Iron Curtain”
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has
descended across the continent." The continent has split into 2 new
regions.
Winston Churchill is also responsible for naming it the “Iron Curtain”
Question
What do you think the purpose of this was?
What were the two governments of Germany
after the split?
Purpose
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Russia had wanted to expand for years, and saw the opportunity of the
weakened Europe after WWII
Seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies
from open contact with the West and other non-communist areas.
Russia demonstrating its communist power to other nations
The allies purpose of controlling the other part of Germany to be
present there until a new, stable government was established.
United States Involvement
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Berlin became a hugely symbolic issue for both the Soviets and the
Germans
The Americans made a gigantic airlift for possible hair-trigger tension
The Americans used these aircrafts, which were recently used to bomb
Berlin, to help out the Berliners, the former enemy
Western Europeans were very honored by this act
Question
Why do you think the U.S. got involved in this
way?
Why was Russia against the Germans?
Affect
The Soviets finally lifted their blockade in May of 1949.
In that same year, the governments of the two
Germanies were made. In result the Cold War had been
set up for start.
Citations
Beschloss, Michael R, The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's
Germany, 1941 – 1945, Simon and Schuster,
Churchill, Winston, The Second World War, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,
Cook, Bernard A. Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia, Taylor & Francis
Soviet Information Bureau , Falsifiers of History (Historical Survey), Moscow: Foreign Languages
Publishing House,