{{Short description|none}}
[[File:Eastern Europe from space.png|thumb|300px|Digital rendering of [[Europe]] focused over the continent's eastern portion]]
[[File:Grossgliederung Europas-en.svg|thumb|300px|Traditional cultural borders of Europe: usage recommendation by the Standing Committee on Geographical Names, Germany[{{cite web|url=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-four-european-regions-as-defined-by-the-united-nations-geoscheme-for-europe.html|title=Regions of Europe: Eastern Europe|date=10 May 2021|access-date=1 June 2023|archive-date=25 November 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231125054803/https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-four-european-regions-as-defined-by-the-united-nations-geoscheme-for-europe.html|url-status=live}}] Narrow definitions, in which [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Southeast Europe]] are counted as separate regions, include [[Belarus]], [[Russia]] and [[Ukraine]].[{{cite journal|access-date=21 January 2019|first=Peter|last=Jordan|journal=Europa Regional|year=2005|title=Großgliederung Europas nach kulturräumlichen Kriterien|trans-title=The large-scale division of Europe according to cultural-spatial criteria|volume=13|issue=4|pages=162–173|publisher=Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde (IfL)|location=Leipzig|via=Ständiger Ausschuss für geographische Namen (StAGN)|url=http://www.stagn.de/DE/1_Der_StAGN/Publikationen/StAGN_GGEuropa/grosseu_node.html|archive-date=27 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231227012144/http://www.stagn.de/DE/1_Der_StAGN/Publikationen/StAGN_GGEuropa/grosseu_node.html|url-status=live}}] In contrast, broader definitions include [[Moldova]] and [[Romania]], but also some or all of the [[Balkans]], except [[East Thrace]] and [[Greece]], generally speaking,[{{Cite news |title=Wrongly labelled |url=https://www.economist.com/europe/2010/01/07/wrongly-labelled |access-date=2025-12-19 |work=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}][{{Cite journal |last=Berglee |first=Royal |date=2016 |title=Traditional Regions of Europe |url=https://open.lib.umn.edu/worldgeography/chapter/2-4-eastern-europe/ |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=University of Minnesota |archive-date=2023-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216035124/https://open.lib.umn.edu/worldgeography/chapter/2-4-eastern-europe/ |url-status=live }}][{{Cite web |title=Geographic Regions |url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ |access-date=2023-10-06 |website=U.N. Statistics Division |archive-date=2017-08-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830170949/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ |url-status=live }}] In Eastern Europe, Russia is the [[List of European countries by area|largest]] and [[List of European countries by population|most populous country]].[{{Cite web|url=https://www.sdg6data.org/en/country-or-area/Russian+Federation|title=Country (or area)|website=www.sdg6data.org}}]
The region represents a significant part of [[Culture of Europe|European culture]]; the main socio-cultural characteristics of Eastern Europe have historically largely been defined by the traditions of the [[Slavs]], as well as by the influence of [[Eastern Christianity]] as it developed through the [[Byzantine Empire|Eastern Roman Empire]] and the [[Ottoman Empire]].[{{Cite book |last=Ramet |first=Sabrina P. |title=Eastern Europe: politics, culture, and society since 1939 |page=15 |year=1998 |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eWmDAd6vr5sC&q=eastern+europe+definition&pg=PA15 |access-date=5 October 2011 |isbn=978-0253212566 |archive-date=30 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240330041416/https://books.google.com/books?id=eWmDAd6vr5sC&q=eastern+europe+definition&pg=PA15#v=snippet&q=eastern%20europe%20definition&f=false |url-status=live }}] Another definition was created by the [[Cold War]], as Europe was ideologically divided by the [[Iron Curtain]], with "Eastern Europe" being synonymous with [[communist state]]s constituting the [[Eastern Bloc]] under the influence of the [[Soviet Union]].[[http://www.cotf.edu/earthinfo/balkans/BKdef.html "The Balkans"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171210020555/http://www.cotf.edu/earthinfo/balkans/BKdef.html |date=10 December 2017 }}, ''Global Perspectives: A Remote Sensing and World Issues Site''. Wheeling Jesuit University/Center for Educational Technologies, 1999–2002.][{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/europe/2010/01/07/wrongly-labelled|title="Eastern Europe" Wrongly labelled|newspaper=The Economist|date=7 January 2010|access-date=20 February 2020|archive-date=11 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211084759/https://www.economist.com/europe/2010/01/07/wrongly-labelled|url-status=live}}]
