Eastern Europe

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

History

As a term, the origins of "Eastern Europe" are fairly recent. For many years Europe was divided on a North-South axis, with the southern Mediterranean states having much in common, and the northern Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea bordering states also having much in common (see also Northern Europe, Nordic Countries). The term "Eastern Europe" first arose in the 19th century and was used to describe an area that was falling behind the rest of Europe economically. It was seen as a region where serfdom and reactionary autocratic governments persisted long after those things faded in the West. It was always a very vague notion, however, and many countries in the region did not fit the stereotypical view.

Related Topics:
Europe - Mediterranean - Atlantic Ocean - Baltic Sea - Northern Europe - Nordic Countries - 19th century - Serfdom - Reactionary - Autocratic - Stereotypical

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More recently, the term "Eastern Europe" has been used to refer to all European countries that were previously under communist regimes, the so-called "Eastern Bloc". The idea of an "Iron Curtain" separating "Western Europe" and Soviet-controlled "Eastern Europe" was dominant throughout the period of Cold War which followed the Second World War. This dualism failed to account fully for some exceptions, as Yugoslavia and Albania were communist states, yet refused to be controlled by the Kremlin. In recent years, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991), freeing its captive states, the term "Eastern Europe" is sometimes used to identify the region, in effect retroactively, as consisting only of these European countries that were during the decades prior to 1991 known as parts of the Soviet Union (see list below).

Related Topics:
Western Europe - Second World War - Yugoslavia - Albania - Kremlin - Dissolution of the Soviet Union - 1991 - Soviet Union

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As the ideological division has now disappeared, the cultural division of Europe between Western Christianity, on the one hand, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Islam, on the other, has reemerged. It follows the so-called Huntington line of "clashing civilizations" corresponding roughly to the eastern boundary of Western Christianity in the year 1500. This line runs along what are now the eastern boundaries separating Norway, Finland, Estonia and Latvia from Russia, continues east of Lithuania, cuts in northwestern Ukraine, swings westward separating Transylvania from the rest of Romania, and then along the line now separating Slovenia and Croatia from the rest of ex-Yugoslavia. In the Balkans this line coincides with the historic border between the Habsburg and Ottoman empires, whereas in the north it marks the then eastern boundaries of Kingdom of Sweden and Teutonic Order, and the subsequent spread of Lutheran Reformation. The peoples to the west and north of the Huntington line are Protestant or Catholic; they shared most of the common experiences of Western European history -- feudalism, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution.

Related Topics:
Western Christianity - Orthodox Christianity - Islam - Huntington - Clashing civilizations - 1500 - Norway - Finland - Estonia - Latvia - Lithuania - Transylvania - Romania - Slovenia - Croatia - Balkans - Habsburg - Ottoman empire - Sweden - Teutonic Order - Lutheran - Reformation - Protestant - Catholic - Feudalism - Renaissance - The Enlightenment - French Revolution - Industrial Revolution

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The 1995 and 2004 enlargements arguably brought the European Union's eastern border up to the boundary between Western and Eastern Orthodox civilizations. Most of Europe's historically Protestant and Roman Catholic countries (with the exception of Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, and the various European microstates) were now EU members, while most of Europe's historically Eastern Orthodox countries (with the exception of Greece and Cyprus) were outside the EU.

Related Topics:
1995 - 2004 - European Union - Iceland - Switzerland - Microstate - Greece - Cyprus

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A view that Europe is divided strictly into the West and the East is considered pejorative by many in the nominally eastern countries, especially since the fall of the Berlin Wall and Communism in Europe overall. Europeans from the formerly communist-controlled countries tend not to classify themselves as "East Europeans" but prefer to include themselves in other groups, associating themselves with Central Europe, with Northern Europe, or with Southern Europe. For example, many people in Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic or Slovenia may feel the label stigmatizing in comparison with countries that successfully have asserted their belonging to "the West" despite their equally, or more, "eastern" location — and history as parts of Imperial Russia (Finland) or Eastern Orthodoxy (Greece).

Related Topics:
Berlin Wall - Central Europe - Northern Europe - Southern Europe - Poland - Czech Republic - Stigma - Imperial Russia - Eastern Orthodoxy

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