The Cold War and the Iron Curtain
This week we remember the Fall of the Berlin Wall – 25 Years ago.
A speech at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, 5 March 1946, declared that “An Iron
Curtain has descended across the continent”.
From Stettin in the North to Trieste in the South barbed wire and barricades, walls and machine
gun towers were going up, sealing off the captive nations occupied by the Soviet Union from
their neighbours in the West. The Iron Curtain divided a continent and trapped hundreds of
millions of people under communism.
The Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin, declared that the Second World War was not a disaster but a
great opportunity to extend communism into the very heart of Europe.
Poland Betrayed
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The Cold War and the Iron Curtain
Even Poland, for whose freedom Great Britain had ostensibly entered the war, was now little
more than a satellite of the Soviet Empire ruled by men chosen by Moscow. Its population was
now imprisoned behind a line of barbed wire, watchtowers and mine fields - a physical iron
curtain.
Secret Police
To spy on its captive populations the Soviet empire set up secret police. In the Soviet Union it
was the KGB, in Bulgaria it was the DS, in Czechoslovakia the StB, in Hungary the AVB, in
Poland the SB, in Romania the Securitatae, and in East Germany it was the STASI (the Ministry
of State Security). The STASI maintained a huge network of 90,000 secret police and 175,000
paid informants. They kept files on 4,000,000 East Germans - a quarter of the population.
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Wall was manned by 15,000 guards - the so called Volkspolizei (VOPOS). When
Joseph Stalin attempted to starve West Berlin into submission by cutting off all electricity and
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The Cold War and the Iron Curtain
supplies on 23 June 1948 the Western powers responded with the Berlin Airlift. The Berlin
blockade was the first serious global crisis of the Cold War. West Berlin was kept alive by an
airlift of over 150 aircraft supplying an average of 5,000 tons per day. By the time the Soviets
ended the blockade on 12 May 1949 over 2.5 million tons had been delivered at the cost of 60
aircrew who had died in aircraft crashes.
Korean War
There were numerous hot fronts in the Cold War. The Cold War included a full scale military
war in Korea where 2 million died in the three year conflict. Evidence has since surfaced that
Stalin was planning to follow up the Korean attack with a military offensive in Europe. He was
deterred by the quick international response in Korea. Protests in Berlin
After the death of Joseph Stalin (5/3/53), over 100,000 East Berlin workers protested against
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The Cold War and the Iron Curtain
the Soviet occupation. Two Soviet armoured divisions were sent into East Berlin to crush the
protest in June 1953. Over 100 civilians were killed and 25,000 protesters arrested.
Up
rising in Hungary
In July 1956 a full scale uprising in Hungary shook the Soviet Empire. Mass demonstrations
demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops, and in Budapest a massive statue of Stalin was
toppled. Soviet troops poured into Hungary and over 20,000 Hungarians were killed in the
repression. Tens of thousands more were arrested and imprisoned. 250,000 Hungarians fled
to the West.
The Berlin Wall
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The Cold War and the Iron Curtain
The Berlin Wall was concrete proof of the failure of “scientific socialism”.
To prevent Germans in the Soviet zone from fleeing to the Western zone in Berlin, a 165 km
wall was constructed to seal off West Berlin's island of freedom from Soviet occupied
communist East Germany.
The Berlin Wall included 289 concrete observation posts/machine gun towers and 123 km of
electric fencing.
Death Strip
A further death strip stretching 1,393 km along the border between communist East Germany
and free West Germany was constructed with:
724 observation posts/machine gun towers,
1,161 km of electric fencing,
54, 000 self-firing devices, and
190 km of mine fields.
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The Cold War and the Iron Curtain
Kill Zone
Just between 13 August 1961 to 30 July 1983, 73 people were killed by the communists while
attempting to escape over the Berlin Wall, 182 more people were killed attempting to escape
from East Germany across the border into West Germany, 60,000 people were imprisoned for
“preparation, assistance or complicity”, in attempting to escape from East to West Germany
(with sentences ranging from 16 months to life imprisonment).
Yet from the founding of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1949, more than 4,500,000
(over one quarter of the population) voted with their feet by fleeing to West Germany. 38,515
escaped from East to West Berlin by tunnels, by improvised air machines or hot air balloons,
hidden inside vehicles travelling from East to West Berlin. 2,768 East German soldiers and
officers on duty (including a Colonel) escaped to the West. Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cold War almost went nuclear during the Cuban missile crisis, October 1962. The vicious
conflicts in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (1963 - 1975) were hot parts of the Cold War.
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The Cold War and the Iron Curtain
Invasion
of
Czechoslovakia
attempted
Anyone
invasion
who
of
to
Czechoslovakia
believed
create
that
communism
1968. Czech
could
communist
be
reformed
party
from
within
Alexander
was
shaken
Dubcek,
the
Soviet
“socialism
with
a
human
face.”
Czechoslovakia,
being
ordered
Czechoslovakia
Prague
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full
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scale
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the
by
ended
Warsaw
overwhelmed
other
the
reforms
in
East
Pact
August
European
invasion
in
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Czechoslovakia. 1968
courageous
satellite
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half-a-million
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1980. who
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Soviet
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1975,
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prisoners.
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Alexander
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ato
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7/9
The Cold War and the Iron Curtain
Prayer
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he
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- inthe
T
8/9
The Cold War and the Iron Curtain
he
End
of
the
Soviet
Union
abolished
In
hard
August
line
communism. 1991
the
Soviet
aCold
coup
Union
in
Boldly
the
and
Soviet
waving
pulled
Union
the
down
white,
was
the
frustrated
blue
Soviet
and
Flag. red
inslaves
its
Russian
The
attempt
Cold
flag,
to
War
return
Boris
had
the
formally
Yeltsin
country
ended.
toin
Terrorist
Threat
from
the
Middle
But
radical
even
Islamic
as
the
terrorists
Cold
War
declaring
with
Soviet
war
Union
on
the
communism
West.
ended,
acourage
new
war
was
starting
with
Victory
Over
Communism
“There
strength.” is
nothing
they
despise
more
than
weakness. is
nothing
they
respect
more
than
Christians
soldiers
the
West
who
and
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The
fought
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endured
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the
War
strategy
Soviets
decades
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by
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by
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Empire.
persecuted
from
Christians
“While
they
promise
them
liberty,
they
themselves
are
of
corruption…”
2:19
2 Peter
Dr.
Peter
Hammond
Frontline
Fellowship
P.O.
Box
74
Newlands
7725
Cape
Town
South
Africa
Tel:
021-689-4480
Email: [email protected]
Website:
www.frontline.org.za
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