March 5th

On this day - March 5th 1946 - Churchill coined the term "Iron Curtain" about Soviet domination of East-Europe

The former British prime minister Winston Churchill talked about the Iron Curtain in his Sinews of Peace address in 1946. This concept was used to describe the soviet dominated eastern Europe during the cold war conflict. The Iron Curtains was seen as a dividing line between the western and the eastern parts of Europe. The term was not popular at the time, and it was severely criticized in the Soviet Union. Stalin even replied to Churchills speech and defended the Soviets friendship with the eastern states as a safeguard against another invasion. However, as the cold war continued did the term gain popularity and it grew into a well used metaphor for the division between east and west Europe. Physically, the curtain was maintained with border control, except in Berlin where the famous Berlin Wall was built.



"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an "Iron Curtain" has descended across the continent".