Who popularized the term “Iron Curtain”?
Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874–1965) of Great Britain popularized the term in March 1946, during a speech in Fulton, Missouri. He remarked that “an iron curtain has descended across the Continent [of Europe].” Churchill was not, however, the first person to refer to an “iron curtain.” The term was also used by German Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels in 1945, English aristocrat Lady Snowden in 1920, and Queen Elisbeth of Belgium in 1914. In his speech Churchill was referring to the tactics of Soviet Communist leader Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) in Eastern Europe. After defeating Germany in World War II (1939–45), the Allies (Great Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union) shared control of territory in Eastern Europe that had previously been occupied by Germany. Churchill warned that the Soviets were putting up barriers against the Western Allies…
