Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe as a region has several alternative definitions, whereby it can denote:

Former Eastern Bloc

The United Nations Statistics Division defines Eastern Europe as:

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• Belarus
• Bulgaria
• Czech Republic
• Hungary
• Moldova
• Poland
• Romania
• Russia
• Slovakia
• Ukraine

These countries were all formerly within the Soviet Union:

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• Belarus
• Moldova
• Russia
• Ukraine
• Estonia
• Latvia
• Lithuania

Note: The forcible annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the Soviet Union in 1940 was considered illegal by the United States and most Western European democracies and the three nations were de jure not considered parts of the Soviet Union.

Related Topics:
Soviet Union - 1940 - United States - Western European

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Southeastern Europe/Balkan Peninsula

Commonly this definition is expanded to include these other previously communist countries:

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• Albania
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Bulgaria
• F.Y.R. Macedonia
• Serbia and Montenegro
• Croatia

Greece and the European part of Turkey are usually not included, as they are old NATO members. Slovenia is sometimes included since it is a former republic of Yugoslavia.

Related Topics:
Greece - Turkey - NATO - Slovenia

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Central Europe

The previously communist countries of Central Europe became included in the era of the Cold War:

Related Topics:
Central Europe - Cold War

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• the Czech Republic - part of former Czechoslovakia
• Hungary
• Poland
• Slovakia - part of former Czechoslovakia
• Slovenia - formerly within Yugoslavia

Prior to the German reunification, East Germany was often counted to Eastern Europe.

Related Topics:
German reunification - East Germany

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Croatia is partially in the region too, which explains why it is sometimes excluded from this group. Also all countries in the region entered EU in 2004, while Croatia is still a candidate country.

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