Central Europe is an area of
Europe between
Western Europe and
Eastern Europe,
based on a common
historical
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
,
social and
cultural identity
Cultural identity is a part of a person's identity, or their self-conception and self-perception, and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any kind of social group that has its own distinct cultur ...
. The
Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and
Protestantism significantly shaped the area's history. The concept of "Central Europe" appeared in the
19th century
The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium.
The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolish ...
.
Central Europe comprised most of the territories of the
Holy Roman Empire and those of the two neighboring kingdoms of
Poland and
Hungary. Hungary and parts of Poland were later part of the
Habsburg monarchy, which also significantly shaped the history of Central Europe. Unlike their Western European (Portugal, Spain et al.) and Eastern European (Russia) counterparts, the Central European nations never had any notable
colonies
In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...
(either overseas or adjacent) due to their inland location and other factors. It has often been argued that one of the contributing causes of both
World War I and
World War II was Germany's
lack of original overseas colonies.
After World War II, Central Europe was divided by the
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...
(as agreed by the
Big Three at the
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the pos ...
and the
Potsdam Conference) into two parts, the
capitalist
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private p ...
Western Bloc and the
communist Eastern Bloc. The
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the governme ...
was one of the most visible symbols of these artificial and forced divisions. Specifically, Stalin had advocated for the creation of a
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
sphere of influence in Central Europe, beginning with
Poland, in order to provide the Soviet Union a
geopolitical buffer zone between it and the capitalist western world.
Central Europe began a "strategic awakening" in the late 20th and early 21st century, with initiatives such as
Central European Defence Cooperation
The Central European Defence Cooperation (CEDC) is a military collaboration consisting of the Central European states of Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. Poland has an observer status in this cooperative framewo ...
, the
Central European Initiative
The Central European Initiative (CEI) is a forum of regional cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe, counting 18 member states. It was formed in Budapest in 1989. The body was developed on the basis of earlier experiences with The Alps-Adriatic ...
,
Centrope
Centrope is an Interreg IIIA project to establish a multinational region in four Central European states: Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The population of Centrope is 7,450,270.
Centrope is a joint initiative of the Austrian ...
, and the
Visegrád Four Group. This awakening was triggered by
writers and other
intellectuals who recognized the societal paralysis of decaying
dictatorship
A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...
s and felt compelled to speak up against Soviet oppression.
All of the
Central European countries are presently listed as being "
very highly developed" by the
Human Development Index
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistic composite index of life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income indicators, w ...
.
Historical perspective
Middle Ages and early modern period
Elements of cultural unity for
Northwestern,
Southwestern and Central Europe were
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and
Latin. However Eastern Europe, which remained
Eastern Orthodox, was dominated by
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
cultural influence; after the
East–West Schism in 1054, Eastern Europe developed cultural unity and resistance to the Catholic (and later also Protestant) Western Europe within the framework of the
Eastern Orthodox Church,
Church Slavonic
Church Slavonic (, , literally "Church-Slavonic language"), also known as Church Slavic, New Church Slavonic or New Church Slavic, is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bosnia and Herzeg ...
language and the
Cyrillic alphabet
, bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця
, fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs
, fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic
, fam3 = Phoenician
, fam4 = Gr ...
.
Francia 814.svg, Frankish Empire and its tributaries
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
in 814
East Francia 843.svg, East Francia in 843
Great moravia svatopluk.png, Possible furthest extent of Great Moravia under Svatopluk I (870–894)
Duchy of Poland 1000.svg, Poland under the Piast Dynasty in 1000
Kingdom of Hungary 1190.svg, Kingdom of Hungary in 1190
Holy Roman Empire (c. 1600).svg, Holy Roman Empire in 1600
Rzeczpospolita 1619 - 1621.png, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and its fiefs in 1619
According to Hungarian historian
Jenő Szűcs
Jenő Szűcs (July 13, 1928 in Debrecen – November 24, 1988 in Leányfalu
Leányfalu is a riverside village in Pest county, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It is just north of Szentendre located at . Located between the branch of the Lit ...
, foundations of Central European history at the first millennium were in close connection with Western European development. He explained that between the 11th and 15th centuries, not only Christianization and its cultural consequences were implemented, but well-defined social features emerged in Central Europe based on Western characteristics. The keyword of Western social development after millennium was the spread of liberties and autonomies in Western Europe. These phenomena appeared in the middle of the 13th century in Central European countries. There were self-governments of towns, counties and parliaments.
In 1335, under the rule of the King
Charles I of Hungary
Charles I, also known as Charles Robert ( hu, Károly Róbert; hr, Karlo Robert; sk, Karol Róbert; 128816 July 1342) was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1308 to his death. He was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and the only son of ...
, the castle of
Visegrád, the seat of the
Hungarian monarchs Hungarian may refer to:
* Hungary, a country in Central Europe
* Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing between 1000 and 1946
* Hungarians, ethnic groups in Hungary
* Hungarian algorithm, a polynomial time algorithm for solving the assignme ...
was the scene of the royal summit of the
Kings of Poland
Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electable position in Europe (16t ...
,
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohe ...
and Hungary.
They agreed to cooperate closely in the field of politics and commerce, inspiring their post-
Cold War successors to launch a successful
Central European initiative
The Central European Initiative (CEI) is a forum of regional cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe, counting 18 member states. It was formed in Budapest in 1989. The body was developed on the basis of earlier experiences with The Alps-Adriatic ...
.
In the Middle Ages, Central European cities adopted
Magdeburg rights and formed self governments.
Before World War I
Before 1870, the industrialization that had started to develop in Northwestern and Central Europe and the United States did not extend in any significant way to the rest of the world. Even in
Eastern Europe, industrialization lagged far behind.
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
, for example, remained largely rural and agricultural, and its autocratic rulers kept the peasants in serfdom.
The concept of Central Europe was already known at the beginning of the 19th century,
but its real life began in the 20th century and immediately became an object of intensive interest. However, the very first concept mixed science, politics and economy – it was strictly connected with the intensively growing German economy and its aspirations to dominate a part of European continent called ''Mitteleuropa''. The German term denoting Central Europe was so fashionable that other languages started referring to it when indicating territories from
Rhine to
Vistula, or even
Dnieper, and from the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
to the
Balkans. An example of that-time vision of Central Europe may be seen in
Joseph Partsch
Joseph Partsch (4 July 1851 – 22 June 1925) was a German geographer, born at Schreiberhau, Silesia.
Biography
He studied at the University of Breslau, receiving his doctorate in 1874, and began teaching at the university (privat-docent, ...
's book of 1903.
On 21 January 1904, ''Mitteleuropäischer Wirtschaftsverein'' (Central European Economic Association) was established in
Berlin with economic integration of Germany and Austria–Hungary (with eventual extension to
Switzerland,
Belgium and the
Netherlands) as its main aim. Another time, the term Central Europe became connected to the German plans of political, economic and cultural domination. The "bible" of the concept was
Friedrich Naumann
Friedrich Naumann (25 March 1860 – 24 August 1919) was a German liberal politician and Protestant parish pastor. In 1896, he founded the National-Social Association that sought to combine liberalism, nationalism and (non- Marxist) socialis ...
