Eastern Bloc

The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Soviet Bloc, the Socialist Bloc and the Workers Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were aligned with the Soviet Union and existed during the Cold War (1947–1991). These states followed Marxism–Leninism and various forms of socialism and opposed the capitalist Western Bloc. The Eastern Bloc was often called the "Second World", while the term "First World" referred to the Western Bloc and "Third World" referred to the non-aligned countries that were mainly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America but also included the pre-1948 European Soviet ally Yugoslavia. Non-Marxist (yet still socialist) countries, such as the Arab socialist governments of the United Arab Republic, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, etc., are sometimes considered part of the bloc. In Western Europe, the term 'Eastern Bloc' generally referred to the USSR and Central and Eastern European countries in the Warsaw Pact (East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania). In Asia, the Eastern Bloc comprised Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, North Korea, South Yemen and China. In the Americas, the countries aligned with the Eastern Bloc were Cuba from 1961, and for a short period, Nicaragua and Grenada.