Existing comment:
Behind the Iron Curtain:
"An iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe."
-- British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, March 1946
The Iron Curtain took shape after World War II as a fortified border between nations of Eastern and Western Europe. But as an idea, the Iron Curtain stood for the profound division between communism and democracy, oppression and freedom.
The Soviet Union dominated life on the eastern side of the border and enforced its brand of communism in its satellite states. Ronald Reagan took on the enormous challenge of bringing down the Iron Curtain. |