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Eastern Europe is the eastern part of the
European geography:
With the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, the political landscape of the Eastern Bloc, and indeed the world, changed. In the German reunification, the Federal Republic of Germany peacefully absorbed the German Democratic Republic in 1990. In 1991, COMECON, the Warsaw Pact, and the Soviet Union were dissolved. Many European nations which had been part of the Soviet Union regained their independence (Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, as well as the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia). Czechoslovakia peacefully separated into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. Many countries of this region joined the European Union, namely Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.
. Eastern Bloc, forming a geopolitical concept that became known as the Warsaw Pact was created in 1949, most countries of Eastern Europe became members of the opposing NATO. When Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) which later evolved into the Molotov Plan. Instead they participated in the Marshall plan of Germany. All the countries in Eastern Europe adopted communist modes of control. These countries were officially independent from the Soviet Union, but the practical extent of this independence – except in Yugoslavia, Albania, and to some extent Romania – was quite limited. Under pressure from Stalin these nations rejected grants from the American Soviet occupation zone (also known as East Germany), formed by the German Democratic Republic Eastern Europe after 1945 usually meant all the European countries liberated and then occupied by the Soviet army. It included the [40][39] The Soviet secret police, the
Russia, defeated in the First World War, lost territory as the Baltics and Poland made good their independence. The region was the main battlefield in the Second World War (1939–45), with German and Soviet armies sweeping back and forth, with millions of Jews killed by the Nazis, and millions of others killed by disease, starvation, and military action, or executed after being deemed as politically dangerous.[38] During the final stages of WWII the future of Eastern Europe was decided by the overwhelming power of the Soviet Red Army, as it swept the Germans aside. It did not reach Yugoslavia, Albania, and Greece, however. Finland was free but forced to be neutral in the upcoming Cold War. The region fell to Soviet control and Communist governments were imposed. Yugoslavia and Albania had their own Communist regimes; after a civil war the Communists lost in Greece. The Eastern Bloc with the onset of the Cold War in 1947 was mostly behind the Western European countries in economic rebuilding and progress.
A major result of the First World War was the breakup of the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman empires, as well as partial losses to the German Empire. A surge of ethnic nationalism created a series of new states in Eastern Europe, validated by the Versailles Treaty of 1919. Poland was reconstituted after the partitions of the 1790s had divided it between Germany, Austria, and Russia. New countries included Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine (which was soon reabsorbed by the Soviet Union), Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. Austria and Hungary had much reduced boundaries. Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Greece likewise were independent. All the countries were heavily rural, with little industry and only a few urban centers. Nationalism was the dominant force but most of the countries had ethnic or religious minorities who felt threatened by majority elements. Nearly all became democratic in the 1920s, but all of them (except Czechoslovakia and Finland) gave up democracy during the depression years of the 1930s, in favor of autocratic or strong-man or single party states. The new states were unable to form stable military alliances, and one by one were too weak to stand up against Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union, which took them over between 1938 and 1945.
The conquest of the Byzantine Empire, center of the Eastern Orthodox Church, by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, and the gradual fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire (which had replaced the Frankish empire) led to a change of the importance of Roman Catholic/Protestant vs. Eastern Orthodox concept in Europe, although even a few modern authors sometimes state that Eastern Europe is, strictly speaking, that part of Europe where the Greek and/or the Cyrillic alphabet is used (Greece, Cyprus, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia).[36] However, there are methodological problems with this view; Albania uses the Latin alphabet and would be left out of this definition of Eastern Europe, while Greece's status as the cradle of Western civilization and an integral part of the Western world in the political, cultural and economic spheres make its inclusion to Eastern Europe extremely problematic, and it is generally classified as belonging to Southern and/or Western Europe.[37]
The earliest known distinctions between east and west in Europe originate in the history of the Roman Republic. As the Roman domain expanded, a cultural and linguistic division appeared between the mainly Greek-speaking eastern provinces which had formed the highly urbanized Hellenistic civilization. In contrast the western territories largely adopted the Latin language. This cultural and linguistic division was eventually reinforced by the later political east-west division of the Roman Empire. The division between these two spheres was enhanced during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages by a number of events. The Western Roman Empire collapsed starting the Early Middle Ages. By contrast, the Eastern Roman Empire, mostly known as the Byzantine Empire, managed to survive and even to thrive for another 1,000 years. The rise of the Frankish Empire in the west, and in particular the Great Schism that formally divided Eastern and Western Christianity, enhanced the cultural and religious distinctiveness between Eastern and Western Europe. Much of Eastern Europe was invaded and occupied by the Mongols.
