AP Euro: The Iron Curtain Falls

Just a note: AP Exams begin next week and you need to focus on reviewing for those, not on new work. This class is going to shift entirely to a no-new classwork policy starting today. I will continue to post informational materials because knowledge is power, and if you have questions or comments about the material, please ask in the comments.

After WWII, of course, Europe and the US learn that they can’t trust Joseph Stalin. Like, they REALLY can’t trust Joseph Stalin. After promising to give Eastern European countries autonomy after WWII, he rolls in the tanks and allows them to autonomously follow his orders or else. As Winston Churchill put it, an Iron Curtain descended across Europe and it lasted until the early 1990s.

It was super fun to have so many outdated globes and atlases in school all of a sudden. you think it stunk learning countries’ names in geography class? Try being a kid in 1991. I still sometimes call the Czech Republic “Czechoslovakia” on accident.

Crash Course Euro was in the process of being created when the pandemic began, so you guys are going to have to deal with a CC World History here:

Of course, there are the Oversimplified cartoons – if you want a review for the AP Exam (or just like them) the whole channel is a delight and covers a LOT of history (don’t know anything about the Bucket War? Well, now you do!).