Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern, Southern, Western and Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in this region also share certain historical and cultural similarities.
The region is variously defined but often includes Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland. Throughout much of the Early Modern period, the territories of Poland and Lithuania were part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Meanwhile, the Ottoman Empire came to occupy most of present-day Croatia and present-day Hungary, and southern parts of present-day Slovakia. The Archduchy of Austria, the Kingdom of Bohemia (Czech Republic), the Duchy of Carniola (part of present-day Slovenia), the various German Principalities and the Old Swiss Confederacy were within the Holy Roman Empire. During the 18th century, the Habsburg monarchy came to reign over the territories of Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia, alongside parts of Serbia, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. Bosnia and Herzegovina, however, was not under Habsburg control during the 18th century; it was occupied in 1878 following the Congress of Berlin and formally annexed in 1908. Between the early 18th and the early 20th centuries, Central Europe had a substantial Jewish population.
Since the Cold War, the countries that make up Central Europe have historically been and in some cases continue to be divided into either Eastern or Western Europe. After World War II, Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain into two parts, the capitalist Western Bloc and the socialist Eastern Bloc, although Austria, Switzerland and Yugoslavia (encompassing the territories of present-day Croatia, Slovenia and various other South Slavic nations) declared neutrality. The Berlin Wall was one of the most visible symbols of this division. Respectively, countries in Central Europe have historical, cultural and geopolitical ties with these wider regions of Europe.
Central Europe began a "strategic awakening" in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, with initiatives such as the Central European Defence Cooperation, the Central European Initiative, Centrope, and the Visegrád Four Group. That awakening was accelerated by writers and other intellectuals, who recognized the societal paralysis of decaying dictatorships and felt compelled to speak up against Soviet oppression.
Historical perspective
Middle Ages and early modern period
In the early Middle Ages, Central Europe had a diverse landscape, with various ethnic groups inhabiting the region. Germanic tribes, among them the Franks, Alemans and Bavarians, were predominantly situated in the west, and Slavic tribes were predominantly in the east. However, the region encompassed a wide spectrum of additional tribes and communities.
From the late 6th century to the early 9th century, the area roughly corresponding to the Carpathian Basin was part of the Avar Khaganate, the realm of the Pannonian Avars. While the Avars dominated the east of what is now Austria, its north and south were under Germanic and Slavic influence, respectively. Meanwhile, the territories now comprising Germany and Switzerland were under the influence of the Merovingian dynasty, and later the Carolingian dynasty. Various Slavic tribes that inhabited eastern Central Europe established settlements during this period, primarily in present-day Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The territory of Lithuania was inhabited by Baltic tribes. Amongst them were the Samogitians, Lithuanians and Curonians.
The Holy Roman Empire was founded at the turn of the 9th century, following the coronation of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III. At its inception, it incorporated present-day Germany and nearby regions, including parts of what is now Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Switzerland. Three decades later, Great Moravia, centred on present-day Czech Republic and Slovakia, became one of the first West Slavic states to be founded in Central Europe. In the late 9th Century, the Hungarian tribes, originating eastward on the Eurasian Steppe, settled in the Carpathian Basin and established the Principality of Hungary.
Following the Christianization of various Central European countries, elements of cultural unity emerged within the region, specifically Catholicism and Latin. Eastern Europe remained Eastern Orthodox, and was dominated by Byzantine cultural influence. After the East–West Schism in 1054, significant parts of Eastern Europe developed cultural unity and resistance to Catholic Western and Central Europe within the framework of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Church Slavonic and the Cyrillic alphabet.
- Frankish Empire and its tributaries in 814
- East Francia in 843
- Possible furthest extent of Great Moravia under Svatopluk I (870–894)
- Duchy of Poland under the Piast dynasty in 1000
- Duchy of Bohemia (Czech Duchy) in 1000
- Kingdom of Germany in 1004
- Kingdom of Hungary in 1190
- Kingdom of Croatia in 1260
- Holy Roman Empire in 1600
- Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and its fiefs in 1619
According to the historian Jenő Szűcs, Central Europe at the end of the 1st millennium became influenced by Western European developments. Szűcs argued that between the 11th and 15th centuries, Christianization influenced the cultures within Central Europe, and well-defined social features were also implemented in the region based on Western characteristics. The keyword of Western social development after the turn of the millennium was the spread of Magdeburg rights in some cities and towns of Western Europe. They began to spread in the mid-13th century in Central European countries and brought about self-governments of towns and counties.
In 1335, the Kings of Poland, Bohemia and Hungary and Croatia met in the castle of Visegrád and agreed to cooperate closely in the field of politics and commerce. That has inspired the post-Cold War Visegrád Group.
In 1386, Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, converted to Christianity (specifically Catholicism) and subsequently became King of Poland through marriage to Queen Jadwiga of Poland. That initiated the Christianization of Lithuania and resulted in the Union of Krewo, signifying a personal union between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland. The union commenced an enduring political alliance between the two entities and laid the foundations for the later establishment of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569.
Between the 15th and the early 16th centuries, the Kingdom of Croatia, which was then in personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary, served as a significant maritime gateway of Central Europe, with its ports facilitating key trade routes between Central Europe and the Mediterranean. The Republic of Ragusa emerged as a prominent hub for cultural exchange during this time. Following the Ottoman and Habsburg wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Kingdom of Croatia, under Habsburg rule, began to regain its position as a significant trade route, restoring ports and revitalising commercial activity.
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, 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 it developed further and became an object of intensive interest towards the 20th century. However, the first concept mixed science, politics, and economy and was strictly connected with the aspirations of German states to dominate a part of European continent called Mitteleuropa. At the Frankfurt Parliament, which was established in the wake of the March Revolution of 1848, there were multiple competing ideas for the integration of German-speaking areas, including the mitteleuropäische Lösung (Central European Solution) propagated by Austria, which sought to merge the smaller German-speaking states with the multi-ethnic Habsburg monarchy, but was opposed by Prussia and others. An imperialistic idea of Mitteleuropa also became popular in the German Empire, which was established in 1871 and experienced intensive economic growth. The term was used when the Union of German Railway Administrations established the Mitteleuropäische Eisenbahn-Zeit (Central European Railway Time) time zone, which was applied by the railways from 1 June 1891 and was later widely adopted in civilian life; the time zone's name has been shortened to the present-day Central European Time.
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 the Dnieper and from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans. An example of this vision of Central Europe may be seen in Joseph Partsch'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 (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's book Mitteleuropa in which he called for an economic federation to be established after World War I. Naumann's proposed a federation with Germany and the Habsburg monarchy as its centre that would eventually unite all external European nations through economic prosperity. The concept failed after the German defeat in World War I.[citation needed][dubious – discuss] The revival of the idea may be observed during the Hitler era.[citation needed][dubious – discuss]
Interwar period
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