It was in the year 1946 when Winston Churchill gave a memorable speech called “The Iron Curtain” to officially pronounce the commencement of Cold War (“Winston Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain Speech’ (1946),” n.d.). His statement contained blockings of the Soviet Union’s politics and ideals from spreading into the Western world. The Union highly valued the Communism, whose ideals threatened the constitutional democracy and capitalism upon which Western world countries had been set. Conversely, these ideals by the communist were not tolerable by the Westerners essentially because they were against their beliefs and morals. In the world’s history, the United States of America has a distinguished history of its continued fight for people’s freedoms, which include the freedom to trade, vote and expression.
The ideals of the Communist if in any case they were spread across the various nations in the world, would have caused a lot of problems for the Western countries. For instance, with the plenty government-owned parastatals and corporations, the intervention by the Communist ideals that promote the availability of free markets, could affect the transactions between these government-owned parastatals with European nations. Therefore, interfering with their source of revenue. Additionally, the Communist ideologies also differ with the set goals of the military group of the United States of America. While the United States targets at protecting the democracy of the people, the Communist believes that the principal aim of the United States is to colonize other countries and not to promote democracy. For example, the fear demonstrated by the United States of America and Britain, for the rise of Germany after the war, indicated that these countries were afraid of the spread of the Communist in the European Nations. On the other hand, the Soviet Union, targeted at spreading the Communist beliefs and ideals, to attain its aim of increasing the number of its allies.
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Churchill’s message that the Soviet Union should ensure that it protects and secures its borders was to clarify that the Soviet Union had the right just like any other country to reach out for protection from its allies, to deter possible German bellicosity. He went ahead to acknowledge that the Soviet Union was amongst the most powerful and influential nations across the world. However, in the speech he advised this country to avoid seeking its power through the use of force by expanding its military and applying dictatorial system. He, therefore, wanted to request the Soviet politely to cease from imposing its military interventions and ideas to the European nations.
In his statement, Churchill stated that "There is nothing they (the Russians) admire so much as strength, and nothing for which they have less respect for than military weakness." (“Winston Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain Speech’ (1946),” n.d.). In his sentiment he was arguing that in case the Soviet Union applied Communism on European nations, then there could be no balance of power as that could directly indicate a test of strength, which could destabilize the democracies of the Western allied nations. He, therefore, urged that there be a quick settlement to avert another war. To note is that, he was not advocating for confrontation but rather saying that if the Soviet Union continued with their actions, then that could increase the likelihood of the occurrence of clashes.
His speech was directed to the United stated mainly due to his firm believe that Britain and United States of America should continuously work together as allies so as to completely prevent the occurrence of war. He, however, feared that in case there could be any form of power imbalance then that could directly cause war. Also, in case, there was a use of nuclear weapons in a war then that could end human existence. He also believed that due to the powerful military and weaponry that America has, then it qualified to form an ally with Britain.
Lastly, Churchill believed that the only way to stop the occurrence of another war was to ensure that the historical differences between the Britain and the United States were forgotten and put aside entirely to secure the future of the World. His speech contributed to improving the creation of boundaries and in putting it clear to the Soviet Union that they should be conscious of their actions because they could result in war, where the Western countries will fight together to protect their ideologies and values.
References
Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain Speech” (1946). (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2017, from http://www.historyguide.org/europe/churchill.html
