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Is it the economy? What language group it belongs to? The religion people follow?
I mean, what really unites ALL eastern european countries, aside from an experience of Communism? Most of eastern Europe is Slavic, but Hungary, Romania, Lithuania, Moldova, Latvia, and Albania are not, what makes them similar to the Slavic countries?
I was going to say being traditionally Orthodox, but much of eastern Europe is Roman Catholic or Protestant (and even Muslim).
Economically too, generally speaking, eastern Europe is less prosperous, but again, can you really regionalize based on prosperity?
Eastern Europe used to be part of the Communist block. It is basically the part of Europe that was under the influence of the USSR after the second world war.
You can read a lot more here: Eastern Europe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eastern Europe used to be part of the Communist block. It is basically the part of Europe that was under the influence of the USSR after the second world war.
You can read a lot more here: Eastern Europe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Western Europe is on the western side of Europe.
So other than that, eastern European countries don't fundamentally share anything in common?
So other than that, eastern European countries don't fundamentally share anything in common?
Most but not all of Eastern Europe share Orthodox Christianity and Slavic languages, but of course Poland is Catholic, but with a slavic language, and Hungary's language seems to be related maybe to Finnish or maybe unique.
Of course it's an arbitrary divide, like what parts of the US are part of the "West" or "Midwest" - one can find states people disagree about which region they belong to.
For example East Germany was considered East Europe until the wall fell, but certainly now I would consider Germany a solidly Western European country all the way to it's eastern border.
Probably the previously cited dividing line of Soviet influence is a working definition.
Most but not all of Eastern Europe share Orthodox Christianity and Slavic languages, but of course Poland is Catholic, but with a slavic language, and Hungary's language seems to be related maybe to Finnish or maybe unique.
Of course it's an arbitrary divide, like what parts of the US are part of the "West" or "Midwest" - one can find states people disagree about which region they belong to.
For example East Germany was considered East Europe until the wall fell, but certainly now I would consider Germany a solidly Western European country all the way to it's eastern border.
Probably the previously cited dividing line of Soviet influence is a working definition.
Nothing but comunist block defines what is eastern europe.It's not only Poland that is catholic.Croatia,Slovenia,Romania are catholic too,Czech Republic,Slovakia,Hungary,Estonia,Lithuania are catholic or protestant,and Bosnia and Albania are muslim.So that means religion is not the issue.Romania,Hungary,Estonia,Albania,Moldova are not slavic countries so that means that is not the issue too.Cultural inheritance is also very different.Countries like Czech Republic,Slovakia,Hungary,Slovenia,Croatia have Austro-Ugar history inheritance,while countries in the east and the south have big Otoman inheritance.So,nothing but ex-iron wall is what defines eastern Europe because these cuontries are VERY different.
its just the same as saying whats different about western europeans, there individual countries that happen to be on the eastern side of europe, differences and some things in common, its like saying whats the difference between france and spain, its just the same as the differences between croatia and poland for example, different cultures and traditions
Of course it's an arbitrary divide ... like what parts of the US are part of the "West" or "Midwest" - one can find states people disagree about which region they belong to.
... to be sure, once you get east of France.
I remember reading what was at one time a classic on European history that considered Germany and Italy as central Europe.
It all depends on the perspective of the person asking the question and the purpose, usually political (even if disguised - skilfully or otherwise - as a historical or cultural question).
In my view, communism (i.e. extended Soviet Russian dictatorship) was so short-lived - 45 to 70 years is a drop in the bucket - that it is not worth mentioning, except maybe in a footnote, though it is still relatively fresh in living memory of some, by now, older folk.
If one day, for example, it becomes politically expedient for both sides to have Turkey join the EU, then all of a sudden we will hear all sorts of historical and cultural explainations of why Turkey has always been part of Europe since year one.
I remember reading what was at one time a classic on European history that considered Germany and Italy as central Europe.
It all depends on the perspective of the person asking the question and the purpose, usually political (even if disguised - skilfully or otherwise - as a historical or cultural question).
In my view, communism (i.e. extended Soviet Russian dictatorship) was so short-lived - 45 to 70 years is a drop in the bucket - that it is not worth mentioning, except maybe in a footnote, though it is still relatively fresh in living memory of some, by now, older folk.
If one day, for example, it becomes politically expedient for both sides to have Turkey join the EU, then all of a sudden we will hear all sorts of historical and cultural explainations of why Turkey has always been part of Europe since year one.
So, then, what is the purpose of your question?
even some not older folk ... remember, even someone born in 1990 would have been born under communism. so a 30 year old born in 1980 would have a fresh memory of communism.
West and South mainly was used in the early years as said before after the second world war.
The East, occupied by the USSR never had a real chance to develop in these years. When the USSR was gone it took a lot of years to get to a decent level of economy.
I think Baltic countries (that is; Lituania, Latvia, Estonnia) and Czech-Slovakia and Slovenia were the most succesfull countries at developing their economies. Maybe also Hungaria. For most of them Joining the European Union was a smart move. Also Poland is a rather well developing county at the moment but all of these countries still have their poor sub-urbs. But there is a clear difference between these countries and the west.
However, also the south isn't the richest eventhough the countries are considered to be rather western-europe. Look at Italy, the poor in the south is getting poorer and the rich north is getting richer. This is also due to problems with Maffia.
As for culture we can say the Languages are mostly slavic/russian languages. Except for Hungary and Estonnia which both are related to Finnish and Sami languages. They form the Fin-ugrian language groups. (Ridiculously hard to learn )
Religion, orthodox is Really important in the baltic states, east finland(which of course isn't considered to be a ''poor'' eastern country). But also catholic and protestant and muslim religions are rather important in the east. this mostly in the Balkan countries.
Another reason for the poor developments is because of the Yougoslavian war in the south east when the Youguslavian replubic (i think it was called a republic) broke up in several other countries including Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia etc. And they really hate each other. I have been there and bullet holes in hotels/buildings were still visible. This was 1991 till 1995. So rather recently and have had only a few years to develop.
Countries like Bulgaria, Romania, Albania are probably the worst when talking about poor not developed countries in the east of Europe and their chances to develop depend on the European Union most probably as they have almost nothing to invest in and have no chances on the markets. They also have problems with maffia, human trading/slavery, prostitution and some others.
I hope this helps to realize that there is a clear difference between east and west.
Is it the economy? What language group it belongs to? The religion people follow?
I mean, what really unites ALL eastern european countries, aside from an experience of Communism? Most of eastern Europe is Slavic, but Hungary, Romania, Lithuania, Moldova, Latvia, and Albania are not, what makes them similar to the Slavic countries?
I was going to say being traditionally Orthodox, but much of eastern Europe is Roman Catholic or Protestant (and even Muslim).
Economically too, generally speaking, eastern Europe is less prosperous, but again, can you really regionalize based on prosperity?
The true definition of Eastern Europe is significant Orthodox, Byzantine and Ottoman influence through last 1500+ years. Then you have those cold-war era definitions, or language based... What you wanna say is maybe "Eastern Block".
I like the wikipedia article: there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region".[1] A related UN paper adds that "every assessment of spatial identities is essentially a social and cultural construct
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