's book ''Mitteleuropa'' in which he called for an economic federation to be established after World War I. Naumann's idea was that the federation would have at its centre Germany and the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise o ...
but would also include all European nations outside the
Triple Entente
The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...
. The concept failed after the German defeat in
World War I and the
dissolution of Austria-Hungary
The dissolution of Austria-Hungary was a major geopolitical event that occurred as a result of the growth of internal social contradictions and the separation of different parts of Austria-Hungary. The reason for the collapse of the state was Wor ...
. The revival of the idea may be observed during the
Hitler era.
Interwar period
According to
Emmanuel de Martonne
Emmanuel de Martonne (, 1 April 1873 – 24 July 1955) was a French geographer. He participated in the Paris Peace Conference.
Early life and education
Martonne was born on 1 April 1873 in Chabris, Indre, France, and was the son-in-law of Paul ...
, in 1927 the Central European countries included: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Switzerland. The author uses both Human and Physical Geographical features to define Central Europe, but he doesn't take into account the legal development or the social, cultural, economic, infrastructural developments in these countries.
The
interwar period (1918–1938) brought a new geopolitical system, as well as economic and political problems, and the concept of Central Europe took on a different character. The centre of interest was moved to its eastern part – the countries that have (re)appeared on the map of Europe:
Czechoslovakia,
Hungary and
Poland. Central Europe ceased to be the area of German aspiration to lead or dominate and became a territory of various integration movements aiming at resolving political, economic and national problems of "new" states, being a way to face German and Soviet pressures. However, the conflict of interests was too big and neither
Little Entente
The Little Entente was an alliance formed in 1920 and 1921 by Czechoslovakia, Romania and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (since 1929 Yugoslavia) with the purpose of common defense against Hungarian revanchism and the prospect of a Ha ...
nor
Intermarium
Intermarium ( pl, Międzymorze, ) was a post- World War I geopolitical plan conceived by Józef Piłsudski to unite former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lands within a single polity. The plan went through several iterations, some of which anti ...
(''Międzymorze'') ideas succeeded. These matters were not helped by the fact that Czechoslovakia appeared alone as the only multicultural, democratic, and liberal state among its neighbors. The
events preceding World War II in Europe—including the so-called
Western betrayal
Western betrayal is the view that the United Kingdom, France, and sometimes the United States failed to meet their legal, diplomatic, military, and moral obligations with respect to the Czechoslovak and Polish states during the prelude to and a ...
/
Munich Agreement were very much enabled by the rising nationalism and ethnocentrism that typified that time period.
The interwar period brought new elements to the concept of Central Europe. Before World War I, it embraced mainly German states (Germany,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
), non-German territories being an area of intended German penetration and domination – German leadership position was to be the natural result of economic dominance.
After the war, the Eastern part of Central Europe was placed at the centre of the concept. At that time the scientists took an interest in the idea: the International Historical Congress in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
in 1923 was committed to Central Europe, and the 1933 Congress continued the discussions.
Hungarian historian Magda Ádám wrote in her study ''Versailles System and Central Europe'' (2006): "Today we know that the bane of Central Europe was the
Little Entente
The Little Entente was an alliance formed in 1920 and 1921 by Czechoslovakia, Romania and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (since 1929 Yugoslavia) with the purpose of common defense against Hungarian revanchism and the prospect of a Ha ...
, military alliance of
Czechoslovakia,
Romania and
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), created in 1921 not for Central Europe's cooperation nor to fight German expansion, but in a wrong perceived notion that a completely powerless Hungary must be kept down".
The avant-garde movements of Central Europe were an essential part of modernism's evolution, reaching its peak throughout the continent during the 1920s. The ''Sourcebook of Central European avantgards'' (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) contains primary documents of the avant-gardes in
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
,
Czechoslovakia,
Germany,
Hungary, and
Poland from 1910 to 1930.
The manifestos and magazines of Central European radical art circles are well known to Western scholars and are being taught at primary universities of their kind in the western world.
Mitteleuropa
''
Mitteleuropa'' may refer to an historical concept, or to a contemporary German definition of Central Europe. As an historical concept, the German term ''Mitteleuropa'' (or alternatively its literal translation into English, ''Middle Europe'') is an ambiguous German concept. It is sometimes used in English to refer to an area somewhat larger than most conceptions of 'Central Europe'; it refers to territories under Germanic
cultural hegemony
In Marxist philosophy, cultural hegemony is the dominance of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class who manipulate the culture of that society—the beliefs and explanations, perceptions, values, and mores—so that the worldview of ...
until World War I (encompassing Austria–Hungary and Germany in their pre-war formations but usually excluding the
Baltic countries north of
East Prussia). According to
Fritz Fischer ''Mitteleuropa'' was a scheme in the era of the
Reich of 1871–1918 by which the old imperial elites had allegedly sought to build a system of German economic, military and political domination from the northern seas to the Near East and from the Low Countries through the steppes of Russia to the Caucasus. Later on, professor Fritz Epstein argued the threat of a Slavic "Drang nach Westen" (Western expansion) had been a major factor in the emergence of a ''Mitteleuropa'' ideology before the Reich of 1871 ever came into being.
In Germany the connotation was also sometimes linked to the pre-war German provinces east of the
Oder-Neisse line.
The term "Mitteleuropa" conjures up negative historical associations among some elderly people, although the Germans have not played an exclusively negative role in the region. Most Central European Jews embraced the enlightened German humanistic culture of the 19th century. German-speaking Jews from turn of the 20th century
Vienna,
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...
and
Prague became representatives of what many consider to be Central European culture at its best, though the Nazi version of "Mitteleuropa" destroyed this kind of culture instead. However, the term "Mitteleuropa" is now widely used again in German education and media without negative meaning, especially since the end of communism. In fact, many people from the
new states of Germany do not identify themselves as being part of
Western Europe and therefore prefer the term "Mitteleuropa".
Central Europe during World War II
During World War II, Central Europe was largely occupied by Nazi Germany. Many areas were a battle area and were devastated. The mass murder of the Jews depopulated many of their centuries-old settlement areas or settled other people there and their culture was wiped out. Both
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
and
Joseph Stalin diametrically opposed the centuries-old Habsburg principles of "live and let live" with regard to ethnic groups, peoples, minorities, religions, cultures and languages and tried to assert their own ideologies and power interests in Central Europe. There were various Allied plans for state order in Central Europe for post-war. While Stalin tried to get as many states under his control as possible,
Winston Churchill preferred a Central European Danube Confederation to counter these countries against Germany and Russia. There were also plans to add Bavaria and Württemberg to an enlarged Austria. There were also various resistance movements around
Otto von Habsburg that pursued this goal. The group around the Austrian priest
Heinrich Maier also planned in this direction, which also successfully helped the Allies to wage war by, among other things, forwarding production sites and plans for
V-2 rockets,
Tiger tank Tiger tank may refer to:
*Tiger I, or ''Panzerkampfwagen'' Tiger ''Ausf. E'', a German heavy tank produced from 1942 to 1944
*Tiger II, or ''Panzerkampfwagen'' Tiger ''Ausf. B'', a German heavy tank produced from 1943 to 1945, also known as ''Kön ...
s and aircraft to the USA. So Otto von Habsburg also tried to detach Hungary from its grasp by Nazi Germany and the USSR. There were various considerations to prevent German power in Europe after the war. Churchill's idea of reaching the area around Vienna and Budapest before the Russians via an operation from the Adriatic had not been approved by the Western Allied chiefs of staff. As a result of the military situation at the end of the war, Stalin's plans prevailed and much of Central Europe came under Russian control.
