Eastern Bloc - Terminology and Other Countries

Terminology and Other Countries

Use of the term "Eastern Bloc" generally refers to the "communist states of eastern Europe." Sometimes, more generally, they are referred to as "the countries of Eastern Europe under communism". Many sources consider Yugoslavia to be a member of the Eastern Bloc. Others consider Yugoslavia not to be a member after it broke with Soviet policy in the 1948 Tito-Stalin split.

Eastern Bloc was sometimes used interchangeably with the term Second World, and was opposed by the Western Bloc. The Soviet-aligned members of the Eastern Bloc besides the Soviet Union are often referred to as "satellite states" of the Soviet Union. In the 1920s, "Eastern bloc" was used to refer to a loose alliance of eastern and central European countries.

Other countries that were not Soviet Socialist Republics, not Soviet Satellite States or not in Europe were sometimes referred to as being in the Eastern Bloc, Soviet Bloc or Communist Bloc, including:

• The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1978 to 1992)
• The United Arab Republic (a concatenation of Syria and Egypt 1958 to 1971)
• The Republic of Iraq (1968 to 1992)
• The Republic of Cuba from 1960
• The People's Republic of China before the Sino-Soviet Split of 1960
• The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) from 1945
• The Mongolian People's Republic
• The Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 1954
• The People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979 to 1990)