Iron Curtain Essay

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The iron curtain was metaphorical reference to the Berlin Wall that political and ideologically divided the USSR and other communist countries from the rest of the world. The term of “The Iron Curtain” expression became prominent in a speech given by former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill at West Minster College. Churchill’s states “From Stettin in the Baltic to Triest 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.” …”In front of the iron curtain which lies across Europe are other causes for anxiety.”. Many believed that the prime minister was the founder of this term but others say that he wasn’t. In fact, a woman by the name of by the name of Ethel Snowden, wife of Labour leader Philip Snowden composed the term. This was stated in an article from The Times Newspaper (London, England) May 15, 1992 “The phrase ``iron curtain'' was not coined by either Winston Churchill or Josef Goebbels (Diary, May 8). The first recorded use in English of this expression referring to Soviet Russia can be traced to Ethel Snowden, the wife of the Labour leader Philip Snowden. In 1920 she wrote in her book Through Bolshevik Russia of the arrival in Petrograd of the official Labour party delegation: ``we were behind the `Iron Curtain' at last!''. Soviet Leader, Joseph Stalin, had complete control over all movie production. He made directors and writers cut, edit, and add whatever he felt was necessary. Stalin’s strict and controlling ways made it difficult for writer to produce an appropriate script that would be considered “safe”. Stalin believed in quality over quantity. He would rather have 4 to 6 quality movies a y... ... middle of paper ... ...western flags, listen to western radio, or support anticommunist movements in any way. On March 5th of 1953, Joseph Stalin died. Propaganda was a lot softer during this time. On the 7th of September Nikita Khrushchev became the leader of the USSR. His main goal was to promote a more peaceful image of the USSR to other countries. During Khrushchev’s administration the strict censoring of the Stalin era had calmed down thus allowing an abundance of artists to express themselves freely. Many quality movies were produces during this time as well. In 1955 Khrushchev met US President and the Warsaw Pact was created between the countries of Eastern Europe. In 1989, The Berlin Wall is finally was torn down; freeing: Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, East Germany, and Bulgaria. On the 3rd of October, Eastern and Western Reunited and officially became unified.

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