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Apparently "Eastern Europe" doesn't have the best connotation and many of the former communist countries like to claim they are in "Central Europe" particularly Czechs and sometimes Slovaks. I tend to see any of the former communist countries from the Warsaw Pact to be Eastern European though a case can be made for the Czech Republic today since they are well integrated into NATO and the European Union. Also wtih the breakup of Czechoslovakia, its kind of shifted the Czech Republic more west.
Indeed. There are a number of arguments based on history and culture and the like.
One argument is that Central Europe is any place that used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while Eastern Europe is any former part of the Russian or Ottoman Empire. While there is a certain logic to this, it doesn't quite correspond to today's borders. Poland for instance becomes split down the middle, since it used to be split 3 ways between Russia, Germany and Austria.
Another argument is based on orthography: if you use Latin letters, you're in Central; if you use Cyrillic, you're in Eastern. The point is not in the alphabet itself, but in the Catholic-Orthodox split. (Romania, a mostly Orthodox country, switched from Cyrillic to Latin in the 19th century. So is it Central or Eastern?)
The short answer is that there is no universally accepted definition...yet Central is preferred largely for ideological reasons. Personally, I use both, because I can't make up my own mind
Indeed. There are a number of arguments based on history and culture and the like.
One argument is that Central Europe is any place that used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while Eastern Europe is any former part of the Russian or Ottoman Empire. While there is a certain logic to this, it doesn't quite correspond to today's borders. Poland for instance becomes split down the middle, since it used to be split 3 ways between Russia, Germany and Austria.
Another argument is based on orthography: if you use Latin letters, you're in Central; if you use Cyrillic, you're in Eastern. The point is not in the alphabet itself, but in the Catholic-Orthodox split. (Romania, a mostly Orthodox country, switched from Cyrillic to Latin in the 19th century. So is it Central or Eastern?)
The short answer is that there is no universally accepted definition...yet Central is preferred largely for ideological reasons. Personally, I use both, because I can't make up my own mind
And Serbia uses both Cyrillic and Latin; is both Catholic and Orthodox (but the bigger group); has had part of it under Austria. I think it is more Eastern due to the mentality as well??? I often wondered about that as well....
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It depends whether it's the geographical or cultural definition of Eastern Europe... Geographically, it's easy, the midpoint of Europe is not very far from where the borders of Lihuania, Poland and Belarus meet.
Culturally, my view would be that Eastern Europe is the part which has always been dominated by Russia, Western Europe are the countries which have historically always been strong naval states, and Central Europe were the big empires in between, consisting of many small, either national or ethnic entities, like the German, Austro-Hungarian, up until 1795 Polish, and possibly Ottoman empires. One funny definition of Central Europe I once heard from a German was that it was everything in between Limburg and Lemberg.
Culturally, if one divides Europe into just east and west, I'd say the post-communist states are east and the rest are west.
If one includes ''central'' as an option, I'd say European Russia, Belraus, and Ukraine are eastern Europe ( along with arguably the Caucas states ); Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Solvenia, and the Czech and Slovak republics as central, but would probably put most of the Balkans in their own category.
Apparently "Eastern Europe" doesn't have the best connotation and many of the former communist countries like to claim they are in "Central Europe" particularly Czechs and sometimes Slovaks. I tend to see any of the former communist countries from the Warsaw Pact to be Eastern European though a case can be made for the Czech Republic today since they are well integrated into NATO and the European Union. Also wtih the breakup of Czechoslovakia, its kind of shifted the Czech Republic more west.
What year is it? Hint: it's not 1990 anymore.
And what kind of question is this? Poland is right above the Czech Republic. Who would consider Poland Eastern Europe but not the Czech Republic ? I don't think I would. It's either both or none.., imo. Better options would have been "East of Germany" or "East of Poland". They are all to the east of Germany, and Poland has the most eastern border. I would use geography to classify this.. looks like you did not. Otherwise, you would not have chosen those countries. Correct? Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. Because it's in the east.
Don't agree with this definition, though. The Balkan countries isn't what I would call "Southern Europe". And the blue countries between Russia and Poland isn't exactly what I would call "Northern Europe". Also, I would not call the U.K. or Ireland Northern Europe..
Last edited by Glucorious; 12-04-2011 at 01:52 PM..
I have to say now that the only "Eastern European" countries are Russia, Belarus, Moldova and the Ukraine. Perhaps Serbia can be thrown in there too. However, the rest of the former Communist Bloc countries are already "western" or are moving towards the west.
And what kind of question is this? Poland is right above the Czech Republic. Who would consider Poland Eastern Europe but not the Czech Republic ? I don't think I would. It's either both or none.., imo. Better options would have been "East of Germany" or "East of Poland". They are all to the east of Germany, and Poland has the most eastern border. I would use geography to classify this.. looks like you did not. Otherwise, you would not have chosen those countries. Correct? Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. Because it's in the east.
The question of this thread is: where does the East begin? It's not that easy to define. Different criteria will lead to different answers.
Don't agree with this definition, though. The Balkan countries isn't what I would call "Southern Europe". And the blue countries between Russia and Poland isn't exactly what I would call "Northern Europe". Also, I would not call the U.K. or Ireland Northern Europe..
Why wouldn't you call the Balkans "Southern Europe", they are in the South of Europe, right? Going by your criteria above, Southern Europe is in the southern part of Europe I would classify the Balkans as South-Eastern Europe btw.
Why don't you consider the Baltic states "Northern Europe"? I can actually see where they got that from, given that Finland and Estonia are practically twin countries in many respects and their languages come from the same branch of Uralic. I certainly don't consider the Baltic states Eastern Europe or Central Europe, so Northern Europe would be the best option.
I disagree with the map in its division of North and West Europe. I consider Ireland, the UK, the Benelux and France to be West-Europe. The Nordic and Baltic countries are North-Europe. Iberia and Italy are South-Europe. Germany, Poland, Austria, Czech Rep., Slovakia, Hungary and maybe Slovenia are Central Europe. Anything east of these countries is Eastern Europe (with as sub-division the Balkans as SE Europe). That's how I would classify Europe
Edit: I see that I left out Switzerland. Well, Switzerland is in a category of its own
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Wondering..
I would classify the Balkans as South-Eastern Europe btw. 
