Overview

Eastern Europe ("lands in between") 13 countries +

Approx. 140 million people, many languages.

The renaissance, the reformation, scientific revolution, the Enlightenment,
the French revolution all impacted the region and the people.

Linguistic connection to Russia, cultural connection to Orthodox church/no
direct Russian control until the 2nd. WW.
Defining lines:

Orthodox Christians - Catholics

Ottoman cultural area – Christian empires (+Habsburg, Austria, -Prussia
and Russia)

Socio-economic conditions of Western Europe – socio-economic
conditions of Eastern Europe
Historical development:

Neolithic settlements

Greek and Roman ruins

Migration of Slavs in the 6th century

Conversion to Christianity at the end of the first millennium.

4th century AD Roman empire-Christianity official religion.

'The fall of Rome" 476 (chronology needs dates, processes take
centuries)

Western part collapsed - Rome

Eastern Part survived as Byzantine empire - Constantinople (Istanbul)

West-single patriarch in Rome disintegrating political situation

Pope ruled, church adopted the language of the Roman empire (Latin)

Later with the rise of secular kings, tension between the Pope and the king

Byzantine allowed people to retain their national churches and use their
own languages

Catholic/ (universal) versus Orthodox (loyal to earlier faith)(I versus we)
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
Catholicism - Rome (Croats, Slovenes, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks and
Poles) (Latin as the elite language)

Orthodoxy - Constantinople (Greeeks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Romanians,
Ukrainians and Russians) (No Latin)

Russian empire versus scientific revolutions, industrialization etc.

Ottoman empire influence on Southeaster Europe versus the Russian,
Prussian and Austrian on the north

Implications of Ottoman rule: not converting to Islam??? Ask Bulgarians!

Late 19th early 10th century independence movements along the national
lines

WW 1 and the collapse of the Habsburg resulted in the establishment of
nation-states

All of these states were ethnically diverse (Hungary exception)

Until the WW 2 national self determination with underdeveloped
economies (control of territorial questions, economic relations and internal
political organization)

Lack of control over global issues (rise of Nazis, power of the Soviet
Union)

Difficulties of transition from empires to nation-states

WW 2, Soviet occupations, stabilization of Soviet block.
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