The Iron Curtain speech
On 5 March 1946, less than a year after the defeat of Nazi Germany, Winston Churchill gave a speech at Fulton, Missouri, in the United States that became one of the most quoted of the century. He was no longer Britain's prime minister, but his warning still carried weight. Europe, he claimed, had been cut in two by an 'Iron Curtain', and the eastern half was falling under Soviet domination.
The timing is what makes the speech so striking. Only months earlier, Britain, the USA and the USSR had been allies fighting the same enemies. Now a wartime leader was describing one of those allies as a threat. Within a few years the USA and the USSR led two hostile camps, and by 1950 their rivalry had spread from Europe into Asia.
Explaining this shift means working through three linked problems. First, why these two states became far stronger than everyone else. Second, why their alliance collapsed so quickly. Third, who historians think was mainly responsible.
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