Central Europe behind the Iron Curtain
Following
World War II, large parts of Europe that were culturally and historically Western became part of the
Eastern bloc. Czech author
Milan Kundera (emigrant to France) thus wrote in 1984 about the "Tragedy of Central Europe" in the
New York Review of Books
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
. The boundary between the two blocks was called the
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...
. Consequently, the English term ''Central Europe'' was increasingly applied only to the westernmost former Warsaw Pact countries (East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary) to specify them as communist states that were culturally tied to Western Europe. This usage continued after the end of the Warsaw Pact when these countries started to undergo transition.
The post-World War II period brought blocking of research on Central Europe in the
Eastern Bloc countries, as its every result proved the dissimilarity of Central Europe, which was inconsistent with the
Stalinist
Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...
doctrine. On the other hand, the topic became popular in Western Europe and the United States, much of the research being carried out by immigrants from Central Europe. At the end of communism, publicists and historians in Central Europe, especially the anti-communist opposition, returned to their research.
According to Karl A. Sinnhuber (''Central Europe: Mitteleuropa: Europe Centrale: An Analysis of a Geographical Term'')
most Central European states were unable to preserve their political independence and became Soviet Satellite Europe. Besides
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
, only the marginal European states of
Finland and
Yugoslavia preserved their political sovereignty to a certain degree, being left out of any military alliances in Europe.
The opening of the
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...
between Austria and Hungary at the Pan-European Picnic on 19 August 1989 then set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, at the end of which there was no longer an
East Germany and the Eastern Bloc had disintegrated. It was the largest escape movement from East Germany since the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. After the picnic, which was based on an idea by
Otto von Habsburg to test the reaction of the USSR and
Mikhail Gorbachev to an opening of the border, tens of thousands of media-informed East Germans set off for Hungary. The leadership of the GDR in East Berlin did not dare to completely block the borders of their own country and the USSR did not respond at all.
This broke the bracket of the Eastern Bloc and Central Europe subsequently became free from communism.
Roles
According to American professor
Ronald Tiersky, the 1991 summit held in
Visegrád,
Hungary and attended by the
Polish,
Hungarian and
Czechoslovak presidents was hailed at the time as a major breakthrough in Central European cooperation, but the
Visegrád Group became a vehicle for coordinating Central Europe's road to the European Union, while development of closer ties within the region languished.
American professor
Peter J. Katzenstein
Peter Joachim Katzenstein FBA (born February 17, 1945) is a German-American political scientist. He is the Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies at Cornell University. Katzenstein has made influential contributions to the ...
described Central Europe as a way station in a Europeanization process that marks the transformation process of the
Visegrád Group countries in different, though comparable ways. According to him, in Germany's contemporary public discourse "Central European identity" refers to the civilizational divide between Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. He says there is no precise, uncontestable way to decide whether Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, or Bulgaria are parts of Central Europe.
Definitions
Rather than a physical entity, Central Europe is a concept of shared history that contrasts with that of the surrounding regions. The issue of how to name and define the Central European area is subject to debates. Very often, the definition depends on the nationality and historical perspective of its author.
Academic
The main proposed regional definitions, gathered by Polish historian
Jerzy Kłoczowski
Jerzy Kazimierz Kłoczowski (29 December 1924, Bogdany Wielkie, Poland – 2 December 2017) was a Polish historian, professor at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, and former member of the Polish Senate. During World War II, Kłocz ...
, include:
* West-Central and
East-Central Europe – this conception, presented in 1950, distinguishes two regions in Central Europe: German West-Centre, with imperial tradition of the ''
Reich'', and the East-Centre covered by variety of nations ''from
Finland to
Greece'', placed between great empires of
Scandinavia, Germany,
Italy and the
Soviet Union.
* Central Europe as the area of cultural heritage of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth –
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
,
Belarusian and
Lithuanian historians, in cooperation (since 1990) with
Polish historians, insist on the importance of the concept.
* Central Europe as a region connected to the
Western civilisation
Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''.
image:Plato Pio-Cle ...
since the foundation of the local states and churches, including countries such as the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth,
Kingdom of Croatia,
Holy Roman Empire, later
German Empire
The German Empire (), Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditar ...
and the
Habsburg monarchy, the
Kingdom of Hungary and the
Crown of Bohemia
The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were a number of incorporated states in Central Europe during the medieval and early modern periods connected by feudal relations under the Bohemian kings. The crown lands primarily consisted of the Kingdom of B ...
. Central Europe understood in this way borders on
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
and
South-Eastern Europe, but the exact frontier of the region is difficult to determine.
* Central Europe as the area of cultural heritage of the Habsburg Empire (later
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1 ...
) – a concept which is popular in regions along the river
Danube:
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
, the
Czech Republic and
Slovakia,
Slovenia, large parts of
Croatia,
Romania and
Serbia, also smaller parts of
Poland and
Ukraine. In
Hungary, the narrowing of Central Europe into former Habsburg lands is not popular.
* A concept underlining the links connecting
Belarus,
Moldova
Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...
and
Ukraine with
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
and treating the
Russian Empire together with the whole
Slavic Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
population as one entity – this position is taken by the
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
n historiography.
* A concept putting the accent on links with the West, especially from the 19th century and the grand period of liberation and formation of Nation-states – this idea is represented by the
South-Eastern states, which prefer the enlarged concept of the "East Centre" expressing their links with
Western culture.
Former University of Vienna professor Lonnie R. Johnson points out criteria to distinguish Central Europe from
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
,
Eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
* Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
* Eastern Air ...
and
Southeast Europe
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (a ...
:
* One criterion for defining Central Europe is the frontiers of medieval empires and kingdoms that largely correspond to the religious frontiers between the
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
West and the
Orthodox East
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
. The pagans of Central Europe were converted to Catholicism while in
Southeastern
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...
and
Eastern Europe they were brought into the fold of the
Eastern Orthodox Church.
* Multinational empires were a characteristic of Central Europe.
Hungary and
Poland, small and medium-size states today, were empires during their early histories. The historical
Kingdom of Hungary was until 1918 three times larger than Hungary is today, while Poland was the largest state in Europe in the 16th century. Both these kingdoms housed a wide variety of different peoples.