Under Ashurbanipal (669–627 BCE) the boundaries of the Assyrian Empire reached as far as the Caucasus Mountains in Eastern Europe. Other ancient kingdoms of the region included Armenia, Albania, Colchis and Iberia. These kingdoms were later incorporated into various Iranian empires, including Achaemenid Empire and Sassanid Empire. In 95–55 BCE under the reign of Armenian king of kings Tigranes the Great, the Kingdom of Armenia became an empire, growing to include Kingdom of Armenia, vassals Iberia, Albania, Parthia, Atropatene, Cappadocia, Cilicia, and Atropatene. Owing to the rivalry between Persia and Rome, and later Byzantium, the latter would invade the region several times, although it was never able to hold the region.
Disputed states:
Most Southeastern European states did not belong to the Eastern Bloc (save Bulgaria, Romania, and for a short time, Albania) although some of them were represented in the Cominform. Only some of them can be included in the classical former political definition of Eastern Europe. Some can be considered as being in Southern Europe.[10] However, most can be characterized as belonging to South-eastern Europe, but some of them may also be included in Central Europe or Eastern Europe.[29]
The term "Central Europe" is often used by historians to designate Germany and its eastern neighbors, and thus overlaps with "Eastern Europe." The following countries are often labeled Eastern European by some commentators and as Central European by others.[21][22][23]
Several other former Soviet republics are part of Eastern Europe
Disputed states in Transcaucasia:
The Caucasus states are included in definitions of Eastern Europe or histories of Eastern Europe. They are located on the border of Europe and Asia. However they participate in European Union's Eastern Partnership Program. These countries are members of Council of Europe, and Georgia has sought membership in NATO and EU.
Some sources place the Baltic states in Northern Europe whereas others such as CIA World Fact Book in Eastern Europe.
The fall of the Iron Curtain brought the end of the East-West division in Europe,[19] but this geopolitical concept is sometimes still used for quick reference by the media.[20]
The Multilingual Thesaurus of the European Union[9] defines the following countries as Eastern Europe: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine.
One view of the present boundaries of Eastern Europe came into being during the final stages of World War II. The area eventually came to encompass all the European countries which were under Soviet influence. These countries had communist governments in the postwar era, and neutral countries were classified by the nature of their political regimes. The Cold War increased the number of reasons for the division of Europe into two parts along the borders of NATO and Warsaw Pact states. (See: The Cold War section). A competing view excludes from the definition of Eastern Europe states historically and culturally different, constituting part of the so-called Western world. This could potentially refer to various formerly Communist countries of Central Europe and the Baltic states which have different political, religious, cultural, and economic histories from their eastern neighbors e.g. Russia and Ukraine. (See: Classical antiquity and medieval origins section)
The Ural Mountains, Ural River, and the Caucasus Mountains are the geographical land border of the eastern edge of Europe. In the west, however, the cultural and religious boundaries of "Eastern Europe" are subject to considerable overlap and, most importantly, have undergone historical fluctuations, which make a precise definition of the western boundaries of Eastern Europe somewhat difficult.
Several definitions of Eastern Europe exist today, but they often lack precision or are extremely general. These definitions vary both across cultures and among experts, even political scientists, recently becoming more and more imprecise.[12]
[11][10][9]
Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Turkey, Canada
Bucharest, European Union, Romanian language, Transylvania, Nato
Bratislava, Košice, Czech Republic, Nitra Region, Prešov Region
Prague, Ústí nad Labem Region, Czech language, Moravian-Silesian Region, Holy Roman Empire
European Parliament, Malta, Estonia, Romania, European Council
Africa, Asia, Europe, Americas, Oceania
Germany, Austria, Romania, Switzerland, Hungary
Russia, Soviet Union, Moscow, Eastern Europe, Gold
Indo-European languages, Bronze Age, Proto-Indo-European language, Caucasus, Chinese language
Middle East, Asia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Europe