Second World

The Second World was one of the "Three Worlds" during the Cold War, which described those countries aligned with the Soviet Union and allies in the Warsaw Pact and Eastern Bloc. This grouping was directly opposed to the First World, which grouped countries aligned with the United States and its allies in NATO and the Western Bloc. The Second World included communist states that were originally under the Soviet sphere of influence, though some eventually broke away from the Soviet ideology (e.g., Yugoslavia's split and China's split) to develop their own path as socialist states while retaining their communist governments. Most communist states remained under Soviet influence until the Revolutions of 1989. In 1991, upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union, only five communist states remained: China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. Though the terms "First World" and "Third World" continue to see present-day relevance in colloquial speech, albeit with a repurposed definition, the term "Second World" is obsolete outside of a Cold War context.