He also thinks that Central Europe is a dynamic historical concept, not a static spatial one. For example,
Lithuania, a fair share of
Belarus and western
Ukraine are in
Eastern Europe today, but years ago they were in
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Johnson's study on Central Europe received acclaim and positive reviews in the scientific community. However, according to Romanian researcher
Maria Bucur
Maria Bucur (born 2 September 1968 in Bucharest, Romania) is an American-Romanian historian of modern Eastern Europe and gender in the twentieth century. She has written on the history of eugenics in Eastern Europe, memory and war in twentieth-cent ...
this very ambitious project suffers from the weaknesses imposed by its scope (almost 1600 years of history).
Encyclopedias, gazetteers, dictionaries
''
The Columbia Encyclopedia
The ''Columbia Encyclopedia'' is a one-volume encyclopedia produced by Columbia University Press and, in the last edition, sold by the Gale Group. First published in 1935, and continuing its relationship with Columbia University, the encycloped ...
'' defines Central Europe as: Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.
The World Factbook uses a similar definition and adds also Slovenia.
Encarta Encyclopedia
''Microsoft Encarta'' is a discontinued Digital data, digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft from 1993 to 2009. Originally sold on CD-ROM or DVD, it was also available on the World Wide Web via an annual subscription, although l ...
and
Encyclopædia Britannica do not clearly define the region, but Encarta places the same countries into Central Europe in its individual articles on countries, adding Slovenia in "south central Europe".
The German Encyclopaedia ''Meyers Grosses Taschenlexikon'' (''Meyers Big Pocket Encyclopedia''), 1999, defines Central Europe as the central part of Europe with no precise borders to the East and West. The term is mostly used to denominate the territory between the
Schelde to
Vistula and from the
Danube to the
Moravian Gate. Usually the countries considered to be Central European are
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
,
Croatia, the
Czech Republic,
Germany,
Hungary,
Liechtenstein,
Poland,
Slovakia,
Slovenia,
Switzerland; in the broader sense
Romania and
Serbia too, occasionally also
Belgium, the
Netherlands, and
Luxembourg.
According to ''Meyers Enzyklopädisches Lexikon'', Central Europe is a part of Europe composed of
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
,
Belgium, the
Czech Republic,
Slovakia,
Germany,
Hungary,
Luxembourg,
Netherlands,
Poland,
Romania and
Switzerland, and northern marginal regions of
Italy and Yugoslavia (northern states –
Croatia,
Serbia and
Slovenia), as well as northeastern
France.
The German (Standing Committee on Geographical Names), which develops and recommends rules for the uniform use of geographical names, proposes two sets of boundaries. The first follows international borders of current countries. The second subdivides and includes some countries based on cultural criteria. In comparison to some other definitions, it is broader, including Luxembourg, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and in the second sense, parts of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Italy, and France.
Geographical
There is no general agreement either on what geographic area constitutes Central Europe, nor on how to further subdivide it geographically.
At times, the term "Central Europe" denotes a geographic definition as the
Danube region in the heart of the continent, including the language and culture areas which are today included in the states of
Croatia, the
Czech Republic,
Hungary,
Poland,
Romania,
Serbia,
Slovakia,
Slovenia and usually also
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
and
Germany, but ''never'' Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union towards the Ural mountains.
Governmental and standards organisations
The terminology EU11 countries refer the Central,
Eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
* Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
* Eastern Air ...
and
Baltic European member states which accessed in 2004 and after: in 2004 Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, and Slovakia; in 2007 Bulgaria, Romania; and in 2013 Croatia.
Map gallery
Central Europe Katzenstein.png, Central Europe according to Peter J. Katzenstein
Peter Joachim Katzenstein FBA (born February 17, 1945) is a German-American political scientist. He is the Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies at Cornell University. Katzenstein has made influential contributions to the ...
(1997)
Visegrad group countries.png, According to '' The Economist'' and Ronald Tiersky, a strict definition of Central Europe means the Visegrád Group
Central Europe (Lonnie R. Johnson)2.PNG, Map of Central Europe, according to Lonnie R. Johnson (2011)
Central-Europe-Encarta.png, Central European countries in Encarta Encyclopedia
''Microsoft Encarta'' is a discontinued Digital data, digital multimedia encyclopedia published by Microsoft from 1993 to 2009. Originally sold on CD-ROM or DVD, it was also available on the World Wide Web via an annual subscription, although l ...
(2009)
Central Europe (Meyers Grosses Taschenlexikon).PNG, The Central European Countries according to Meyers Grosses Taschenlexikon (1999):
Central Europe (Brockhaus).PNG, Middle Europe (Brockhaus Enzyklopädie, 1998)
Central-Europe-SwanseaUniv.png, Central Europe according to Swansea University professors Robert Bideleux and Ian Jeffries (1998)
Central Europe (by E. Schenk).PNG, Central Europe, as defined by E. Schenk (1950)
Central Europe (by A.Mutton).PNG, Central Europe, according to Alice F. A. Mutton in ''Central Europe. A Regional and Human Geography'' (1961)
Central Europe (Mayers Enzyklopaedisches Lexikon).PNG, Central Europe according to Meyers Enzyklopaedisches Lexikon (1980)
States
The comprehension of the concept of ''Central Europe'' is an ongoing source of controversy, though the
Visegrád Group constituents are almost always included as ''
de facto'' Central European countries.
Although views on which countries belong to Central Europe are vastly varied, according to many sources (see section
Definitions
A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories: intensional definitions (which try to give the sense of a term), and extensional definiti ...
) the region includes the states listed in the sections below.
*
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
*
Czech Republic
*
Germany
*
Hungary
*
Liechtenstein
*
Poland
*
Slovakia
*
Slovenia
*
Switzerland
Depending on context, Central European countries are sometimes grouped as Eastern or Western European countries, collectively or individually
but some place them in Eastern Europe instead:
for instance Austria can be referred to as Central European, as well as Eastern European
or Western European and Slovenia can sometimes be placed in either Southeastern or Eastern Europe.
Other countries and regions
Some sources also add neighbouring countries for historical reasons (the former
Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
and
German Empire
The German Empire (), Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditar ...
s, and modern Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), or based on geographical and/or cultural reasons:
*
Croatia (alternatively placed in
Southeast Europe
Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe (SEE) is a geographical subregion of Europe, consisting primarily of the Balkans. Sovereign states and territories that are included in the region are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia (a ...
)
*
Romania (
Transylvania, along with
Banat
Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of ...
,
Crișana
Crișana ( hu, Körösvidék, german: Kreischgebiet) is a geographical and historical region in north-western Romania, named after the Criș (Körös) River and its three tributaries: the Crișul Alb, Crișul Negru, and Crișul Repede. In Ro ...
,
Maramureș,
Bukovina
Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter Berge ...
[Klaus Peter Berger]
The Creeping Codification of the New Lex Mercatoria
Kluwer Law International, 2010, p. 132 and
Muntenia along with
Oltenia)
*
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
(
Kaliningrad Oblast)
*
Serbia (primarily
Vojvodina
Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capita ...
and
Northern Belgrade)
*
Ukraine (
Transcarpathia,
Galicia and Northern
Bukovina
Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter Berge ...
