Western Bloc

Summary

The Western Bloc is an informal, collective term for countries that were officially allied with the United States during the Cold War of 1947–1991. While the NATO member states, in Western Europe and Northern America, were pivotal to the bloc, it included many other countries, in the broader Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa with histories of anti-Soviet, anti-communist and, in some cases anti-socialist, ideologies and policies. As such, the bloc was opposed to the political systems and foreign policies of communist countries, which were centered on the Soviet Union, other members of the Warsaw Pact, and usually the People's Republic of China. The name "Western Bloc" emerged in response to and as the antithesis of its communist counterpart, the Eastern Bloc. Throughout the Cold War, the governments and the Western media were more inclined to refer to themselves as the "Free World" or the "First World", whereas the Eastern Bloc was often referred to as the "Communist World" or less commonly the "Second World".

The "Three Worlds" of the Cold War (between 30 April and 24 June 1975)
  First World: Countries aligned with the Western Bloc (i.e., NATO and allies), led by the United States
  Second World: Countries aligned with the Eastern Bloc (i.e., Warsaw Pact, China, and allies), led by the Soviet Union
  Third World: The Non-Aligned Movement, led by India and Yugoslavia, and other neutral countries
Political situation in Europe during the Cold War

1947–1991 Western Bloc associations edit

NATO edit

* Indicates founding member state

Five Eyes edit

ANZUS edit

Compact of Free Association edit

METO, Baghdad Pact, CENTO (until 1979) edit

Rio Treaty edit

SEATO edit

 
Map of SEATO members in 1959, shown in blue

Greater Middle Eastern Partners edit

Sub-Saharan African Partners edit

Northeast Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Oceanian Partners edit

Post-1991 Western-aligned associations edit

NATO edit

* Indicates pre-1991 member state

Major non-NATO ally (MNNA) edit

Greater Middle Eastern Partners edit

Northeast Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Oceanian Partners edit

Inter-American Partners edit

Quadrilateral Security Dialogue edit

Others edit

See also edit

Notes edit

Sources edit

  • Matloff, Maurice. Makers of Modern Strategy. Ed. Peter Paret. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1971. 702.
  • Kissinger, Henry. Diplomacy. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994. 447,454.
  • Lewkowicz, Nicolas. The United States, the Soviet Union and the Geopolitical Implications of the Origins of the Cold War New York and London: Anthem Press, 2018.