What was the division of Europe into mostly democratic Western Europe and Communist Eastern Europe?

The division of Europe into mostly democratic Western Europe and Communist Eastern Europe emerged after World War II, during the Cold War period. This split was symbolized by the Iron Curtain, which represented the ideological boundary between the capitalist West, led by the United States and its NATO allies, and the communist East, dominated by the Soviet Union and its satellite states in the Warsaw Pact. This division influenced political, economic, and military dynamics in Europe for decades, leading to significant tensions and conflicts until the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s.