1. Cold War Geography
Iron Curtain

2. What is meant in this passage by “zones?”
The four zones Germany was divided into at the Yalta Conference: France, UK, US, USSR

3. Why do you think the U.S. wanted Germany to produce goods and recover from the war?
Trade with them
Prevent social unrest that could lead to dictators rising in Europe
Good for Europe and good for the world economy

4. What weapon was Truman referring to?
Atomic Bomb

5. Why did tensions between the USSR and US increase from the Potsdam Conference?
Truman threatened Stalin with the Atomic Bomb
US and USSR grudgingly agreed on German reparations
Stalin thought US was trying to keep the USSR weak

8. What does Churchill mean when he said all of those “famous cities and populations around them lie in the Soviet sphere?
Those cities are subject to the Soviet influence of communism

9. Why does Churchill say he has the duty to “speak out now” about the spread of Communism in Europe?
He wants to warn America to be alert and careful before the conflict with the USSR gets out of hand

10. What does Churchill warn about waiting too long to reach a settlement with the USSR?
The longer the tensions between the US and USSR go on unchecked, the harder it will be to maintain and secure peace

11. What is the “awful whirlpool” Churchill refers to that he doesn’t want to happen again?
WWII

12. What was the “Iron Curtain?”
The separation between the non-communist countries of Western Europe and the communist countries of Eastern Europe

13. Why do you think Churchill described it that way?
There was a strong, unmovable divide that drew a distinction between communist and democratic capitalist countries