)
*
Luxembourg
The three
Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia), geographically in
Northern Europe, have been considered part of Central Europe in the German tradition of the term, ''
Mitteleuropa''.
Benelux
The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: ...
countries are generally considered a part of Western Europe, rather than Central Europe. Nevertheless, they are occasionally mentioned in the Central European context due to cultural, historical and linguistic ties.
Some regions of neighbouring states may sometimes be included in Central Europe:
*
Italy (
South Tyrol,
Trentino,
Trieste and
Gorizia,
Friuli
Friuli ( fur, Friûl, sl, Furlanija, german: Friaul) is an area of Northeast Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity containing 1,000,000 Friulians. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli Venezia Giuli ...
,
Lombardy, and
Veneto or all of
Northern Italy)
*
France (
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
,
Franconian Lorraine, occasionally the whole of
Lorraine
Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of G ...
,
Franche-Comté, the
Ardennes and
Savoy)
*
Belgium (the
Ardennes).
Geography
Geography defines Central Europe's natural borders with the neighbouring regions to the north across the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
, namely
Northern Europe (or
Scandinavia), and to the south across the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
, the
Apennine peninsula (or
Italy), and the
Balkan peninsula
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whol ...
across the
Soča
The Soča ( in Slovene) or Isonzo ( in Italian; other names fur, Lusinç, german: Sontig, la, Aesontius or ') is a long river that flows through western Slovenia () and northeastern Italy ().
An Alpine river in character, its source lies ...
–
Krka–
Sava–Danube line. The borders to
Western Europe and
Eastern Europe are geographically less defined, and for this reason the
cultural and historical boundaries migrate more easily west–east than south–north. The river
Rhine, which runs south–north through Western Germany, is an exception.
Southwards, the
Pannonian Plain
The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense, with only th ...
is bounded by the rivers
Sava and
Danube – and their respective floodplains. The
Pannonian Plain
The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense, with only th ...
stretches over the following countries:
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
,
Croatia,
Hungary,
Romania,
Serbia,
Slovakia and
Slovenia, and touches borders of
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
and
Ukraine ("peri- Pannonian states").
As southeastern division of the
Eastern Alps
Eastern Alps is the name given to the eastern half of the Alps, usually defined as the area east of a line from Lake Constance and the Alpine Rhine valley up to the Splügen Pass at the Alpine divide and down the Liro River to Lake Como in the ...
, the
Dinaric Alps extend for 650 kilometres along the coast of the
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to the ...
(northwest-southeast), from the
Julian Alps
The Julian Alps ( sl, Julijske Alpe, it, Alpi Giulie, , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretch from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia. A large ...
in the northwest down to the Šar-Korab massif, north–south. According to the
Freie Universität Berlin, this
mountain chain
A mountain chain is a row of high mountain summits, a linear sequence of interconnected or related mountains,Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, p 87. . or a contiguous ridge of mountains within a larger ...
is classified as
South Central European. The city of
Trieste in this area, for example, expressly sees itself as a ''città mitteleuropea''. This is particularly because it lies at the interface between the
Latin,
Slavic,
Germanic,
Greek and
Jewish culture
Jewish culture is the culture of the Jewish people, from its formation in ancient times until the current age. Judaism itself is not a faith-based religion, but an orthoprax and ethnoreligion, pertaining to deed, practice, and identity. Jew ...
on the one hand and the geographical area of the
Mediterranean and the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
on the other. A geographical and cultural assignment is made.
The Central European
flora region stretches from Central France (the
Massif Central
The (; oc, Massís Central, ; literally ''"Central Massif"'') is a highland region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaus. It covers about 15% of mainland France.
Subject to volcanism that has subsided in the last 10,00 ...
) to Central
Romania (
Carpathians
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
) and Southern
Scandinavia.
Demography
Central Europe is one of the continent's most populous regions. It includes countries of varied sizes, ranging from tiny Liechtenstein to Germany, the second largest European country by population. Demographic figures for countries entirely located within notion of Central Europe ("the core countries") number around 165 million people, out of which around 82 million are residents of
Germany. Other populations include:
Poland with around 38.5 million residents,
Czech Republic at 10.5 million,
Hungary at 10 million,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
with 8.8 million,
Switzerland with 8.5 million,
Slovakia at 5.4 million,
Slovenia with 2.1 million and
Liechtenstein at a bit less than 40,000.
If the countries which are occasionally included in Central Europe were counted in, partially or in whole –
Croatia (4.3 million),
Romania (20 million),
Lithuania (2.9 million),
Latvia (2 million),
Estonia (1.3 million),
Serbia (7.1 million) – it would contribute to the rise of between 25 and 35 million, depending on whether regional or integral approach was used. If smaller, western and eastern historical parts of Central Europe would be included in the demographic corpus, further 20 million people of different nationalities would also be added in the overall count, it would surpass the 200 million people figure.
Economy
Currencies
Currently, the members of the
Eurozone include Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland use their currencies (
Croatian kuna
The kuna is the currency of Croatia, in use since 1994 (sign: kn; code: HRK). It is subdivided into 100 lipa. The kuna is issued by the Croatian National Bank and the coins are minted by the Croatian Mint. The plural form of the word kuna in C ...
,
Czech koruna
The koruna, or crown, (sign: Kč; code: CZK, cs, koruna česká) has been the currency of the Czech Republic since 1993. The koruna is one of the European Union's 9 currencies, and the Czech Republic is legally bound to adopt the euro curre ...
,
Hungarian forint,
Polish złoty), but are obliged to adopt the Euro.
Switzerland uses its own currency –
Swiss franc
The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the fe ...
, Serbia too (
Serbian dinar
The dinar ( sr-Cyrl, динар, ; paucal: dinara / динара; Currency symbol, abbreviation: DIN (Gaj's Latin alphabet, Latin) and дин (Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Cyrillic); ISO 4217, code: RSD) is the currency of Serbia. One dinar is subd ...
), as well as Romania (
Romanian leu).
Human Development Index
In 2018, Switzerland topped the HDI list among Central European countries, also ranking #2 in the world. Serbia rounded out the list at #11 (67 world).
Globalisation
The
index of globalization in Central European countries (2016 data):
Switzerland topped this list as well (#1 world).
Prosperity Index
Legatum Prosperity Index The Legatum Prosperity Index is an annual ranking developed by the Legatum Institute, an independent educational charity founded and part-funded by the private investment firm Legatum. The ranking is based on a variety of factors including wealth, ...
demonstrates an average and high level of prosperity in Central Europe (2018 data). Switzerland topped the index (#4 world).
Corruption
Most countries in Central Europe tend to score above the average in the
Corruption Perceptions Index
The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index which ranks countries "by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entru ...
(2018 data), led by Switzerland, Germany, and Austria.
Infrastructure
Industrialisation occurred early in Central Europe. That caused construction of rail and other types of infrastructure.
