Two superpowers, a divided Europe, proxy wars, a nuclear standoff and a race to the Moon — until the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.
Stop 01 · 1945 CE
An Iron Curtain Descends
After 1945 the wartime allies split. The Soviet Union installed communist governments across Eastern Europe, while the United States backed Western Europe with the Marshall Plan. Germany itself was divided into occupation zones. In 1946 Winston Churchill warned that an 'iron curtain' had descended across the continent.