'''Eastern Europe''' is, by convention, that part of
Europe from the
Ural and
Caucasus mountains in the East to an arbitrarily chosen boundary in the West. Usually some or all of the countries adjacent to Russia's western border are included. As is also true of continents, regions are only social constructs and should not be understood as physical features defined by abstract, neutral criteria.
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.
Much of Eastern Europe has ties to both the east and west. While all of the countries were heavily influenced by Roman Catholic or Protestant
Christianity and have very close historical and cultural ties to
Germany,
Italy,
France or
Scandinavia (e.g. the Vikings in
Russia, the
Hanseatic league in the Baltics), many countries also had relations with the East.
Russia was under the control of the Mongols for two centuries and inherited some political and social conventions from them. Further south the
Ottoman Empire and
Islam had a very strong influence. The nations of the
Balkans as well as
Hungary and
Romania were all at one time controlled by the Turks.
The term is recently used in the Western countries to refer to all European countries that were previously under
communist regimes, the so-called
Eastern Bloc. The concept of Eastern Europe was greatly strengthened by the domination of the region by
Communism and more specifically the
Soviet Union after the Second World War. The idea of an "
Iron Curtain" separating Eastern and Western Europe was dominant throughout the
Cold War. This strict dualism causes problems, however, as it fails to account for complexities of the region. For instance, communist countries such as
Yugoslavia and
Albania refused to be controlled by the
Kremlin, which however didn't make much difference to anti-Communists in the west.
Furthermore, a view that Europe is divided strictly into the West and the East is considered pejorative by the population of the nominally eastern countries, especially since the fall of the
Berlin Wall and Communism in Europe overall. The Europeans from eastern countries do not 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. People in the Baltic States and
Poland may feel the label
stigmatizing in comparison with countries that successfully have asserted their belonging to
the West despite their Eastern location — and history as parts of Eastern Orthodoxy (
Greece) or
Imperial Russia (
Finland).
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
The
United Nations Statistics Division defines Eastern Europe as:
These countries were all formerly within the
Soviet Union:
Southeastern Europe/Balkan Peninsula
Commonly this definition is expanded to include these other previously communist countries:
Greece and the European part of
Turkey are usually not included, as they are old
NATO members.
Central Europe
The previously communist countries of
Central Europe became included in the era of the
Cold War:
Prior to the
German reunification,
East Germany was often counted to Eastern Europe.
See also
External link
cv:Хěвелтухăç енчи Европа
da:Østeuropa
de:Osteuropa
fr:Europe de l'Est
id:Eropa Timur
he:מזרח אירופה
lt:Rytų Europa
nl:Oost-Europa
ja:東ヨーロッパ
pl:Europa Wschodnia
ro:Europa de Est
ru:Восточная Европа
sv:Östeuropa
zh:东欧