Rail
Central Europe contains the continent's earliest railway systems, whose greatest expansion was recorded in
Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
and
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
territories between 1860-1870s. By the mid-19th century Berlin, Vienna, and Buda/Pest were focal points for network lines connecting industrial areas of Saxony, Silesia, Bohemia, Moravia and Lower Austria with the Baltic (Kiel, Szczecin) and Adriatic (Rijeka, Trieste). Rail infrastructure in Central Europe remains the densest in the world. Railway density, with total length of lines operated (km) per 1,000 km2, is the highest in the Czech Republic (198.6), Poland (121.0), Slovenia (108.0), Germany (105.5), Hungary (98.7), Serbia (87.3), Slovakia (73.9) and Croatia (72.5). when compared with most of Europe and the rest of the world.
River transport and canals
Before the first railroads appeared in the 1840s, river transport constituted the main means of communication and trade. Earliest canals included Plauen Canal (1745), Finow Canal, and also
Bega Canal
The Bega Canal or Begej Canal (; hu, Béga-csatorna) is a navigation canal of Romania and Serbia. It is the first navigation canal built on the present-day territory of Romania, and serves the city of Timișoara. Its name comes from the Bega ri ...
(1710) which connected
Timișoara
), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor)
, image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg
, map_caption = Location in Timiș County
, pushpin_map = Romania#Europe
, pushpin_ ...
to
Novi Sad and
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 m ...
via Danube. The most significant achievement in this regard was the facilitation of navigability on Danube from the Black sea to Ulm in the 19th century.
The economies of Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland tend to demonstrate
high complexity. Industrialisation reached Central Europe relatively early: the
Czech lands
The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands ( cs, České země ) are the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia. Together the three have formed the Czech part of Czechoslovakia since 1918, the Czech Socialist Republic since 1 ...
by 1797, Luxembourg and Germany by 1860, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland by 1870, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia by 1880.
Agriculture
Central European countries are some of the most significant food producers in the world. Germany is the world's largest
hops producer with 34.27% share in 2010,
[Gnel Gabrielyan, ]
Domestic and Export Price Formation of U.S. Hops
'' School of Economic Sciences at Washington State University. PDF file, direct download 220 KB. Retrieved 25 April 2014. third producer of
rye
Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...
and
barley, 5th rapeseed producer, sixth largest milk producer, and fifth largest
potato producer. Poland is the world's largest
triticale producer, second largest producer of raspberries,
currants, third largest of rye, the fifth
apple and
buckwheat
Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum''), or common buckwheat, is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. The name "buckwheat" is used for several other species, such as ''Fagop ...
producer, and seventh largest producer of potatoes. Czech Republic is world's fourth largest hops producer and 8th producer of triticale. Hungary is world's fifth hops and seventh largest triticale producer. Serbia is world's second largest producer of
plums and second largest of
raspberries
The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the rose family, most of which are in the subgenus '' Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial with w ...
.
Slovenia is world's sixth hops producer.
Business
Central European business has a regional organisation, Central European Business Association (CEBA), founded in 1996 in New York as a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting business opportunities within Central Europe and supporting the advancement of professionals in America with a Central European background.
Tourism
Central European countries, especially Austria, Croatia, Germany and Switzerland are some of the most competitive tourism destinations. Poland is presently a major destination for outsourcing.
Outsourcing destination
Kraków,
Warsaw, and
Wrocław (Poland),
Prague and
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republi ...
(Czech Republic),
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...
(Hungary),
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
(Romania),
Bratislava
Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...
(Slovakia),
Ljubljana (Slovenia),
Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 m ...
(Serbia) and
Zagreb (Croatia) are among the world's top 100 outsourcing destinations.
Education
Languages
Various languages are taught in Central Europe, with certain languages being more popular in different countries.
Education performance
Student performance has varied across Central Europe, according to the
Programme for International Student Assessment. In the 2012 study, countries scored medium, below or over the average scores in three fields studied.
Higher education
Universities
The first university established east of France and north of the Alps was in
Prague in 1348 by
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV ( cs, Karel IV.; german: Karl IV.; la, Carolus IV; 14 May 1316 – 29 November 1378''Karl IV''. In: (1960): ''Geschichte in Gestalten'' (''History in figures''), vol. 2: ''F–K''. 38, Frankfurt 1963, p. 294), also known as Charle ...
. The
Charles University
)
, image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg
, image_size = 200px
, established =
, type = Public, Ancient
, budget = 8.9 billion CZK
, rector = Milena Králíčková
, faculty = 4,057
, administrative_staff = 4,026
, students = 51,438
, underg ...
was modeled upon the
University of Paris and initially included the faculty of law, medicine, philosophy, and theology.
Central European University
In 1991,
Ernest Gellner proposed the establishment of a truly Central European institution of higher learning in Prague (1991–1995). Eventually, the
Central European University
Central European University (CEU) is a private research university accredited in Austria, Hungary, and the United States, with campuses in Vienna and Budapest. The university is known for its highly intensive programs in the social sciences and ...
(CEU) project is taken on and financially supported by the Hungarian philanthropist
George Soros, who had provided an endowment of US$880 million, making the university one of the wealthiest in Europe. For example, during the academic year 2013–14, the CEU had 1,381 students from 93 countries and 388 faculty members from 58 countries. Consequently, the CEU becomes one of the leading graduate-level, English-language universities in Europe promoting a distinctively Central European perspective whilst emphasizing academic rigor, applied research, and academic honesty and integrity. In 2019, the Central European University leadership announced their preparatory work on moving CEU to Vienna due to socio-political and cultural constraints in Hungary.
Culture and society
Research
Research centres of Central European literature include
Harvard University (Cambridge, MA), Purdue University, and Central European Studies Programme (CESP),
Masaryk University
Masaryk University (MU) ( cs, Masarykova univerzita; la, Universitas Masarykiana Brunensis) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno as the sec ...
,
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republi ...
,
Czech Republic.
Architecture
Religion
Central European countries are mostly
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
(Austria, Croatia, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia) or historically both Catholic and
Protestant, (the
Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and Switzerland). Large Protestant groups include
Lutheran,
Calvinist
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...
, and the
Unity of the Brethren affiliates. Significant populations of
Eastern Catholicism
The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also called the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of th ...
and
Old Catholicism are also prevalent throughout Central Europe.
Central Europe has been the center of the
Protestant movement for centuries, with the majority of Protestants suppressed and annihilated during the
Counterreformation
The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...
.
Historically, people in
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohe ...
in today's Czech Republic were one of the very first Protestants in Europe. As a result of the
Thirty Years' War following the
Bohemian Revolt
The Bohemian Revolt (german: Böhmischer Aufstand; cs, České stavovské povstání; 1618–1620) was an uprising of the Bohemian estates against the rule of the Habsburg dynasty that began the Thirty Years' War. It was caused by both relig ...
, many
Czechs
The Czechs ( cs, Češi, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, c ...
were either killed, executed (see for
Old Town Square execution
Old Town Square execution ( cs, Staroměstská exekuce) was the execution of 27 Bohemian leaders (three noblemen, seven knights and 17 burghers) of the Bohemian Revolt by the Austrian House of Habsburg that took place on 21 June 1621 at the Old ...
