Second World

The Cold War bloc of communist-led states aligned with the Soviet Union, distinguished from the capitalist First World and developing Third World.

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Cold War: A period of geopolitical rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, roughly from 1947 to 1991. The Second World was one of the principal blocs in this global rivalry.
First World: The Cold War grouping of the United States and its capitalist allies, especially in Western Europe. It was the Second World's principal geopolitical counterpart.
Hungarian Revolution of 1956: A popular uprising against Soviet-backed rule in Hungary, crushed by Soviet forces in November 1956. Its suppression exposed the limits of political autonomy within the bloc.
Comecon: The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, an organization for economic cooperation among the Soviet Union and allied states from 1949 to 1991. It organized economic ties within the Soviet-led bloc.
Eastern Bloc: The Soviet-aligned communist states of Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War. It was the Second World's core European grouping.
Third World: A Cold War category for countries outside the US-led and Soviet-led blocs, many of them newly independent or nonaligned. It distinguished states outside the two superpower-centered blocs.
Prague Spring: A 1968 Czechoslovak reform movement that sought a more open form of socialism before Warsaw Pact forces intervened. It showed how far reform could go before Soviet leaders enforced bloc discipline.
Brezhnev Doctrine: A Soviet policy asserting a right to intervene when socialism was threatened in a socialist state. It justified military intervention to preserve the bloc's political order.
Soviet Union: A federal socialist state spanning Eurasia from 1922 to 1991, governed by the Communist Party. Its political and military power anchored the bloc.
Non-Aligned Movement: An organization of states that sought to avoid formal alignment with either Cold War superpower bloc. Its members complicate any map that divides the world into two camps.