The Iron

Curtain
Speech
by Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill.
A text introduced and commented by Jean Christophe Lemoine

The speech that I am going to comment on, The Sinews of Peace or Iron Curtain
Speech, was given by Winston S. Churchill at Westminster University in the town of
Furlon, Missouri (Mi) on March 15, 1946. It might well be is best-known postwar speech. It
is a political speech. Churchill at he time is the leader of the opposiion in Britain. I had lost
the elections one year earlier. His speech was to be addressed primarily to the President
of the United States at the time, Harry S. Truman, and hence to the American people,
represented at the time of his address by Westminster college students. Churchill was a
historian and most notably a formidable writer, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in
Literature. He also was also an outstanding orator, having written this speech himself, as
he did with al his speeches. He acquired these skills not only through talentbut through
experience as the British Prime Minister, as he recalls himself in the speech.
At the time when W.S. delivered this speech, the Second World War had ended. The world
was emerging from a war with a never before seen level of violence and death. World War
II holds the sad record of being the deadliest military conflict in human history with an
estimate of 60 million deaths, most of them civilians. At the end of the war, a new society
in which the world had vigourously changed came to be, forming new relationships, and
bringing two nations, the major victors of the confrontation, the USA and the USSR to
world power. These two nations, with radically differents political outlooks, would, for the
next forty-three years, embark in what is now known as the Cold War period, a war in
which no direct conflict would occur between the US and the USSR, but with the everpresence of a plausible nuclear war that would bring humanity to its demise. In this new
world, Europe's former glory was all but gone. Churchill, well-aware of the issue,
acknowledged this shift of power saying that the United States is at the pinnacle of world
power.
Having the war just finished, ties among former allies still remained and Churchill
commended in his speech the Russian contribution to the war effort. Estimates say that 20
million Russian soldiers and civilians (mostly the latter) died in the Eastern front compared
to barely 1.3 million US/British casualties (moslty military). Churchill's preocupation of what
was happening in Eastern Europe is visible. He was worried about the lack of freedom in
countries in the Soviet Sphere of influence in which Police governments are prevailing in
nearly every case, and their allegiance to Moscow (increasing measure of control from
Moscow). Mainland Europe at that time was starting to be divided by what he called the
iron curtain in one of his most memorable quotes of his speech when he would say from

Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended, and soon to
become the centre of a new struggle between the Western democratic states and Eastern
communist ones. For Churchill, Communist parties or fifth column constitute a threat to
Christian Civilization. It is not less important the situation of Eastern European peoples
that Churchill described and was well-aware of . The massive expulsion of million of
Germans on a scale grievous and undreamed-of are now taking place is one of the most
tragic chapters of European post-war history, in which many Eastern Europan countries
took part with fenzy.
Before the Second World War, the British Empire led the world. In fact, it had done so
unchallenged since the end of another war, the Napoleonic Wars in the 19th century, which
propelled her to global supremacy. It is ironic to note, that it was the end of another war,
with Britain again on the winning side, which would thrust her decline. Unable to maintain
her former world-leading role, she would be forced to relinquish her political sovereignety
of her colonial possesions, disengaging from her former Empire.
It is in this context, with the dilemma of achieving an enduring world peace and avoiding
confrontation with the USSR but at the same time fight for what he considers are the
valuable rights and freedoms of the British peoples, the Bill of Rights, Habeas Corpus,
American Declaration of Independence, against war and tyranny through international
structures such as the United Nations and powerful alliances. It is important to note that
Churchill was closer to the United States than to Europe. His view of Britain was engrained
in a British attitude of distrust of Europe. His view was seaward and worldly. Also he
viewed the future of Europe as a union of nations in what he would later call in another
speech The United States of Europe, he dismmissed the idea of a union with Europe that
was very slowly protruding from devastation (The awful ruins of Europe and parts of
Asia). Instead, he still hoped Britain would maintain a large political role in this new world
order and entrusted the future of the British dwindling Empire to the British Commonwealth
and Empire (Now called the Commonwealth of Nations). An alliance between the
Commonwealth and the USA, in what he calls the fraternal association of Englishspeaking peoples, would, in Churchill's view, bring about a strong military, culturaly and
trading alliance in which Britain would still hold part of its former glory and independence
from Europe,. This alliance was also known as the special relationship between Britain
and the United States.

The world had to face new challenges, and among them the peril of a new world war, with
the ever-growing menace of atomic bombs that might annihilate the human race entirely.
The Dark Ages may return if another war was to start again in the future, even more
devastating than before on the gleaming wings of science. Through the use of metapors,
the personification of an uncontrolled science, Churchill greatly succeeds in forwading the
idea that futue wars would bring ven more destruction. Although at this time the USSR did
not possess the atomic bomb, and only Britain, Canada and the United States had the
means to produce them, the Soviet Union would go on to develop their own nuclear
weapons. Not being optimistic about the future, his message still carries hope, as he said
I repulse the idea that a new war is inevitable, whilst engaging we surely must not let
this happen again.
Nonetheless, the British Empire successor, the British Commonwealth will never live up to
Churchill's expectations. The UK joined the EEC in 1973, and since then the EEC, now the
EU, has become and ever-increasing powerful union of nations. The British
Commonwealth is still struggling to find its place among world organizations. Britain's
distrust of Europe and her special relationship with the United States still prevails today
in British politics. Facing on the one hand, a decreasing international influence and an
ever-increasing political and economical union with the EU, today's Prime Minister David
Cameron wants Britain to regain part of her former power and negotiate a special status
within the EU. On the other hand, Britain still holds dearly to her special relationship with
the United States. The Cold War ended with the colapse of the Soviet Union, but new
woes that threaten Western democracy have arisen.
This is a speech of great historical and political value. Churchill is able to foretell problems
of his time and possible solutions to them, like the creatin of strong associations and
alliances and the fight for democracy. In his speech, Churchill avoids any assocition with
war and fight, when talking about the preservation of freedom and peace, and refes to
them through th use of th metaphor the building of a Temple of Peace. He was convinced
that an alliance between Britain and the USA would not only bring back Britain to the world
stage, and this synergy would also bring enough strenght to face future challenges.
In my opinion, His message of achieving peace through strenght and alliance against war
and tyranny are of utmost importance today. Threats to democracy like the Islamic State
are being fought through cooperation and discussion among Western democracies, and

through international bodies such as the United Nations, the Northern Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO), the Group of the seven (G-7) or the group of the twenty (G-20). It is
also true that the greater the threat, the stronger the alliance against it can be. And this
was what Winston Churchill intended to achieve, a strong and powerful alliance, and a
world governing body dedicated to the cause of peace and debate. Nowadays, war has
waned and tyranny lessens thanks in some extent to alliance, but also to economic
growth. But this has also come at a cost since new problems have emanated from the
latter. Pollution, destruction of natural habitat, and scarcity of resources are new
challenges humanity faces that require as much unity, action and cooperation as it did in
1946.

Sources:
Barry Cunliffe et al. Aftermath of Empire The Great Illustrated History of Britain and
Ireland Penguin Books, 2004
Ellis, John World War II A statistical survey, 1993, retrieved.
Oakland, John The empire and Commonwealth British Civilization Routledge, 2010
Rummel, R.J. Statistics of Poland's Democide: Addenda The Great Soviet Polish and
German land redistribution Powerkills, 2002 web.