Iron Curtain Cold War

Mark Twain notes that while history never repeats itself, it does often rhyme. In fact, this philosophy was demonstrated recently with the Crisis in the Ukraine having a resounding resemblance to the conflict during the Cold War. The Cold War was a decade long struggle, predicted to have begun around 1945, that pitched capitalist United States and Communist Soviet Union against each other. This conflict began at the end of WWII, triggering the establishment of security zones to expand influence and secure the US and Soviet Union’s futures from the threat of a third world war. The US and Soviet Union grew suspicious of each other and tensions and ideological conflict between them rose, which eventually lead to struggles for control and influence

The separation of world powers became known as the “Iron Curtain”. This name was coined by Britain’s prime minister, Winston Churchill, who stated in his speech delivered in Fulton, Missouri on March 5, 1946, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent” (“Iron Curtain”). The US dominated Western Europe and the Soviet Union control Eastern and central Europe. In fact, Stalin instilled communist regimes in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, Albania, with Soviet-occupied east Germany serving as a buffer against an invasion/attack from West Europe (Dagger & Terence). After WWII, Germany and Berlin were split into four zones and divided between the US and Soviet Union. Soon after, East Germany built a wall in Berlin, separating families, friends, and goods, which symbolize the Iron Curtain and the Cold War as a whole. This wall was impenetrable throughout the War, but was torn down during the fall of the Soviet Union. Similar walls have been seen throughout history, including the “Bamboo Curtain” in Asia and even the “Paper Curtain” in the Ukraine. The Paper Curtain was established by Russia to separate Ukraine from the EU’s aid, politics, and overall ideology. The Soviet Union went to extreme efforts to keep them close to Russia and out of the grasp

The Cold War was born out of the conclusion of WWII as the Soviet Union and United States competed for loyalty, land, and allies for a secured future. Both nations did not suffer as severely as Europe and were able to come out mostly unscathed. In turn, they were the only ones capable of reestablishing, rebuilding, and secure a future that would never put them in the midst of a world war again. The political ideologies of capitalist democracy and communist command economy have been pitched at each other throughout history, including disputes during the spreading of Marxism, rise of fascism, and Russian Revolution. Each side wanted to spread their ideology to the European nations in need of leadership and aid. As their influence grew across Europe and the world, their presence began threatening each other and cause more violent surgees of competition (“Cold War”). The US began enacting policies of containment, aid to anti-communist countries, and both sides began threatening mutual assured destruction (MAD). On the other hand, the Ukraine Crisis emerged from years of domestic instability that split the country between Europe and Russia. As mentioned earlier, the Ukraine as struggle with an identity crisis, as they are made up of a mix of Russian and Ukrainian, many of which have strong ties to Russian culture and beliefs. Following the fall of the Soviet Union in