Eastern Europe Supplementary Notes

1
Eastern Europe Supplementary Notes

• A - Geographical Context
• B - Political Geography

2
Geographical Context

• 1. Redistribution of the Eastern European Map
• 2. Eastern Europe

3
Redistribution of the Eastern European Map

• Context
• Caught in between the powerful countries of the
  West and Russia (the Soviet Union for the greater
  part of the 20th century).
  
• The region has been unstable for many centuries.
• The nation-state concept that emerged in Western
  Europe has not been as strong in Eastern Europe.
  
• The boundaries of Eastern Europe have been
  redrawn three times in the 20th century.

4
Redistribution of the Eastern European Map

• Before 1914
• Three powers were dominating Eastern Europe
  Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary.
  
• Russia and Germany shared a common border, since
  Poland did not exist.
  
• Poland was actually dismantled in the 18th and
  19th centuries.
  
• Problems between Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian
  Empire.
  
• Pressure between Russia and Romania and
  Bulgaria.
  
• Pressure between Greece and the Ottoman Empire
  (Turkey).

5
Redistribution of the Eastern European Map

• Consequences of WWI (1918)
• The First World War was triggered by the
  assassination of an Austro-Hungarian noble in
  Sarajevo.
  
• The Austro-Hungarian Empire was dismantled with
  the creation of Austria, Hungary and
  Czechoslovakia.
  
• Poland was re-created and Germany was divided in
  two.
  
• Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia)
  became independent.
  
• Creation of Yugoslavia from Serbia, Montenegro,
  Bosnia-Herzegonovia, Croatia, Slovenia and
  Macedonia.
  
• Some were part of the former Austro-Hungarian
  Empire, others were independent entities.

6
Europe Before and After WWI
7
Redistribution of the Eastern European Map

• Consequences of WWII (1945)
• The Second World War had important consequences
  on the political geography of Eastern Europe.
  
• Poland was moved to the west to the gain of the
  Soviet Union and the loss of Germany.
  
• Germany also lost Koenisburg (Eastern Prussia),
  which was integrated to Russia.
  
• Germany was divided in the Federal Republic (West
  Germany) and the Democratic Republic (East
  Germany).
  
• The Baltic States were attached to the Soviet
  Union.
  
• Czechoslovakia and Rumania lost some territories
  to the Soviet Union.

8
Redistribution of the Eastern European Map

• Consequences of the fall of the Berlin Wall
  (1989)
  
• Germany was re-unified.
• The Baltic States became independent again.
• Czechoslovakia was divided into the Czech
  Republic and Slovakia.
  
• Yugoslavia was divided in several smaller
  countries.

9
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Western Europe
10
Eastern Europe

• North European Plain
• Much of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia
  lies on the North European Plain.
  
• Relatively flat area unfortunately located
  between Germany and historic Russia, two of
  Europe's major contending powers.
  
• A third, Austria-Hungary, was to the south.
• These four states have frequently been in the
  path of the armies of the greater powers.
  
• Poland
• Partitioned on four occasions among the major
  powers and had ceased to exist as an independent
  state.
  
• Recreated after WW I, only to be attacked by
  Hitler and later subsumed under Soviet dominance,
  although nominally independent.

11
Eastern Europe

• Baltic states
• Lithuania, the largest, was one of Europe's more
  powerful states during the late medieval period.
  
• Its territory was difficult to defend and it soon
  lost that status.
  
• The three regained their independence from the
  USSR, following 50 years as part of that country.
  
  
• Danubian Plain
• Includes most of Hungary and parts of Austria,
  Yugoslavia, and Romania.
  
• Relatively easy access route from the east and
  southeast (the Ottoman Empire) and the region has
  been invaded on numerous occasions.

12
Eastern Europe

• Balkan Peninsula
• Mountainous region.
• Limited technology and transportation
  infrastructure impeded communication among the
  peoples inhabiting the various parts of the
  Balkan Peninsula.
• Consequently, cultures (including languages)
  developed in isolation from one another despite
  their relative proximity.
  
• This situation is common in mountainous areas
  throughout the world and retards the formation of
  nation-states.
  
• An ethnic mosaic develops with a rich variety,
  but political development lagged in this
  situation.
  
• Balkanization describes the phenomenon of a
  fractious, highly divided political surface.

13
Eastern Europe

• Unity has generally only been maintained through
  the imposition of authoritarian power, often from
  the outside.
  
• Thus, at various times, Austria, the Ottoman
  Turks, the Germans, and the Soviets controlled
  much of the region.
  
• Each time the authoritarian power is reduced or
  removed, the natural divisiveness of the region
  rises to the surface again.

