The 'Iron Curtain' speech, 6 March 1946 Flashcards
what did Winston Churchill deliver a speech on?
a direct attack on Soviet policies
what did this speech convince Stalin of?
that the USA was complicit in a plot with Churchill and Britain to carry out an anti-Soviet ideological assault
what was the impact of the speech?
it was felt more than Stalin than Truman
when was Stalin’s response delivered?
10 days after Churchill’s speech
what did Stalin’s response present?
a benign Soviet Union peacefully seeking Eastern European allies to reinforce the USSR’s security - traditional Soviet explanation for its policies towards Eastern Europe
what happened by October 1946?
the USSR had developed a robust analysis of the state of international relations which was to act as a further justification for Soviet policy in Eastern Europe
what did the Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov accused the USA of?
being an imperialistic power and effectively abandoned the Declaration on Liberated Europe, agreed at Yalta
Pravda
means ‘truth’ in Russian, started as an opposition newspaper without a particular political affiliation in the early 20th century, but was shut down by officials in the regime of Tsar Nicholas II. After the Bolsheviks seized power in October 1917, it became the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. This made it a very reliable source for stating official government views, as it never published anything critical of the Soviet Union, the Communist Party, its leadership or its decision-making
Paris Peace Conference, 1946
In September and October 1946, leaders from France, the Soviet Union, the UK and the USA met to draw up peace treaties for the defeated European parties: Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Romania. Although settlements weren’t reached for Austria or Germany, treaties were drafted for the other countries and signed in 1947. All treaties included clauses regarding territorial adjustments, reparations and anti-fascist requirements for the post-war governments
sovereignty definition
the recognition by the international community of a state’s independence and its right to govern itself without external interference
