Editing Eastern Bloc (section)

{{Short description|Former group of communist states aligned with the Soviet Union during the Cold War}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
[[File:Europe-blocs-49-89x4.svg|thumb|250px|right|The political situation in Europe during the Cold War after 1948]]
{{Eastern Bloc sidebar|expanded=all}}

The '''Eastern Bloc''', also known as the '''Communist Bloc''' ('''Combloc'''), the '''Socialist Bloc''', the '''Workers Bloc''', and the '''Soviet Bloc''', was an unofficial coalition of [[communist state]]s 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 the ideology of [[Marxism–Leninism]], in opposition to the [[Capitalism|capitalist]] [[Western Bloc]]. The Eastern Bloc was often called the "[[Second World]]", whereas the term "[[First World]]" referred to the Western Bloc and "[[Third World]]" referred to the [[Non-Aligned Movement|non-aligned countries]] that were mainly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America but notably also included former [[Tito–Stalin split|pre-1948]] Soviet ally [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], which was located in Europe.

In [[Western Europe]], the term Eastern Bloc generally referred to the USSR and [[Central and Eastern Europe]]an countries in the [[Comecon]] ([[East Germany]], [[Polish People's Republic|Poland]], [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovakia]], [[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]], [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romania]], [[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], and [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|Albania]]).{{efn|Albania was a member of the Eastern Bloc until the [[Albanian–Soviet split]] from 1961 to 1970.|group=a}} In [[Asia]], the Eastern Bloc comprised [[Mongolian People's Republic|Mongolia]], [[Vietnam]], [[Laos]], [[People's Republic of Kampuchea|Kampuchea]], [[North Korea]], [[South Yemen]] and [[China]].{{Efn|Until the [[Sino-Soviet split]] in 1961.|group=c}}{{Efn|Sources:
* Loth, Wilfried, ''The Division of the World, 1941–1955'', Routledge, 1988, {{ISBN|0-415-00365-2}}, p. 297
* Haggett, Peter, ''Encyclopedia of World Geography'', Marshall Cavendish, 2001, {{ISBN|0-7614-7289-4}}, p. 1,850
* Rees, G. Wyn. ''International Politics in Europe: The New Agenda'', Routledge, 1993, {{ISBN|0-415-08282-X}}, p. 6
* {{Citation|last1=Satyendra|first1=Kush|title=Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Political Science|publisher=Sarup & Sons|year=2003|isbn=978-81-7890-071-1|page=65|quote=... the countries of Eastern Europe under communism ... .}}
* {{cite book | last1 = Janzen | first1 = Jörg | last2 = Taraschewski | first2 = Thomas | editor-last = Shahshahānī | editor-first = Suhaylā | title = Cities of Pilgrimage | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0T7DAJqAN7wC| series = Iuaes-series | volume = 4 | year = 2009 | publisher = LIT Verlag | location = Münster | isbn = 9783825816186 | page = 190 | quote = Until 1990, despite being a formally independent state, Mongolia had ''de facto'' been an integral part of the Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc. | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150905212712/https://books.google.com/books?id=0T7DAJqAN7wC | archive-date = 5 September 2015 | url-status = live }}
* {{Cite book |first1=Przemysław |last1=Gasztold-Seń |first2=Massimiliano |last2=Trentin |first3=Jan |last3=Adamec |url=https://ojs.st-andrews.ac.uk/index.php/syria/article/view/1462 |title=Syria During the Cold War: The East European Connection |publisher=University of St Andrews, Centre for Syrian Studies |year=2014 |volume=5 |version=2 |isbn=9780956873224 |issn=2056-3175 |location=St Andrews, Scotland, U.K.}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Ginat |first=Rami |date=April 2000 |title=The Soviet Union and the Syrian Ba'th regime: From hesitation to Rapprochement |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4284075 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=150–171 |doi=10.1080/00263200008701312 |jstor=4284075 |s2cid=144922816 |location=London, U.K.|url-access=subscription }}}} In the [[Americas]], the countries aligned with the Soviet Union included [[Cuba]] from 1961 and for limited periods [[Nicaraguan Revolution|Nicaragua]] and [[People's Revolutionary Government (Grenada)|Grenada]].<ref name="Piero">[[Piero Gleijeses]], ''Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959–1976'', {{ISBN|978-0-8078-5464-8}}.</ref>