Iron Curtain Analysis

The Cold War began in 1945 after WW II, between the United States and the Soviet Union. Each country had their own ideologies about how to rebuild Europe after the war. President Truman and the Russians leader Joseph Stalin were in disagreement on how to divide postwar Europe. The Soviets controlled Poland and most of the Balkans while the American and British forces had liberated Western Europe from Scandinavia to Italy. The Russians were concerned about past invasions and were intent on imposing communist governments loyal to Moscow. The United States believed in self-determination and that the people in each country should freely elect their own rulers. The Soviets felt that if European governments were elected by the people they would be unfriendly to Russia. Stalin did not trust America so he established an Iron Curtain. Winston Churchill was the first to use the phrase "Iron Curtain" it referred to the boundary in Europe that divided Soviet-dominated Eastern and Central Europe from Western Europe. This battle to control Europe would be called the Cold War.
After World War II, President Truman had a dilemma concerning the Atomic bomb. The president appointed Bernard Baruch to present a plan to the United Nations and in 1946, Baruch presented a plan to control and eventually …show more content…
President Nixon and Henry Kissinger pursued a policy of detente, a French word meaning a relaxation of tension. Nixon also cooled down the Cold War with The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks in 1972, the United States and the Soviet Union culminated four years of SALT by signing a treaty limiting the deployment of antiballistic missiles and an agreement to freeze the number of offensive missiles for five years. President Jimmy Carter was faced with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and it proved to be disastrous for his