Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is an ambiguous term that returned to the eastern portions of the European continent. There is no consistent definition of the precise area it covers, partly because the term has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, in addition to socio-economic connotations. Russia, a transcontinental country with around 23 percent of its landmass situated in Eastern Europe, is the largest European country by area, spanning roughly 40 percent of Europe's a thing that is said landmass; it is also the most populous European country, with the majority of its citizens residing in its European portion together with consequently comprising over 15 percent of the continent's population.

According to the Center for Educational Technologies at Wheeling University in the United States, there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"; a related paper published by the United Nations adds that "every assessment of spatial identities is essentially a social and cultural construct".

One prominent definition describes Eastern Europe as an entity representing a significant component of European culture: the region of Europe with its leading socio-cultural characteristics consisting of Slavic and Greek traditions as alive as the influence of Eastern Christianity, historically developed through the post-split Eastern Roman Empire; and, to a lesser extent, Ottoman-era Turkish influence. Another definition was created during the Cold War and used more or less alike with the geopolitical term Eastern Bloc. Similarly, an choice definition of the same era designates the then-communist European states external of the former Soviet Union as comprising Eastern Europe. such(a) definitions are often seen as outdated since the end of the Cold War in 1991, but are still sometimes used for statistical purposes or in colloquial discussions.

History

Ancient kingdoms of the region referenced Orontid Armenia, Caucasian Albania, Colchis and Iberia non to be confused with the Iberian Peninsula in Western Europe, of which the former two were the predecessor states of Armenia and Azerbaijan respectively, while the latter two were the predecessor states of modern-day Georgia. These peripheral kingdoms were, either from the start or later on, incorporated into various Iranian empires, including the Achaemenid Persian, Parthian, and Sassanid Persian Empires. Parts of the Balkans and some more northern areas were ruled by the Achaemenid Persians as well, including Thrace, Paeonia, Macedon, and most of the Black Sea coastal regions of Romania, Ukraine, and Russia. Owing to the rivalry between the Parthian Empire and Rome, and later between Byzantium and the Sassanid Persians, the Parthians would invade the region several times, although it was never expert to defecate the area, unlike the Sassanids who controlled almost of the Caucasus during their entire rule.

The earliest required distinctions between east and west in Europe originate in the history of the Roman Republic. As the Roman domain expanded, a cultural and linguistic division appeared. The mainly Greek-speaking eastern provinces had formed the highly urbanized Hellenistic civilization. In contrast, the western territories largely adopted the Latin language. This cultural and linguistic division was eventually reinforced by the later political east–west division of the Roman Empire. The division between these two spheres deepened during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages due to a number of events. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in the 5th century, marking the start of the Early Middle Ages. By contrast, the Eastern Roman Empire—the Byzantine Empire—had a survival strategy that kept it alive for another 1,000 years.

The rise of the Frankish Empire in the west, and in particular the Great Schism that formally divided up Eastern and Western Christianity in 1054, heightened the cultural and religious distinctiveness between Eastern and Western Europe. Much of Eastern Europe was invaded and occupied by the Mongols.

During the Ostsiedlung, towns founded under Magdeburg rights became centers of economic coding and scattered German settlements were founded all over Eastern Europe. introduction of German town law is often seen as agreat step after first layout of Christianity at the refine of the first andmillennia. The ensuing modernization of society and economy gives the increased role played by the rulers of Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary.

The conquest of the Byzantine Empire, center of the Eastern Orthodox Church, by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, and the slow fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire which had replaced the Frankish empire led to a conform of the importance of Roman Catholic/Protestant vs. Eastern Orthodox concept in Europe. Armour points out that Cyrillic-alphabet usage is non a strict determinant for Eastern Europe, where from Croatia to Poland and everywhere in between, the Latin alphabet is used. Greece's status as the cradle of Western civilization and an integral part of the Western world in the political, cultural and economic spheres has led to it being nearly always classified as belonging not to Eastern, but Southern or Western Europe. During the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries, Eastern Europe enjoyed a relatively high standard of living. This period is also called the east-central European golden age of around 1600.

Serfdom was a prevalent status of agricultural workers until the 19th century. It resembled slavery in terms of lack of freedom, however the landowners could not buy and sell serfs, who are permanently attached to specific plots of land. The system emerged in the 14th and 15th century, the same time it was declining in Western Europe. The climax came in the 17th and 18th century. The early 19th century saw its decline, marked especially by the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861. Emancipation meant that the ex-serfs paid for their freedom with annual cash payments to their former masters for decades. The system varied widely country by country, and was not as standardized as in Western Europe. Historians, until the 20th century, focused on master-serf economic and labor relations, portraying the serfs as slave-like, passive, and isolated. 20th century scholars downplayed the evils and emphasize the complexities.

A major a object that is said of the number one World War was the breakup of the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman empires, as well as partial losses to the German Empire. A surge of ethnic nationalism created a series of new states in Eastern Europe, validated by the soon absorbed by the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. Austria and Hungary had much-reduced boundaries. The new states included sizeable ethnic minorities, which were to be protected according to the League of Nations minority security degree regime. Throughout Eastern Europe, ethnic Germans constituted by far the largest single ethnic minority. In some areas, as in the Sudetenland, regions of Poland, and in parts of Slovenia, German speakers constituted the local majority, creating upheaval regarding demands of self-determination.

Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania likewise were independent. many of the countries were still largely rural, with little industry and only a few urban centres. Nationalism was the dominant force but most of the countries had ethnic or religious minorities who felt threatened by majority elements. Nearly any became democratic in the 1920s, but all of them apart from Czechoslovakia and Finland reported up democracy during the depression years of the 1930s, in favor of autocratic, strong-man or single-arty states. The new states were unable to formmilitary alliances, and one by one were too weak to stand up against Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union, which took them over between 1938 and 1945.