Europe Cold War & Post-Cold War Maps
Maps of Cold War era (1945-1991) alliances, Post-Cold War geopolitics, NATO expansion, boundaries, and chokepoints.
Cold War Europe showing the metaphorical "Iron Curtain" division of Europe. NATO member states in blue and Warsaw Pact member states in grey. Former Yugoslavia is identified in hash marks. To open this map in ArcGIS Online: https://arcg.is/1eTGOP
Map 1: Iron Curtain
The term "Iron Curtain" is a metaphor for the hard division of Europe into East (Soviet and Warsaw Pact allied) and West (U.S. and NATO allied). This division emerged soon after the end of the Second World War and evolved to encompass the formation of NATO (1949) and the Warsaw Pact (1955). NATO still exists and has grown in member states in the last three decades. The Warsaw Pact ended at the end of the Cold War era.
Click the link below any of these maps to open them in ArcGIS Online. You may then save your own map, turn layers on and off, zoom, sketch and do other ArcGIS Online tasks. If asked to sign in to ArcGIS Online, use the instructions in Blackboard (Syllabus and Course Information folder)
Europe with the metaphorical "Iron Curtain" boundary of the Cold War era
Open this map in ArcGIS Online: https://arcg.is/1rDOKm
Notes on the map: States to the East of the "Iron Curtain" line include: East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia (today’s Czech Republic and Slovakia), Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Soviet Union. Note that Yugoslavia was an independent, socialist state that was aligned with the USSR until the late 1950s. The former territories of Yugoslavia, which are now independent states include Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Kosovo.
Map 2(a): Cold War Era Warsaw Pact Member States
The Warsaw Pact (formed in 1955) was the Eastern military alliance of communist countries, and effectively served as a buffer between the USSR (Soviet Union) and NATO member states.
Warsaw Pact Member States
Open this map in ArcGIS Online: https://arcg.is/1jDene
Map 2(b): Cold War Era Warsaw Pact with "Buffer States" outlined
Along with the USSR, the following "Buffer States" were Warsaw Pact members of the East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania (member until 1968). Open this map using the above link and click visibility for layers as needed.
Warsaw Pact Member States with buffer states
Map 3(a): Post-Soviet States
- The USSR included 15 Republics, each of which became an independent state when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. These Post-Soviet states are listed here by region:
- Russia is the largest of the Post-Soviet states
- Former Soviet Eastern Europe: Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Ukraine
- Caucasus Mountains Region: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia
- Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
- Open this map in ArcGIS Online to turn layers on and off and to view the blue and white map of state (country) boundaries.
Post-Soviet States
Open this map in ArcGIS Online: https://arcg.is/1CPrC5
Map 4(a): NATO Member States (2024)
This map shows NATO member states as of 2024. Note that NATO has expanded significantly in recent years. Click the Expand Map button to open this map in ArcGIS Online in order to see several related layers that relate this map to other maps in this series and will help you answers questions about which former Warsaw Pact member states and which former USSR Republics (now Post-Soviet states) are part of NATO. Finland is the most recent country to join NATO and Sweden has been accepted for membership later in 2024 (Sweden is identified as a member on this map).
NATO Member States (2024)
Open this map in ArcGIS Online: https://arcg.is/0affW1
Map 4(b): NATO Member States including shading of Post-Soviet Baltic States
NATO Members States (2024) with Post-Soviet Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) shaded in yellow and Cod War era Iron Curtain
Open this map in ArcGIS Online: https://arcg.is/05naWP
Map 5: Chokepoints in and near Europe
This map shows important chokepoints in and near Europe. Chokepoints for the first exam include the following
- Danish Straits (connects the Baltic and North Seas and made up of Øresund, Storebælt, Lillebælt)
- Kiel Canal (connects the Baltic and North Seas through northern Germany)
- English Channel (island of Great Britain and continental Europe near France)
- North Channel (islands of Great Britain and Ireland near Scotland and Northern Ireland)
- Strait of Gibraltar (Connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean near Spain in Europe and Morocco in North Africa)
- Turkish Straits (Connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara through the Bosporus Strait and Dardanelles Islands)
- Kerch Strait (connects Sea of Azov and the Black Sea at the border between Ukraine and Russia at the Russian-occupied Crimea Peninsula)
In addition to the above, note the proximity of the Suez Canal to Europe. Click the expand button and open the map in ArcGIS Online to learn more.
Europe - Chokepoints
Open this map in ArcGIS Online: https://arcg.is/0mzKGb