The Soviet Threat
Soviet ExpansionismDuring and following World War II, Joseph Stalin desired to construct a ‘buffer zone’ of friendly states surrounding the Soviet Union to ensure that the country could never be invaded again. To do so, the Red Army ‘liberated’ large regions of Eastern Europe, in which communist influences were established. Such expansion stimulated many Westerners’ fears of a Soviet objective of world domination.
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American cartoon depicting the apparent Soviet objective of world domination (Oldenburger.us).
(Click above to enlarge image.)
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"The Soviet Union is engaged in a systematic effort to consolidate its military influence in Eastern Europe...this effort is an integral part of the larger policy of assuring the permanent political, economic and military orientation of that area toward the USSR. In particular it is designed to prevent any Eastern European country from becoming an accomplice to a future attack on the USSR, or providing an avenue of approach for a hostile army.” -Excerpt from the Weekly Summary, Soviet Military Policy in Eastern Europe, August 23, 1946
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Winston Churchill's 'Iron Curtain' Speech
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On March 5, 1946, during a visit—orchestrated by current president Harry Truman—to Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill delivered “Sinews of Peace”—widely referred to as the “Iron Curtain Speech”—in which he explained that Soviet power was expanding and thus must be stopped.
"A Peep under the Iron Curtain" by Leslie Gilbert Illingworth (Daily Mail).
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Winston Churchill presenting "Sinews of Peace" at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri (National Churchill Museum).
(Click above to enlarge image.)
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"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste 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...all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject...to Soviet influence...the Communist parties, which were very small in all these Eastern States of Europe, have been raised to preeminence and power far beyond their numbers and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control." -Excerpt from "Sinews of Peace"
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Impact of the Speech
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As a result of "Sinews of Peace", a negative perception of Soviet communism was formulated within the Western nations.
Newspaper article reporting Winston Churchill's 'Iron Curtain' Speech (The Stars and Stripes/Mitchell Archives).
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      (Click above to view gallery images of American anti-communist propaganda.)
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"Winston Churchill today said Russia constituted 'a growing challenge and peril to Christian civilization' and called for a virtual United States-Great Britain military alliance to prevent a third world war...he termed Russia a threatening 'shadow' over both Europe and Asia." -Excerpt from 'The Stars and Stripes' article "Unite to Stop Russians, Churchill Warns at Fulton"
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"Sinews of Peace" weakened relations between the Western nations and the Soviet Union, and is thus widely regarded as the official beginning of the Cold War.
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"The Cold War set in. Churchill had given his famous speech in Fulton urging the imperialistic forces of the world to fight the Soviet Union. Our relations with England, France and the USA were ruined." -Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet government official
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