On 5 March 1946, Winston Churchill made one of the most important and widely quoted speeches of his entire career. Speaking at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, he warned of a new danger stalking the world:

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe… and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.

The historical significance of this speech cannot be overestimated. Even at the time there were many who saw it as epoch-defining. Churchill had the rare honour of being introduced by the US president himself, and his words were broadcast throughout the United States. A few of the phrases he used would come to define some of the most important concepts in 20th-century geopolitics, particularly the idea of the ‘special relationship’ between Britain and America, and the metaphor of the ‘Iron Curtain’ itself. Both terms had been used before, not least by Churchill, but it was this speech that first established them in the world’s imagination.

To a certain degree, the speech also marked a turning point in US-Soviet relations. The world was not yet engaged in a formal ‘Cold War’, but all the signs were there. Unbeknown to Churchill, George Kennan had delivered his ‘Long Telegram’ from Moscow less than two weeks earlier, and the US State Department was already coming to the conclusion that Stalin could not be appeased no matter what concessions they made. Just a year later, the US president would announce a new policy to contain the spread of Communism, and the Truman Doctrine would be born. But it was Churchill’s words that first gave voice to this sea-change in world affairs.

Looking back, 80 years on, there are several themes to this speech that should give us pause. In our global imagination, the victories of 1945 gave way to an era of immediate peace; but, as Churchill made clear, this was far from the case. The world, he said, continued to live in fear of two great threats: war and tyranny. While the first of these ‘giant marauders’ had mostly been held at bay, much of Eastern Europe was already falling under the influence of the latter. If Stalin’s expansionist totalitarianism continued to go unchecked, then war might well become a possibility once again. ‘Last time I saw it all coming and cried aloud to my own fellow-countrymen and to the world… But no one would listen and one by one we were all sucked into the awful whirlpool. We surely must not let that happen again.’

In order to prevent a new world war, he proposed a series of measures. First, the whole world should stand behind the United Nations as a promoter of peace, and make sure ‘that it is a force for action, and not merely a frothing of words’. In particular he proposed an ‘international armed force’ to police potential flashpoints and prevent the values of the UN Charter from being openly flouted.

He also spoke of the need for ‘a new unity in Europe, from which no nation should be permanently outcast’. Churchill was a great champion of European unity, and is regarded by some as one of the founding fathers of the concept of a European Union. Six months after his Iron Curtain speech he would give another, equally influential speech in Zurich, in which he would call for the building of a ‘United States of Europe’ with France and Germany at its heart. Only in this way, he said, could the continent become free, happy and prosperous, rather than the crucible of future wars.

Most importantly, he spoke of the need for Britain and America to stand side by side in defiance of totalitarianism. The ‘special relationship’ between these two countries had been forged by a common language, common values and years of close co-operation during the world wars. In the face of a new, Soviet threat, Britain and America had a moral obligation to stand together and draw a line in the sand. It was only by a show of military and diplomatic unity that they could guarantee peace in Europe – not just in the short term but for the century to come.

His words are as pertinent today as they were 80 years ago. In recent years, the institutions invoked by Churchill have been weakened. The United Nations has proven itself unable to deal with a variety of conflicts, and several of its members, especially the US, have withdrawn vital funding. The European Union has lost one of its most powerful and influential members, and the diplomatic furore over Donald Trump’s attempt to annex Greenland has severely tested Europe’s relationship with the US. Even the existence of NATO, the military alliance that was drawn up between western nations in direct response to the Cold War, has been called into question. Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada – a nation that Churchill specifically mentioned as an important bridge between America and Britain – claimed in his recent speech at Davos that what we are witnessing today is nothing less than the end of the ‘international rules-based order’.

It is perhaps not a coincidence that while this fracturing of western unity has been taking place, Russia has once again become a threat to European security. The first signs of trouble came in 2014 with Putin’s unilateral annexation of Crimea. This was followed in 2022 by a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In response, a new ‘Iron Curtain’ has grown up along Europe’s eastern border – thousands of miles of fences, walls, anti-tank obstacles and underground bunkers, this time stretching all the way from the Arctic to the Black Sea.

When Churchill delivered his landmark speech 80 years ago, he offered not only a warning but a solution to the problems posed by Russian aggression. His main message was that only by standing firm, and standing together, could the western allies prevent nations like Russia from threatening European peace in the future.

American and European diplomats dealing with Putin’s regime would do well to remember his words.