Talk:Iron Curtain

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Removed this text:

During this period, Western Europe was under the political control and/or influence of the Western democracies (particularly Great Britain, France, and the United States). Eastern Europe was under the political control and/or influence of the Soviet Union.

The above sentences create a moral equivalence between the US and the USSR which is misleading at best. The Iron Curtain kept out information from the free world, while keeping in its citizens who might want to leave.

There is no such thing as "the free world". I don't know what Wikipedia policy is now; but it looks like this page is going to have to require a "contention" tag, or whatever it's called, or whatever the Wikipedia policy is now on these matters.

Pazouzou 07:45, 2 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

From an anonymous contributor (moved from article): "Note: Yugoslavia did not lie under the Soviet sphere or Iron Curtain. Get the facts straight." -- Notheruser 18:02 16 Jun 2003 (UTC)

His/her note was in fact correct. The same thing is in the article communist state. See Informbiro. At least another three great capital cities are missing: Sarajevo, Zagreb, and Ljubljana, but they were in former Yugoslavia, so ... Best regards. --XJamRastafire 01:18 18 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Found the rumored use of the phrase in 1945 by Goebbels. Please do not shoot the messenger. Dandrake 01:46, 16 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Who coined the phrase? Elisabeth of the Belgians?

The cited page claims that what I said was true, but I seriously doubt its veracity...not only do they have different answers, but this page on the same website claims that it was somebody else who first coined the term. If somebody else can find a source...that would be great. -[[User:Frazzydee|Frazzydee|✍]] 02:55, 26 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Who coined the phrase "Iron Curtain"?

To: Frazzydee

I got my information from the Dutch version of this wiki, but I've also seen the same answer on the same website where you've directed us to look: http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Answered/Question1990-6.asp?Page=1 But I agree, we always need to be critical about it!!

Winston Churchill popularised the term, but he wasn't the first to use it. Goebbels used it in Feb 1945 in Das Reich. Ethel Snowdon used it in 1920, refering to Russia. In 1914, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium spoke of an iron curtain between her and the Germans. It was also used in the Earl of Munster's journal in 1819. woolley Thurs 22/03/01

In fact, http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/gswithenbank/sayingsi.htm states that: The invention of this graphic expression, which used to be applied to the boundry between western European countries and communist eastern Europe, is usually credited to the Russianphilosopher Vasily Rozanov, who in 1918 wrote that 'an iron curtain is descending on Russian history' following the 1917 revolution. I have not been able to confirm that, but it would seem fitting to Rozanov's overall beliefs. On the contrary, I have not been able to confirm the quote of Elisabeth of Belgium anywhere else. Moreover, some sources find the Earl of Munster being the first one to use the term. I think it is necessary to reformulate the whole paragraph in order to make it more stringent and incorporate all the different possibilities. timo 08:38, 16 Oct 2004 (UTC)

In fact, the german Wikipedia sais it was Vasily Rozanov who invented the phrase "Iron Curtain", but I absolutely don't know who used it first. But I think it wasn't Churchill. 83.76.227.110 14:20, 11 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Linguistic incertainty

Is the expression régime used in the first paragraph not POV? In German, Regime hs an unpleasant taste to it, but as I'm not a native speaker, I didn't want change it before comments. I would suggest government instead. timo 08:44, 16 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I see that others have agreed on the issue already and taken care of it. timo 12:56, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Revision Needed

This article needs more revision and cleanup. --Nzo 23:35, Jan 17, 2005 (UTC)

Norwegian?

Is there any reason to include the Norwegian term for Iron Curtain in the opening paragraph? -- Sandius 14:33, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Is there any reason to include any translation there at all? There are interwikis for that. --frin 21:38, 18 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I think so; should we remove these translations then? After all, the article states that it's a Western term. -- Sandius 20:33, 29 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

1) as far as i know, in 1980-s Poland fallen out of Soviet Influence as well. While nominally be a communist country and member of Warsaw Pact, it had it's internal independent politics and was ready for direct war with Soviet Union.

2) I wonder, what "Velvet Curtain" mean in Jethro Tull's song "Said She Was A Dancer". Only part of the hat and nothing more ?

Image includes Yugoslavia and Albania as behind Iron Curtain

...which I believe is incorrect. Certainly they were not Soviet allies. See for example the map on this page: [1] The article isn't clear on it, but suggests they were not "behind" it. Should probably be made clear one way or the other, either fixing the image to exclude them, or re-wording the article to explain why they are included? (I do not know enough myself.) -- Blorg 11:06, 18 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Origins of the Iron Curtain

I must ask if there is any evidence of the phrase Iron Curtain ever being used to mean a 'big hard thriving cock'. I have not found anything to substantiate this and I am dubious about it.

Iron Curtain between Austria and Hungary

The article says:

Elsewhere, the border defences between west and east were much lighter. The border between Hungary and neutral Austria, for instance, was marked by a simple chain link fence which was easily removed when it became the first part of the Iron Curtain to be dismantled in 1989.

I grew up in Hungary and I remember a few trips we did to the sub-Alps mountains near the Austrian border with my parents. People (turists) not having a residence near the border had to obtain a special permit to enter the "border area", and as far as I remember the fence itself was a quite impressive double fence with barbed wire and a sand strip in between (to track footprints) and watchtowers. It was certainly not a 'simple chain link fence' -- at least in those areas I have been to.