It originally referred to fireproof curtains in theaters. The use of the term 'Iron Curtain' as a metaphor for strict separation goes back at least as far as the early 19th century. Romania became the only socialist state in Europe to overthrow its government with violence. The events that demolished the Iron Curtain started with peaceful opposition in Poland, and continued into Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia. Countries that made up the USSR were Russia, Belarus, Latvia, Ukraine, Estonia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Lithuania, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. The nations to the east of the Iron Curtain were Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and the USSR however, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and the USSR have since ceased to exist. The Berlin Wall was also part of this physical barrier. It later became a term for the 7,000-kilometre-long (4,300 mi) physical barrier of fences, walls, minefields, and watchtowers that divided the 'east' and 'west'. Separate international economic and military alliances were developed on each side of the Iron Curtain. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were the countries that were connected to or influenced by the Soviet Union, while on the west side were the countries that were NATO members, or connected to or influenced by the United States or nominally neutral. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the West, its allies and neutral states. The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. Yugoslavia was considered part of the Eastern Bloc for 2 years until the Tito–Stalin split, but remained independent for the remainder of its existence.

Albania withheld its support to the Warsaw Pact in 1961 due to the Soviet–Albanian split and formally withdrew in 1968. The black dot represents the Berlin Wall around West Berlin. Yugoslavia, member of the Non-Aligned Movement

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