14
Eastern Europe

• The Danube
• Like Western Europe, Eastern Europe has a central
  river of great importance the Danube.
  
• Begins not very far from where the Rhine begins,
  in Switzerland.
  
• Serves 9 countries (Germany, Austria, Slovakia,
  Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldavia
  and Ukraine).
  
• Linking Eastern and Western Europe.
• Serves most of the great cities of Eastern
  Europe, such as Vienna (Austria), Budapest
  (Hungary) and Belgrade (Yugoslavia).
  
• Strong potential for power generation and
  transportation, although this potential has not
  been realized.
  

15
Political Geography

• 1. The Devolution of Eastern Europe
• 2. Eastern European Multiethnic States

16
The Devolution of Eastern Europe

• Definition
• Disintegration of the nation-state as the result
  of reviving regionalism.
  
• The USA's Civil War (1860-65) is an example of
  devolution.
  
• Economic and cultural differences.
• Strong regional identity led to its attempt to
  withdraw from the union.
  
• Multi-ethnic states are more prone to
  devolutionary activity than are homogeneous
  states.
  
• Yugoslavia exemplifies a multi-ethnic state where
  this is currently occurring.

17
The Devolution of Eastern Europe

• The formation of Yugoslavia
• Political entity only date back to the Treaty of
  Versailles that officially ended WW I.
  
• Carved up the former Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman
  empires into several of the states existing in
  the region today.
  
• Formerly independent Serbia and Montenegro were
  joined with Slovenia, Croatia, part of Macedonia,
  Bosnia, and other territories to form a new
  state.
• This was largely an effort to thwart future
  Balkanization of the peninsula that might lead to
  more wars.

18
The Devolution of Eastern Europe

• Spatial divisions in Yugoslavia
• Along ethnic lines occurred at major sub-national
  levels and there was far less mixing of ethnic
  groups.
  
• Each group had fairly well-defined territorial
  limits within which it is dominant.
  
• The authoritarian regime contributed to these
  divisions through the creation of formal
  republics within the Yugoslavian union.
  
• Rather than help create a sense of national
  unity, the individual republics (6) fostered a
  sub-national sense of ethnic identity.
  
• Led to the devolutionary pressures that
  eventually tore the country apart.

19
The Devolution of Eastern Europe

• Devolution
• After WW II, Yugoslavia was under authoritarian
  Communist rule, led by Marshal Tito.
  
• Following his death, leadership rotated among
  members of a council with representation from the
  major ethnic groups of that nation of minorities.
  
• The weakening of the authoritarian regime allowed
  ethnic rivalries and animosity, long suppressed,
  to rise to the surface.
  
• The current strife in the former Yugoslavia
  exemplifies this phenomenon.
  
• The Serbians, whose republic includes the former
  national capital of Belgrade, are seen by the
  other minorities as having dominated many aspects
  of the national government.

20
The Devolution of Eastern Europe

• Other groups began agitating for greater autonomy
  or outright independence.
  
• Independence was declared by Slovenia and Croatia
  during the summer of 1991 and by Macedonia in
  December of that year.
  
• Yugoslavia has a rebel province the Kosovo.
• The breakup of the former Yugoslavia has brought
  Europe its greatest conflict since WW II.
  
• The EU has sought to be a mediating party but has
  met with limited success.

21
Eastern European Multiethnic States

• Czechoslovakia
• Was also artificially created out of the ashes of
  WW I.
  
• Three main ethnic groups
• Slovaks in the east.
• Moravians in the center.
• Bohemians in the west.
• When created, it also had about 3 million Germans
  in a region called the Sudetenland.
  
• Used by Hitler as justification for his takeover
  of Czechoslovakia in early 1939.
  
• The former Czechoslovakia averted tensions by a
  peaceful division of the country in 1993.

22
Eastern European Multiethnic States

• Bulgaria
• Became independent from the Ottoman Turks in the
  late 1800s.
  
• Within its boundaries large minorities of Turks
  and Macedonians continue to live.
  
• The declaration of independence by the Yugoslav
  Macedonian Republic has caused concern.
  
• Bulgaria's and Greece's Macedonian populations
  will want to join an independent Macedonian
  state.
  
• Concern also exists that either Bulgaria or
  Greece or both will claim the Macedonian Republic
  to add to its own territory.

23
Eastern European Multiethnic States

• Romania
• Nearly two million ethnic Hungarians, a legacy of
  Austro-Hungarian Empire days.
  
• Badly treated under the former authoritarian
  regime.
  
• Political feud between Hungary and Romania in
  addition to significant migration of Hungarians
  from Romania.
  
• Baltic States
• Large Russian minorities within their small
  populations.