The term is sometimes considered to be pejorative, through stereotypes about Eastern Europe being inferior (poorer, less developed) to [[Western Europe]]; the term [[Central and Eastern Europe]] is sometimes used for a more neutral grouping.[{{Cite book |last=Twardzisz |first=Piotr |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qUVYDwAAQBAJ&dq=east+europe+pejorative&pg=PR7 |title=Defining 'Eastern Europe': A Semantic Inquiry into Political Terminology |date=25 April 2018 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-77374-2 |pages=18 |language=en |access-date=2023-01-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629015114/https://books.google.com/books?id=qUVYDwAAQBAJ&dq=east+europe+pejorative&pg=PR7 |archive-date=2023-06-29 |url-status=live}}][{{Cite book |last=Zarycki |first=Tomasz |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315819006/ideologies-eastness-central-eastern-europe-tomasz-zarycki |title=Ideologies of Eastness in Central and Eastern Europe |year=2014 |doi=10.4324/9781315819006 |isbn=9781317818571 |s2cid=129401740 |access-date=2022-11-16 |archive-date=2022-11-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116045112/https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315819006/ideologies-eastness-central-eastern-europe-tomasz-zarycki |url-status=live }}][{{Cite web |title=Eastern promise and Western pretension |url=https://www.dw.com/en/my-europe-eastern-promise-and-western-pretension/a-45403613 |access-date=2022-11-16 |website=dw.com |language=en |archive-date=2022-11-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116045517/https://www.dw.com/en/my-europe-eastern-promise-and-western-pretension/a-45403613 |url-status=live}}]
==Definitions==
Several definitions of Eastern Europe exist in the early 21st century, but they often lack precision and may be anachronistic. These definitions are debated across cultures and among experts, even [[political scientists]],[''Drake, Miriam A. (2005) Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science'', CRC Press] as the term has a wide range of [[geopolitical]], geographical, cultural, and [[socioeconomic]] connotations. It has also been described as a "fuzzy" term, as the idea itself of Eastern Europe is in constant redefinition.[{{Cite web|url=https://www.unibas.ch/en/Research/Uni-Nova/Uni-Nova-126/Uni-Nova-126-The-concept-of-Eastern-Europe-in-past-and-present.html|title=The concept of "Eastern Europe" in past and present|work=UNI NOVA|first=Thomas|last=Grob|date=February 2015|publisher=[[University of Basel]]|access-date=2020-09-04|archive-date=2020-11-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126230122/https://www.unibas.ch/en/Research/Uni-Nova/Uni-Nova-126/Uni-Nova-126-The-concept-of-Eastern-Europe-in-past-and-present.html|url-status=live}}] The solidification of the idea of an "Eastern Europe" dates back chiefly to the (French) [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]].[{{cite web|url=http://141.74.33.52/stagn/JordanEuropaRegional/tabid/71/Default.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140404195751/http://141.74.33.52/stagn/JordanEuropaRegional/tabid/71/Default.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 April 2014|title=Jordan Europa Regional|date=4 April 2014}}]
===Geographical===
[[File:Europe subregion map world factbook.svg|right|thumb|300px|European regional grouping according to [[The World Factbook|CIA World Factbook]]:
{{legend|#FF8080|Eastern Europe here is mainly equivalent to the European part of the former [[Soviet Union]].}}{{legend|#007FFF|Northern Europe}}
{{legend|#00FFFF|Western Europe}}
{{legend|#F0DC82|Central Europe}}
{{legend|#FF0000|Southwest Europe}}
{{legend|#66FF00|Southern Europe}}
{{legend|#D2691E|Southeast Europe}}]]
While the eastern geographical boundaries of Europe are well defined, the boundary between Eastern and [[Western Europe]] is not geographical but historical, religious, and cultural, and is harder to designate.
