Backed America and much of European country (5)
I believe the answer is:
sudan
'country' is the definition.
(Sudan is an example)
'backed america and much of european' is the wordplay.
'backed' is a reversal indicator.
'america' becomes 'us' (abbreviation for the United States).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'much of' means to remove the last letter.
'european' becomes 'dane' (someone from Denmark).
'us' in reverse letter order is 'su'.
'dane' with its last letter taken off is 'dan'.
'su'+'dan'='SUDAN'
(Other definitions for sudan that I've seen before include "Country divided by the Nile" , "Region of Africa" , "Country south of Egypt" , "Home for many Arabs" , "Country W. of Ethiopia" .)