During the Cold War the term westeren Block referred to?

Answer 1

The term was usually "Eastern Block" country. Terms were (and still are) getting a little bit confused here. Western translates to OCCIDENTAL; Eastern translates to ORIENTAL.

Apparently some newspeople, trying to "make short-cuts" in conversations began to say "Western nations" instead of "Western European nations"...and so forth. And the former Soviet Union (today's Russia) is actually a "Western" nation when compared to (or referred with an Asian nation). Another words, if discussing the Russo-Japanese War (as an example) the Russians would be discribed as "Western" peoples, and the Japanese as Eastern peoples.

However, "some" people (like Nazi Germany for example) referred to the Russians as Orientals (Eastern) people.

This is what everyday people have done...they've confused things by trying to PLEASE EVERYBODY when they should've known that CANNOT BE DONE. What human beings should do is try to stay historically correct...not politically correct (trying to please everyone).

So here's the answer (solution): Western Europe was normally the non-communist European countries during the cold war period. Eastern Europe was normally the communist Warsaw Pact countries. The term "Block" or "Bloc" was most often used to describe the "Eastern Bloc Countries."

The term will get even more complicated when discussing Africa, as Africa is also in the Western Hemisphere...and yet the term "Western" is used down there too; However that is strictly a "politically motivated" term as they are TRYING TO AVOID any racial terms. It "might" be more accurate to state "European" or "American" when in Africa...and drop the Western/Eastern terms altogether. As Africa doesn't fit the mold of either Occidental (Western) nor Oriental (Eastern).