An iron curtain has descended across the continent of Europe. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of central and eastern Europe. Winston Churchill said these words in 1946. He imagined an iron curtain that formed a dividing line between communist Europe in the East, and democratic Europe in the West. The idea of that iron curtain became a symbol of a new kind of war, one that would dominate world events for over forty years.
After World War Two, several European countries had lost millions of people, had tremendous debts, and were in ruins. Although the Soviet Union had lost nearly twenty million people, it's armies held most of Europe. Only the United States was stronger and richer than before the war. Yet about three hundred thousand Americans had died.
Because of their strength, the United States and the Soviet Union became known as Super Powers. Tensions between the Super Powers and their supports developed into what became known as the cold war. The cold war was a struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union without the two nations fighting a full scale was against each other.