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During the cold war, Czech Republic was often described as Eastern Europe in America. That was 25 years ago now.
While the post WWII period colored the West's perception of Czechoslovakia as 'Eastern', Bohemia has no such connotation. It is a historically Catholic country, Latin alphabet, formerly large German population/influence, West-oriented country from the Middle Ages to today.
I have no Problem seeing and referring to the Czech Republic as Central Europe. Apart from being Slavic and under Russian domination for a few decades there is little else to connect them to the East.
I have no problem connecting them with Central Europe either. It definitely takes mental training though. Actually I find the Slavic and being under Russian domination for a few decades to be what continually connects most of these countries for me to 'Eastern Europe'
But, if certain countries don't want to be defined in such a way, I can be accommodating to those needs/desires.
I'd say Czech Republic is one of the EASIEST to subtract from the 'Eastern Europe' connotations. Mostly because visually on a map, it is very Central, and has a relatively long border with Germany, etc.
It gets a bit harder when the Baltics, for example, wants to identify with Central Europe or Scandinavia, that regrettably gets more difficult to do.
Speak for yourself The Ural mountains are the commonly accepted border between Europe and Asia. You and your bigoted buddies can disagree all you want but it won't change the facts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiger Beer
It gets a bit harder when the Baltics, for example, wants to identify with Central Europe or Scandinavia, that regrettably gets more difficult to do.
The Baltics are generally classified as Northern European (which is not the same as Scandinavian). Some consider them Eastern European due to their recent past under Soviet occupation. I also found a map that grouped them with Central Europe for cultural reasons. Europe can be sliced in many different ways depending on the criteria used. Here are some maps I found:
Speak for yourself The Ural mountains are the commonly accepted border between Europe and Asia. You and your bigoted buddies can disagree all you want but it won't change the facts.
The Baltics are generally classified as Northern European (which is not the same as Scandinavian). Some consider them Eastern European due to their recent past under Soviet occupation. I also found a map that grouped them with Central Europe for cultural reasons. Europe can be sliced in many different ways depending on the criteria used. Here are some maps I found:
Northern europe is geopolitical definition. Europe is really defined by culture not grography.
I think that your country (The Netherlands) is really more Northern european in terms of culture, lifestyle, thinking and even heritage than countries like Uk, Ireland or even the Baltics are.
For me Northern europe is freedom of thinking, social progressivism, low religiosity, close-knit feeling.
Dont tell me the Dutch have more in common with the french than they do with people from Denmark. For anybody familiar with both countries would easily notice how ridiculously similar they are.
I consider Germans from Far North to Be Northern Europeans Aswell, at least anywhere from Hannover and further north.
Would you consider greece an eastern european country when In reality its far more related to italy and western/southern european history/culture?
I find these disputes about the "borders" of Central, Eastern etc Europe pointless. Most of us know what kind of culture and identity each European country has so why so much effort to defining some categories?
Central-eastern Europe is a term that refers to certain countries in central europe AND countries in eastern europe. So if a country is referred to as central-eastern European the implication is that it is either central or eastern European.
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The Ural mountains are the commonly accepted border between Europe and Asia. You and your bigoted buddies can disagree all you want but it won't change the facts. 
