The Iron Curtain was located in Eastern Europe, and the nations of East Germany, Poland, and Romania, among others, were behind it. Nations on the capitalist side included Britain, France, and others in Western Europe. The term "Iron Curtain," signifying the strength of the invisible barrier, was popularized by Winston Churchill. At the end of World War II, Stalin agreed to let nations hold free elections, but through falsified elections and other measures, he ultimately went back on his word. The Iron Curtain contributed to Cold War tension between the U.S. and U.S.S.R., signifying separation between democracy and communism and leading to new alliances. Although the Iron Curtain refers to a figurative, political border, the Berlin Wall—built by the U.S.S.R. to keep communist citizens from fleeing to democratic territories—was physical. In 1989, Poland launched a revolution against the Soviet Union that eventually spread to other Eastern European nations. These revolutions and the economic slump of the Soviet Union ultimately led to the dissolution of the Iron Curtain in the early 1990s. But how may we be seeing Russia repeat some of these actions today with the war in Ukraine?