The [[Ural Mountains]], [[Ural River]], and the [[Caucasus Mountains]] are the [[Boundaries between continents|geographical land border]] of the eastern edge of Europe. E.g. [[Kazakhstan]], which is mainly located in [[Central Asia]] with the most western parts of it located west of the [[Ural River]], also shares a part of Eastern Europe.[{{Citation |title=Kazakhstan |work=The World Factbook |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kazakhstan/locator-map |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210117225044/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kazakhstan/locator-map |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 17, 2021 |access-date=2024-08-10 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en}}]
In the west, however, the historical and [[culture|cultural]] boundaries of "Eastern Europe" are subject to some overlap and, most importantly, have undergone historical fluctuations, which makes a precise definition of the western geographic boundaries of Eastern Europe and the [[geographical midpoint of Europe]] somewhat difficult.
===Religious and cultural influence===
[[File:OrthodoxyInEurope.png|thumb|300x300px|Map of [[Eastern Orthodoxy]], the borderline of which is one cultural boundary in Europe]]
[[File:Expansion of christianity.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|Expansion of Christianity[{{cite web|url=http://rbedrosian.com/Maps/ahgh66b.htm |title=Atlas of the Historical Geography of the Holy Land |publisher=Rbedrosian.com |access-date=23 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610034842/http://rbedrosian.com/Maps/ahgh66b.htm |archive-date=10 June 2013 }}][{{cite web|url=http://home.comcast.net/~DiazStudents/MiddleAgesChurchMap1.jpg |title=home.comcast.net |access-date=23 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130213233630/http://home.comcast.net/~DiazStudents/MiddleAgesChurchMap1.jpg |archive-date=13 February 2013 }}]]]
After the [[East–West Schism]] of 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]] language and the [[Cyrillic alphabet]].[{{Cite book |last=Magocsi |first=Paul Robert |author-link=Paul Robert Magocsi |chapter=Chapter 11 |title=Historical Atlas of Central Europe |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XoxHdcNYhiMC&pg=PP20 |year=2002 |edition=Rev. and expanded |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-8486-6 |oclc=150672781 |access-date=2023-02-10 |archive-date=2024-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240330041418/https://books.google.com/books?id=XoxHdcNYhiMC&pg=PP20#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}][{{cite book |title=Religion and Culture in Early Modern Europe |author=Kasper von Greyerz |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SmEpMnfYZ-oC&q=%22all+of+central+Europe%22 |isbn=978-0-19-804384-3 |pages=38– |date=2007 |access-date=2022-01-06 |archive-date=2024-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240330041419/https://books.google.com/books?id=SmEpMnfYZ-oC&q=%22all+of+central+Europe%22#v=snippet&q=%22all%20of%20central%20Europe%22&f=false |url-status=live }}][{{cite book |author=Jean W Sedlar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3o5lrvuwOVwC&q=%22estrangement+to+be+permanent%22 |title=East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000–1500 |publisher=University of Washington Press |year=1994 |isbn=0-295-97291-2 |page=161 |access-date=2022-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240330041420/https://books.google.com/books?id=3o5lrvuwOVwC&q=%22estrangement+to+be+permanent%22#v=snippet&q=%22estrangement%20to%20be%20permanent%22&f=false |archive-date=2024-03-30 |url-status=live}}]
The earliest concept of Europe as a cultural sphere (instead of simply a geographic term) was formed by [[Alcuin of York]] during the [[Carolingian Renaissance]] of the 9th century, limited to the territories that practised [[Western Christianity]] at the time. "European" as a cultural term did not include many of the territories under the influence of [[Eastern Christianity]] until the early nineteenth century.[{{cite book|author=Sanjay Kumar|title=A Handbook of Political Geography|publisher=K.K. Publications|year=2021|pages=125–127|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iGc9EAAAQBAJ}}]