), forcibly turned into Roman Catholics, or emigrated to
Scandinavia and the
Low Countries. In the aftermath of the
Thirty Years' War, the number of inhabitants in the
Kingdom of Bohemia decreased from three million to only 800,000 due to multiple factors, including devastating ongoing battles such as the significant
Battle of White Mountain
), near Prague, Bohemian Confederation(present-day Czech Republic)
, coordinates =
, territory =
, result = Imperial-Spanish victory
, status =
, combatants_header =
, combatant1 = Catholic L ...
and the
Battle of Prague (1648)
The Battle of Prague, which occurred between 25 July and 1 November 1648 was the last action of the Thirty Years' War. While the negotiations for the Peace of Westphalia were proceeding, the Swedes took the opportunity to mount one last campa ...
. However, in recent years, most Czechs report as overwhelmingly non-religious, with some describing themselves as Catholic (10.3%).
Before the
Holocaust (1941–45), there was also a sizeable
Ashkenazi Jewish
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...
community in the region, numbering approximately 16.7 million people.
Currently, a number of Central European countries present themselves as more secular or non-religious, including a
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...
s, undeclared, and
non-religious people. For example, people in the
Czech Republic report the following figures (non-religious 34.2% and undeclared 45.2%), meanwhile persons in Germany (non-religious 38%), and Slovenia (atheist 14.7%
), Luxembourg (23.4% non-religious
), Switzerland (20.1%), Hungary (27.2% undeclared, 16.7% "non-religious" and 1.5% atheists), Slovakia (atheists and non-religious 13.4%, "not specified" 10.6%) Austria (19.7% of "other or none"), Liechtenstein (10.6% with no religion), Croatia (4%) and Poland (3% of non-believers/agnostics and 1% of undeclared).
Cuisine
Central European cuisine
Central European cuisine consists of the culinary customs, traditions and cuisines of the nations of Central Europe.
The cuisines within each country in the region is strongly influenced by the local climate. For example, German, Polish, Aus ...
has evolved through centuries due to social and political change. Most countries share many dishes. The most popular dishes typical to Central Europe are sausages and cheeses, where the earliest evidence of cheesemaking in the archaeological record dates back to 5,500 BCE (
Kuyavia region, Poland). Other foods widely associated with Central Europe are
goulash and
beer. The
list of countries by beer consumption per capita is led by the
Czech Republic, followed by
Germany and
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...
.
Poland comes 5th,
Croatia 7th and
Slovenia 13th.
Human rights
Generally, the countries in the region are progressive on the issue of human rights: death penalty is illegal in all of them, corporal punishment is outlawed in most of them and people of both genders can vote in elections. However, Central European countries are divided on the subject of
same-sex marriage and
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregnan ...
. Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland also have a history of participation in the CIA's extraordinary rendition and detention program, according to the
Open Society Foundations.
Literature
Regional writing tradition revolves around the turbulent history of the region, as well as its cultural diversity. Its existence is sometimes challenged. Specific courses on Central European literature are taught at
Stanford University,
Harvard University and
Jagiellonian University The as well as cultural magazines dedicated to regional literature. Angelus Central European Literature Award is an award worth 150,000.00 PLN (about $50,000 or £30,000) for writers originating from the region. Likewise, the
Vilenica International Literary Prize is awarded to a Central European author for "outstanding achievements in the field of literature and essay writing."
Media
Sport
There is a number of Central European Sport events and leagues. They include:
*
Central European Tour Miskolc GP
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
(Hungary)*
*
Central European Tour Budapest GP
Central European Tour Budapest GP was a cycling race in Hungary. It was first run in 2011 and was part of the UCI Europe Tour
The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union ...
(Hungary)
*
2008 Central Europe Rally
The Central Europe Rally was a rally raid endurance race held in Romania and Hungary, and served as the relocated 2008 edition of the Dakar Rally, the 30th running of the event.Central Europe Rally 2008: 2008 Edition > The Route
The Amaury Spor ...
(Romania and Hungary)*
*
2023 Central Europe Rally
The 2023 FIA World Rally Championship is the fifty-first season of the World Rally Championship, an auto racing competition recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams ...
(Germany, Austria and Czech Republic)
*
Central European Football League
The Central European Football League (CEFL) is a European organization of American football which hosts two international competitions, CEFL Championship and CEFL Cup. The final game of the CEFL Championship playoffs is dubbed CEFL Bowl.
Until t ...
(Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey)
*
Central European International Cup
The European International Cup of Nations was an international football competition held by certain national teams from Central Europe & South Europe between 1927 and 1960.Leo Schidrowitz "Internationaler Cup", Vienna 1954 There were competitions ...
(Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Switzerland and Yugoslavia; 1927–1960)
*Central Europe Throwdown*
Football is one of the most popular sports. Countries of Central Europe hosted several major competitions. Germany hosted two FIFA World Cups (
1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
and
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 FIFA ...
) and the
UEFA Euro 1988. Yugoslavia hosted the
UEFA Euro 1976 before the competition expanded to 8 teams. Recently, the
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
and
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gath ...
UEFA European Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...
s were held in Austria & Switzerland and Poland & Ukraine respectively. The
UEFA Euro 2024 will be hosted by Germany.
Politics
Organisations
Central Europe is a birthplace of regional political organisations:
*
Visegrád Group
*
Central European Defence Cooperation
The Central European Defence Cooperation (CEDC) is a military collaboration consisting of the Central European states of Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. Poland has an observer status in this cooperative framewo ...
*
Three Seas Initiative
The Three Seas Initiative (3SI or TSI), known also as the Baltic, Adriatic, Black Sea (BABS) Initiative or simply as the Three Seas (Latin: ''Trimarium'', Polish: ''Trójmorze''), is a forum of twelve states, in the European Union, running along ...
*
Centrope
Centrope is an Interreg IIIA project to establish a multinational region in four Central European states: Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The population of Centrope is 7,450,270.
Centrope is a joint initiative of the Austrian ...
*
Central European Initiative
The Central European Initiative (CEI) is a forum of regional cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe, counting 18 member states. It was formed in Budapest in 1989. The body was developed on the basis of earlier experiences with The Alps-Adriatic ...
*
Middleeuropean Initiative
*
Central European Free Trade Agreement
The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) is an international trade agreement between countries mostly located in Southeastern Europe. Founded by representatives of Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, CEFTA expanded to Albania, Bosnia and ...
Visegrad group countries.svg, Visegrád Group
CEDC.svg, Central European Defence Cooperation
The Central European Defence Cooperation (CEDC) is a military collaboration consisting of the Central European states of Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. Poland has an observer status in this cooperative framewo ...
Three Seas Initiative.svg, Three Seas Initiative
The Three Seas Initiative (3SI or TSI), known also as the Baltic, Adriatic, Black Sea (BABS) Initiative or simply as the Three Seas (Latin: ''Trimarium'', Polish: ''Trójmorze''), is a forum of twelve states, in the European Union, running along ...
CEI members.svg, Central European Initiative
CEFTA 1992.PNG, CEFTA founding states
CEFTA 2003.PNG, CEFTA members in 2003, before joining the EU
Europe-cefta-map.png, Current CEFTA
The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) is an international trade agreement between countries mostly located in Southeastern Europe. Founded by representatives of Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, CEFTA expanded to Albania, Bosnia and ...
members
Democracy Index
Central Europe is a home to some of world's oldest democracies. However, most of them have been impacted by
totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...
, particularly
Fascism and
Nazism. Germany and Italy occupied all Central European countries, except Switzerland. In all occupied countries, the
Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were N ...
suspended democracy and installed puppet regimes loyal to the occupation forces. Also, they forced conquered countries to apply racial laws and formed military forces for helping German and Italian struggle against Communists. After
World War II, almost the whole of Central Europe (the Eastern and Middle part) had been transformed into
communist state
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Comin ...
s, most of which had been occupied and later allied with the
Soviet Union, often against their will through forged referendum (e.g.,
Polish people's referendum in 1946) or force (northeast Germany, Poland, Hungary et alia). Nevertheless, these experiences have been dealt in most of them. Most of Central European countries score very highly in the
Democracy Index.
Global Peace Index
In spite of its turbulent history, Central Europe is currently one of world's safest regions. Most Central European countries are in top 20%.
Central European Time
The time zone used in most parts of the European Union is a standard time which is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is commonly called
Central European Time because it has been first adopted in central Europe (by year):
* Hungary
* Slovakia
* Czech Republic
* Germany
* Austria
* Poland (1893)
*Serbia (1884)
* Slovenia
* Switzerland
* Liechtenstein
In popular culture
Central Europe is mentioned in the 35th episode of ''
Lovejoy'', entitled "The Prague Sun", filmed in 1992. While walking over the well-regarded and renowned
Charles Bridge in
Prague, the main character, Lovejoy, says: "I've never been to Prague before. Well, it is one of the great unspoiled cities in Central Europe. Notice: I said: 'Central', not 'Eastern'! The
Czechs
The Czechs ( cs, Češi, ; singular Czech, masculine: ''Čech'' , singular feminine: ''Češka'' ), or the Czech people (), are a West Slavic ethnic group and a nation native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe, who share a common ancestry, c ...
are a bit funny about that, they think of Eastern Europeans as ''turnip heads''."
Wes Anderson's Oscar-winning film ''
The Grand Budapest Hotel'' depicts a fictional grand hotel located somewhere in Central Europe which is in actuality modeled on the
Grandhotel Pupp
The Grandhotel Pupp () is a 228-room luxury hotel located in Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), Czech Republic. The hotel hosts the annual Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
The hotel began as the ''Saxony Hall'', built in 1701 by Burgomaster Dei ...
in
Karlovy Vary in the
Czech Republic. The film is a celebration of the 1920s and 1930s Central Europe with its artistic splendor and societal sensibilities.
See also
*
Central and Eastern Europe
Central and Eastern Europe is a term encompassing the countries in the Baltics, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe (mostly the Balkans), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact in Europe ...
*
Central European Initiative
The Central European Initiative (CEI) is a forum of regional cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe, counting 18 member states. It was formed in Budapest in 1989. The body was developed on the basis of earlier experiences with The Alps-Adriatic ...
*
Central European Time (CET)
*
Central European University
Central European University (CEU) is a private research university accredited in Austria, Hungary, and the United States, with campuses in Vienna and Budapest. The university is known for its highly intensive programs in the social sciences and ...
*
East-Central Europe
*
Eurovoc
*
Geographical midpoint of Europe
The location of the geographical centre of Europe depends on the definition of the borders of Europe, mainly whether remote islands are included to define the extreme points of Europe, and on the method of calculating the final result. Thus, se ...
*
Life zones of central Europe
Central Europe contains several life zones, depending on location and elevation.
Geographically, Central Europe lies between the Baltic Sea and the Apennine and Balkan peninsulas. It includes the plains of Germany and Poland; the Alps; and the ...
*
Międzymorze
Intermarium ( pl, Międzymorze, ) was a post- World War I geopolitical plan conceived by Józef Piłsudski to unite former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth lands within a single polity. The plan went through several iterations, some of which anti ...
(Intermarum)
*
Mitteleuropa
References
Citations
General and cited references
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Shared Pasts in Central and Southeast Europe, 17th–21st Centuries. Eds. G. Demeter, P. Peykovska. 2015
Further reading
* Ágh, Attila. ''Declining Democracy in East-Central Europe: The Divide in the EU and Emerging Hard Populism'' (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019).
* Baldersheim, Harald, ed. ''Local democracy and the processes of transformation in East-Central Europe'' (Routledge, 2019).
* Brophy, James M. "Bookshops, Forbidden Print and Urban Political Culture in Central Europe, 1800–1850". ''German History'' 35.3 (2017): 403–430.
* Case, Holly. "The strange politics of federative ideas in East-Central Europe." ''Journal of Modern History'' 85.4 (2013): 833–866.
* Centre of Central European Studies, ''Agrarianism in Central and Eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th Centuries'' (2013
online review
* Donert, Celia, Emily Greble, and Jessica Wardhaugh. "New Scholarship on Central and Eastern Europe". ''Contemporary European History'' 26.3 (2017): 507-507. DOI
New Scholarship on Central and Eastern Europe* Gardner, Hall, ed. ''Central and South-central Europe in Transition'' (Praeger, 2000)
*
* Kenney, Padraic. "What is the history of 1989? New scholarship from East-Central Europe." ''East European Politics & Societies'' (1999), 13#2 pp 419–431.
* Lederer, David. ''Early Modern Central European History'' (2011
online review by Linnéa Rowlatt* Margreiter, Klaus. "The Notion of Nobility and the Impact of Ennoblement on Early Modern Central Europe." ''Central European History'' 52.3 (2019): 382–401.
* Tieanu, Alexandra. "Shared Culture, Peace and Bridging: Western Influences on the Dissident Idea of Central Europe in the Communist States during the 1980s." ''Valahian Journal of Historical Studies'' 20 (2013): 215–232.
* Vachudova, Milada Anna. "From competition to polarization in central Europe: How populists change party systems and the European Union." ''Polity'' 51.4 (2019): 689–706
online* Vachudova, Milada Anna. "Ethnopopulism and democratic backsliding in Central Europe." ''East European Politics'' 36.3 (2020) pp: 318–340
online* Zimmerman, Andrew. "Race against Revolution in Central and Eastern Europe: From Hegel to Weber, from Rural Insurgency to “Polonization”." ''East Central Europe'' 43.1-2 (2016): 14–40.
* 'Mapping Central Europe' i
hidden europe 5, pp. 14–15 (November 2005)
External links
''Journal of East Central Europe''Central European Political Science Association's journal "Politics in Central Europe"CEU Political Science Journal (PSJ)Central European Journal of International and Security Studies
Central European Political Studies ReviewMaps of Europe and European countriesCENTRAL EUROPE 2020Central Europe Economy
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Regions of Europe