Final answer:
The Iron Curtain was the ideological and physical division between Communist nations of Eastern Europe and Democratic nations of Western Europe during the Cold War. It represented the stark opposition between the influence of the Soviet Union in the East and the United States in the West, enforced by barriers like the Berlin Wall and alliances such as NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Iron Curtain referred to the division between Communist nations of Eastern Europe and the Democratic nations of Western Europe during the Cold War. This symbolic barrier was a manifestation of the ideological and political divisions that defined the period following World War II until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Eastern Europe was heavily influenced by the Soviet Union and these countries formed socialist governments aligned with Moscow, creating the Eastern Bloc. Conversely, Western European nations promoted capitalist democracies and were allied with the United States, forming the Western Bloc. This stark division was represented by physical barriers such as the notorious Berlin Wall and the military alliances of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, which stood in direct opposition to each other.
The term "Iron Curtain" was popularized by Winston Churchill in his 1946 speech, symbolizing the restricted movement and limited exchange between the two sides, as the Soviet Union sought to safeguard its Communist ideology against Western influence and vice versa.