A large section of ''Eastern Europe'' is formed by countries with dominant Orthodox churches, like [[Belarus]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Cyprus]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], [[Greece]], [[Moldova]], [[Montenegro]], [[North Macedonia]], [[Romania]], [[Russia]], [[Serbia]], and [[Ukraine]], for instance, as well as [[Armenia]], which is predominantly [[Armenian Apostolic Church|Armenian Apostolic]].[{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewforum.org/2017/05/10/religious-belief-and-national-belonging-in-central-and-eastern-europe/|title=Religious Belief and National Belonging in Central and Eastern Europe|work=Pew Research Center|date=May 10, 2017|access-date=January 30, 2020|archive-date=September 18, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918142547/http://www.pewforum.org/2017/05/10/religious-belief-and-national-belonging-in-central-and-eastern-europe/|url-status=live}}][{{Cite web|url=https://www.atlantaserbs.com/learnmore/history/gruzija-church.htm|title=The History of Georgian Orthodox Church|website=www.atlantaserbs.com|access-date=2021-02-07|archive-date=2021-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304215419/https://www.atlantaserbs.com/learnmore/history/gruzija-church.htm|url-status=live}}] Moreover, followers of Eastern Orthodoxy form considerable portions of the populations of predominantly Muslim [[Albania]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], [[Kazakhstan]], and [[Kosovo]], both historically and presently. The [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] has played a prominent role in the history and culture of Eastern and [[Southeastern Europe]].[{{Citation |last=Ware |first=Bishop Kallistos (Timothy) |title=The Orthodox Church |date=29 April 1993 |edition=new |place=New York |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-014656-1 |author-link1=Kallistos Ware |page=8}}] To a lesser degree, forms of [[Eastern Protestant Christianity|Eastern Protestantism]] and [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholicism]] have also been influential in Eastern Europe. Countries where Eastern Protestantism or Eastern Catholicism hold historical significance include Belarus, [[Croatia]], the [[Czech Republic]], [[Estonia]], [[Hungary]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Poland]], [[Slovakia]], [[Slovenia]] and Ukraine.[Fernández Rodríguez, José Manuel (28 November 2016). "Eastern Protestant and Reformed Churches "a historical and ecumenical look"". ''Theologica Xaveriana''. 66 (182): 345–366. [[Doi (identifier)|doi]]:10.11144/javeriana.tx66-182.ioproh.][Milovanović, Aleksandra Djurić; Radić, Radmila (2017-10-11). "Parts I, II, III". ''Orthodox Christian Renewal Movements in Eastern Europe''. Springer. {{ISBN|978-3-319-63354-1}}.]
The schism refers to the historical break of communion and [[theology]] between the Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Catholic) churches. Later developments meant that the divide was no longer solely between Catholic and Orthodox churches. From the 16th century, both Western and Eastern forms of Protestantism began to emerge in Europe.[{{Cite book |last1=Parushev |first1=Parush |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9780470999196 |title=The Blackwell Companion to Protestantism |last2=Apollo |first2=Toivo |date=2004 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-0-631-23278-0 |editor-last=McGrath |editor-first=Alister E. |edition= |pages=155–160 |language= |doi=10.1002/9780470999196 |editor-last2=Marks |editor-first2=Darren C. |access-date=2024-02-28 |archive-date=2024-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240228180113/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9780470999196 |url-status=live }}][{{Cite book |last=Nichols |first=Aidan |title=Rome and the Eastern Churches: A Study in Schism |date=2010 |publisher=Ignatius Press |isbn=9781586172824 |edition=2nd |pages=13–19}}] Additionally, Eastern Catholic Churches began to spread in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, following the establishment of the [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church]] in 1596.[{{Cite book |last=Galadza |first=Peter |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9780470690208 |title=The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity |date=2007-07-04 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-0-631-23423-4 |editor-last=Parry |editor-first=Ken |edition= |pages=291–309 |language=en |doi=10.1002/9780470690208 |access-date=2024-02-28 |archive-date=2024-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240228180115/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9780470690208 |url-status=live }}] However, the concept of Eastern Catholicism itself predates this.[{{Cite web |title=Union of Brest-Litovsk {{!}} Polish-Soviet, Treaty, 1918 {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Union-of-Brest-Litovsk |access-date=2024-02-28 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |archive-date=2023-06-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629070216/https://www.britannica.com/event/Union-of-Brest-Litovsk |url-status=live }}]
