Churchill delivered a speech in Fulton, Missouri in 1946 known as the "Iron Curtain Speech" where he outlined the challenges facing the West in the emerging Cold War with the Soviet Union. He believed the Soviet Union wanted to indefinitely expand its power and communism throughout Europe and the world, challenging the principle of national self-determination. While acknowledging Russia's need for security on its borders, Churchill raised concrete concerns about Soviet actions in Eastern Europe. He asserted that the Soviets admired strength and had little respect for military weakness, suggesting strong Western military forces were needed without advocating direct military confrontation. Churchill chose to deliver the speech in the US because he saw them as a powerful, democratic nation that could help counter Soviet expansionism and

1. HIST 406 History Of The United States
Questions:
There are many ways to get a feel for the events of the 20th Century. One way is through
the analysis of primary source documents. Few documents set the stage for the second half
than Winston Churchill's 1946 speech in Fulton, Missouri. Officially entitled "The Sinews of
Peace", it came to be known as "The Iron Curtain Speech", in which Churchill laid out the
challenges for the West in general, and the US and Britain in particular, regarding what
would soon be known as the Cold War.
Answer the following questions:
Churchill believes the Soviet Union "desires the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of
their power and doctrines." How might those expansionist desires challenge the Western
principle of national political self determination, a cause it championed during World War
2?
Churchill's speech acknowledges "Russia's need to be secure on her western borders," but
at the same time it raises concerns about Soviet actions in Eastern Europe. Is Churchill
being inconsistent? Or does he provide concrete justifications for those concerns?
In his speech, Churchill asserts "There is nothing they (the Russians) admire so much as
strength, and nothing for which they have less respect for than military weakness." If he
isn't advocating a direct military confrontation with the Soviet Union, then what is he
saying?
Churchill delivered this speech to an American audience, but after reading it one might
conclude it could have been given in any western country. Why did he pick the US?
Answers:
1.

2. In the speech of Churchill, he stated that the Soviet Union was deliberately trying to bring in
the communism in the existing government of Eastern Europe and not only in Europe but in
the entire world. Soviet Union slowly took over the entire Eastern Europe under the control.
According to Churchill, the most reliable way to fight the threat of the war could be the
dependence on the United Nations as he thought that the United Sates were strong enough
and extremely efficient (Starr & Dawisha, 2016). For the people of America the event
became important only after the historical speech of Churchill. Soviet Union wanted to
expand their territory and this was a real threat for the western world. They were causing a
great threat to the policy of equal rights and the political freedom. Churchill had a deep faith
on the democratic government of United States. He believed that United States had the
power to fight the communist party of the Soviet Union. It was unable to predict the future
of the communist party and their plan was unknown to all. The expansion of the communist
party had cut the Eastern part of Europe from the Western part of Europe. According to
Churchill the communist power brought hunger and crisis in everybody`s life. He had a faith
that an understanding and alliance between Europe and United States could bring further
peace (Thaden, 2014).
2.
Churchill was rational in his speech and he was consistent in his speech. The reason behind
the statement is that there are many evidences, which suggests that the Soviet Union
wanted to dominate the entire nation. Churchill gave his opinion that the Soviet Union
should be secure from the German aggression. He has put forward concrete arguments.
Churchill approached Russia based on their status. They had a different set of rules all
together. They had a different structure from the others. He wanted to build a growing
relation with Russia in spite of their differences. He wanted Russia and United States to
have a secular relation with each other. His major concern in his speech was the concern for
peace. He focused on the issue of peace completely based on the present condition of the
nation. In his speech, he spoke about a clear distinction between the democratic power and
the communist power. Democracy was a more powerful system. Communism actually not
supported by Churchill in his speech. He was straightforward in his speech and he was
consistent. He realized the weaknesses of the communism and the strength of the
democratic government (Thompson, 2015).
3.
Churchill in his speech has mentioned that an individual values time as the greatest
strength. During wars they the time was the greatest solution of the problems that were
related to wars. The Russians were proud of their strengths they were sure about the fruits
in yield when they were put into practice (B?rzi?š, 2014). The result of a poor military is
something, which is defeat, and it is something, which is not desirable and embraced by the
military. Churchill is speaking in favor of a strong military force, which is essential for the
building of a strong nation. He is using the point of military force to make understand the

3. need of unity while protecting the nation. The biggest strength of a nation is the unity of the
same. This is something, which is required the most in case of war. Churchill simply stated
in his speech that the military force of a particular nation should be strong so that the
emergencies can be tackled strongly. He directly did not address the military force in his
speech but he mentioned about it for this reason (Galeotti, 2014).
4.
Churchill chose United States for his speech because he had the ability to see both sides of
the argument. In spite of that, he argued that there was a better way of attaining peace. He
wanted a peaceful collaboration of Britain and United States. He wanted people to be aware
of the cold war and he predicted the plan of Soviet Union in future. His primary intention of
delivering the speech in America was to eradicate the wars and the reasons behind the war.
He made people aware about the cold war and the outcomes of the same. he believed that
US was the greatest powerful nation state and the audience of US were literate enough to
understand things. US were the most powerful nation and with his speech, he was able to
attract a huge of press. Finally, his speech was able to create a difference since America was
a nation who brings about maximum change (DeBardeleben, 2017).
References
B?rzi?š, J. (2014). Russia’s new generation warfare in Ukraine: Implications for Latvian
Defense Policy. Policy Paper, 2, 2002-2014.
DeBardeleben, J. (Ed.). (2017). Soft or hard borders?: managing the divide in an enlarged
Europe. Taylor & Francis.
Galeotti, M. (2014). The age of anxiety: Security and politics in Soviet and post-Soviet
Russia. Routledge.
Starr, S. F., & Dawisha, K. (2016). The International Politics of Eurasia: v. 5: State Building
and Military Power in Russia and the New States of Eurasia. Routledge.
Thaden, E. C. (2014). Russia's western borderlands, 1710-1870. Princeton University Press.
Thompson, J. M. (2015). Russia, Bolshevism, and the Versailles Peace. Princeton University
Press.