Talk:Eastern Bloc

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1 More countries
2 Redundant with Warsaw Pact ?
3 Map
4 Eastern bloc or Eastern Bloc?
5 Warsaw Pact vs Eastern Bloc

[edit] More countries

Were Cuba, Red China, North Vietnam, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Angola part of the bloc?

Obviously not, since (a) they weren't in Europe, (b) their governments were not maintained by Soviet military force, (c) some of them only had communist governments for a few short years (Ethiopia and Afghanistan), and (d) China was an enemy of the Soviet Union. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu 09:43, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Interesting. What authority defines the term by those criteria? I didn't realise such an authority existed. Although I have not encountered Ethiopia or Afghanistan being referred to as Eastern bloc countries. I have definitely heard quite a few countries not included on this page referred to as such, eg, Yugoslavia. To quote answers.com "The name applied to the former communist states of eastern Europe, including Yugoslavia and Albania, as well as the countries of the Warsaw Pact." I am not suggesting that answers.com is a good authority, but you can't define a colloquial term like this so strictly and easily. The definitiion you seem to be using is countries 'created' by the intervention of the Soviet Red army. In my oppinion this is not correct. Where was the term coined? How has it been used over the years by different people? I'm sure 'Eastern bloc' means different things at different times to different people. Your 'definition' does not help in the understanding of the term. 203.206.38.46 15:20, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Redundant with Warsaw Pact ?

Is there any real difference between the Eastern bloc and the Warsaw Pact? The two articles list exactly the same members. I suggest that they be merged. I note that Western bloc redirects to NATO.--Pharos 07:47, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)

It's tricky with near-synonyms. I would have guessed that the most common usage in English would include Yugoslavia in the Eastern bloc, but obviously Wikipedians who disagree with me on this point have had the last say on the content of the article. The very issue is whether the Eastern block and the Warsaw Pact are synonyms or not. If they really are, of course it is time to change this article into a redirect — and mention the term in the introduction of the WP-article. If they are not, then this article would be the best place to make it clear and obvious exactly how the two concepts differ. At the moment, I don't think this article does. --Johan Magnus 10:06, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)

There is a difference betwen Eastern bloc and the Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw Pact was a military organisasion made as an answer to BRD membersihip in NATO in 1955.

The Easter bloc is an term including states with communist economy and ideology. Yugoslavia was never part of the Warsaw Pact, but was labeled a "member" of the Eastern bloc because of a communust economy.

Eastern bloc refeers to the economy rather than power,military or geography. In other words states as Cuba, Albania and Vitenam has a part in the eastern block, in the same way states as Sweden, Austria, Finland, Switerland and Argentina was all part in the Western World due to kapitalism and their political system, hence all four was official military neutral and not members of NATO.

Yugoslavia had special economical system. They had a community ownership (društvena svojina) not ownership of state (državna svojina) as in communist countries. People who worked in company owned that company. Imagine that all employees are shareholders of their company. Worker on higher rank and who is longer employed has higher share, but all workers have same decision right.

[edit] Map

Maybe you can insert this map: de:Bild:Ostblock_in_Europa.png greetz, de:Benutzer:fakie

Actually, that map is wrong. I assume the different shades of blue are to show the difference between non-Soviet communist countries and the Warsaw Pact. In that case, Bulgaria is mislabelled, as it was part of the Warsaw Pact. edolen1 16:53, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

All the marked countries have benn part in the Eastern bloc in the first definition. Later the light-blue-marked countries weren't in that definition anymore... de:Benutzer:fakie

Why is Romania a different shade of red? A key would be nice on the picture. --Chickenfeed9 14:01, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Eastern bloc or Eastern Bloc?

I think that the name should probaby be Eastern Bloc. It is capitalized in the vast majority of sources that I have found and since it is referring to an area rather than a direction, I would expect it to be capitalized, like East Coast. -- Kjkolb 11:42, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

It is also capitalized within the article. Agree. Canonblack 12:30, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Support. Was my first thought on seeing the article; have moved page accordingly. David Kernow (talk) 01:41, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

this map is wrong, Czechoslovakia and other states are not included. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.87.71.247 (talk) 23:17, 10 March 2008 (UTC)