Since the Great Schism of 1054, Europe has been divided between [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] (and later additionally [[Protestant]]) churches in the West, and the [[Eastern Orthodox Christian]] (often incorrectly labelled "Greek Orthodox") churches in the east. The religious cleavage causes Eastern Orthodox countries to be often associated with Eastern Europe. A cleavage of this sort is, however, often problematic; for example, [[Greece]] is overwhelmingly Orthodox but is very rarely included in "Eastern Europe" for a variety of reasons, the most prominent being that Greece's history, for the most part, was more influenced by Mediterranean cultures and dynamics.[Peter John, Local Governance in Western Europe, University of Manchester, 2001, {{ISBN|9780761956372}}]
===Cold War (1947–1991)===
{{main|Warsaw Pact|Eastern Bloc}}
[[File:Europe subregion map UN geoscheme.svg|thumb|upright=1.15|Regions used for statistical processing purposes by the [[United Nations Statistics Division]]:
{{legend|#FF8080|Eastern Europe}}
{{legend|#4080FF|Northern Europe}}
{{legend|#00FF00|Southern Europe}}
{{legend|#00FFFF|Western Europe}}]]
[[File:Time zones of the Greater Europe.svg|thumb|Europe divided by time zones]]
The [[revolutions of 1989|fall of the Iron Curtain]] brought the end of the Cold War east–west division in Europe,[{{cite journal |last=Martynov |first=V. |title=The End of East-West Division But Not the End of History |date=2000 |journal=UN Chronicle |volume=37 |issue=2 |via=[[FindArticles]] |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1309/is_2_37/ai_66579827/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713093118/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1309/is_2_37/ai_66579827/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1 |archive-date=July 13, 2012 |url-status=usurped}}] but this geopolitical concept is sometimes still used for quick reference by the media.[{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6957171.stm | work=BBC News | title=Migrant workers: What we know | date=21 August 2007 | access-date=27 January 2009 | archive-date=14 November 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114001236/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6957171.stm | url-status=live }}] Another definition was used during the 40 years of [[Cold War]] between 1947 and 1989, and was more or less synonymous with the terms ''[[Eastern Bloc]]'' and ''[[Warsaw Pact]]''. A similar definition names the formerly [[communist]] European [[State (polity)|states]] outside the Soviet Union as Eastern Europe, although historians and social scientists generally view such definitions as outdated or relegated.
{{legend|#FF0000|[[Central and Eastern Europe]]}}{{legend|#67E863|Western Europe}}
{{legend|#F6D600|Southern Europe}}
{{legend|#0076D3|Northern Europe}}]]
[[Eurovoc|EuroVoc]], a multilingual [[thesaurus]] maintained by the [[Publications Office of the European Union]], classifies Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, plus the candidate countries Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia as [[Central and Eastern Europe]]an.[{{cite web |title=Concept: 914 Central and Eastern Europe |url=https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/concept/-/resource?uri=http://eurovoc.europa.eu/914 |access-date=16 July 2023 |work=EuroVoc |publisher=Publications Office of the EU |archive-date=27 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027034435/https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/concept/-/resource?uri=http://eurovoc.europa.eu/914 |url-status=live }}]
===Contemporary developments===
In broadest definition, the countries are [[Albania]], [[Armenia]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Belarus]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Croatia]], the [[Czech Republic]], [[Estonia]], [[Hungary]], [[Kosovo]], [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Moldova]], [[Montenegro]], [[North Macedonia]], [[Poland]], [[Romania]], [[Russia]], [[Serbia]], [[Slovakia]], [[Slovenia]], [[Ukraine]] and, in rare cases, [[Greece]],[{{Cite web |last=Starr |first=Katayoun Kishi and Kelsey Jo |date=2017-11-03 |title=Many Central and Eastern Europeans see link between religion and national identity |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/11/03/many-central-and-eastern-europeans-see-link-between-religion-and-national-identity/ |access-date=2025-12-19 |website=Pew Research Center |language=en-US}}][{{Cite web |last=Boye |first=Gary |title=Research Guides: World Music Guide: Eastern Europe |url=https://guides.library.appstate.edu/world-music/eastern-europe |access-date=2025-12-19 |website=guides.library.appstate.edu |language=en}}][{{Cite news |title=Wrongly labelled |url=https://www.economist.com/europe/2010/01/07/wrongly-labelled |access-date=2025-12-19 |work=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}] albeit less commonly placed in Eastern Europe, all of which can be classified into 6 categories.
