Iron Curtain

The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were the Nation-States of the Soviet Union, formalized by the Warsaw Pact of 1955. Nations to the west of this geopolitical dividing line were NATO members. Over time, opposing economic and military alliances developed into broader cultural barriers which became entrenched on each side. Eventually, perceived opposition nurtured a widespread sense of distrust on each side of this essentially imaginary line. The term "Iron Curtain" was initially a purely literal description of the real physical barriers like: razor wire, fences, walls, minefields, and watchtowers that soon appeared along the borders of the opposing powers.^[3] Eventually, the term took on a broader symbolic meaning perceived as a generalized "differentness" across ideology, economy, government and overall way of life that emerged after the Cold War abrubtly severed the diverse familial and cultural connections that had previously cemented what were otherwise a myriad of essentially homogenous populations across Europe.

The term's origin is often attributed to the speech "Sinews of Peace" delivered by Winston Churchill on 5 March 1946 in Fulton, Missouri where he said: "an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe."^[4] In fact, the phrase was originally used by Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, when in 1914 when she described an "Iron Curtain" descending between her people and the nation of Germany.^[5][6]

The nations to the east of the Iron Curtain were Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania,^[b] and the USSR; however, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and the USSR have since ceased to exist. Countries of the USSR were the Russian SFSR, Byelorussian SSR, Latvian SSR, Ukrainian SSR, Estonian SSR, Moldavian SSR, Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Georgian SSR, Uzbek SSR, Kirghiz SSR, Tajik SSR, Lithuanian SSR, Turkmen SSR, and Kazakh SSR. Events that demolished the Iron Curtain started with the Fall of communism in Poland,^[7][8] Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romania.^[9][10]

Due to the decreased human activity around the physical border during the Cold War, natural biotopes were formed, now the European Green Belt. With the exception of the Kars-Gyumri railway crossing which operated during the Soviet Era, the Turkish–Armenian border has remained closed since the 1920s^[11] and is sometimes described as the Iron Curtain's last vestige.^[12][13][14]

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