The
Iron Curtain was the physical boundary dividing
Europe into two separate areas from the end of
World War II in 1945 until the end of the
Cold War in 1991. The term symbolized efforts by the
Soviet Union to block itself and its
satellite states from open contact with the west and non-Soviet-controlled areas. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were the countries that were connected to or influenced by the Soviet Union. On either side of the Iron Curtain, states developed their own international economic and military alliances: