Annotations
Our group annotated Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech to present the historical significance of the speech as well Churchill’s profound ability to address nations during a time of national distress. Given its profound historical impact, annotating this speech provides an opportunity to understand the various layers of language, context and implications.
It’s crucial to understand the historical context of this speech because it shaped the way nations interacted with each other shortly after World War II. This speech attempts to deal with the growing tension between Russia and the United States as global superpowers. Our annotations found that Churchill’s sole ambition was to utilize his rhetoric to rally support for a stronger Western alliance against the USSR. Our annotations help highlight the subtleties of his word choice and his strategic framing of the Soviet Union as a threat to democracy. This analysis allows us to recognize Churchill’s mastery of political persuasion.
The speech is a foreshadowing of the Cold War, a time in which the United States would compete with Russia over various political and military challenges. Annotating this speech gives us insight on the ideological divide between the United States and the USSR. We can further understand the aspirations of the capitalistic West in comparison to the communist East. Churchill emphasizes the importance of upholding freedom and democracy in opposition to authoritarianism and totalitarianism.
The “Iron Curtain” speech entailed a subsequent mission to define the political relations between the United States and Britain. Annotating this speech gives readers access to understanding the origins of how American and British foreign policy was formulated. Our annotations allow readers to connect this speech to future American and British foreign policies, all accentuating a common mission to uphold democratic beliefs.
Analysis
Our research question is the following: How did Churchill’s conviction in the “Iron Curtain” speech influence his future political speeches. Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech established the standards in which one is supposed to address nations. The standard included identifying common objectives centered around a common threat. Churchill achieved the goal of utilizing this threat as a unifying component to construct an alliance that would last indefinitely.
Our group wanted to dissect the literary genius of Churchill by studying the word choices, tempos, and frequency in both the “Iron Curtain”, as well as various other speeches. Analyzing these components allows us to define his literary techniques and style. Breaking down several speeches from Churchill, we gathered the similarities between the stylistic nature of his verbiage. Tracking word frequencies between the speeches can tell us the focal point of the writing, as well as the severity of the speech. We also track word choices to understand the tone of the author, and whether or not Churchill is taking a particular side in an argument.