The Iron Curtain (Железный занавес in Russian, or Zhelezniy zanaves) is a Western term referring to an imaginary boundary which divided Europe into two separate areas of political influence and ideology from the end of World War II until the end of the Cold War.

A variant of the Iron Curtain, the Bamboo Curtain, was coined in reference to the People's Republic of China. As the standoff between the West and the countries of the Iron and Bamboo curtains eased with the end of the Cold War, the term fell out of any but historical usage.

External links

• Where did the term Iron Curtain originate?
• Soviet reaction to Churchill's speech - CNN site