Despite being predominantly located in [[West Asia]], the [[South Caucasus]] nations of [[Armenia]], [[Azerbaijan]], and [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] are often categorized as part of Eastern Europe. [[Kazakhstan]] has approximately 4% of its territory located in Eastern Europe, but is regularly categorized as a [[Central Asia|Central Asian]] nation.[{{cite web|url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/region/central-asia/|title=Central Asia - Atlantic Council|website=atlanticcouncil.org|access-date=2026-02-28}}] While not considered to be part of Eastern Europe, the [[East Thrace]] region of [[Turkey]] is often grouped in as part of [[Southeast Europe]].
====Baltic states====
{{Main|Baltic states}}
[[UNESCO]],[{{cite web|url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/|title=UNSD — Methodology|first=United Nations Statistics|last=Division|website=unstats.un.org|access-date=2017-08-04|archive-date=2017-08-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830170949/https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/|url-status=live}}] [[EuroVoc]], [[National Geographic Society]], [[Committee for International Cooperation in National Research in Demography]], and the STW Thesaurus for Economics place the Baltic states in [[Northern Europe]], whereas the CIA World Factbook places the region in Eastern Europe with a strong assimilation to [[Northern Europe]]. Lithuania may alternatively be included in definitions of [[Central Europe]] because of its historical ties to [[Poland]] and the [[Catholic Church]].[{{Cite book |title=The Columbia encyclopedia |date=2000 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-7876-5015-5 |editor-last=Lagassé |editor-first=Paul |edition=6th |location=New York, NY |editor-last2=Columbia University}}][{{Cite web |title=Central Europe |url=https://www.iir.cz/en/central-europe |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=www.iir.cz |language=en}}] Occasionally, Estonia and Latvia are also included. However, these countries are members of the [[Nordic-Baltic Eight]] regional cooperation forum whereas Central European countries formed their own alliance called the [[Visegrád Group]].[{{cite web |url=http://www.visegradgroup.eu/about |title=About the Visegrad Group |website=Visgradgroup.eu |date=15 August 2006 |access-date=30 July 2021 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110925164958/http://www.visegradgroup.eu:80/about |archive-date=2011-09-25 }}] The [[Northern Future Forum]], the [[Nordic Investment Bank]], the [[Nordic Battlegroup]], the [[Nordic-Baltic Eight]] and the [[New Hanseatic League]] are other examples of [[Northern Europe]]an cooperation that includes the three countries collectively referred to as the Baltic states.
* [[Estonia]]
* [[Latvia]]
* [[Lithuania]]
====Caucasus states====
{{Main|Caucasus}}
The [[South Caucasus]] nations of [[Armenia]], [[Azerbaijan]], and [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]][{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/dgacm/|title=Department for General Assembly and Conference Management |website=www.un.org|access-date=2021-04-25|archive-date=2021-04-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210419164537/https://www.un.org/dgacm/|url-status=live}}] are included in [[Boundaries between continents|definitions]] or histories of Eastern Europe. They are located in the transition zone of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. They participate in the [[European Union]]'s [[Eastern Partnership]] program, the [[Euronest Parliamentary Assembly]], and are members of the [[Council of Europe]], which specifies that all three have political and cultural connections to Europe. In January 2002, the [[European Parliament]] noted that [[Armenia]], [[Azerbaijan]], and [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] may enter the EU in the future.[{{Citation | url = http://www.libertas-institut.com/de/PDF/Armenia%20ante%20portas.pdf | title = How Armenia Could Approach the European Union | access-date = 27 February 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080428045333/http://www.libertas-institut.com/de/PDF/Armenia%20ante%20portas.pdf | archive-date = 28 April 2008 | url-status = dead }}][{{Citation | url = https://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A5-2002-0028+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN | title = European Parliament on the European Union's relations with the South Caucasus | access-date = 2020-07-02 | archive-date = 2020-07-02 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200702131223/https://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-%2F%2FEP%2F%2FTEXT+REPORT+A5-2002-0028+0+DOC+XML+V0%2F%2FEN&language=EN | url-status = live }}] Georgia and Armenia are seeking EU membership, with Georgia also seeking NATO membership alongside.
* [[Armenia]]
* [[Azerbaijan]]
* [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]
There are two de facto [[List of states with limited recognition|republics with limited recognition]] in the South Caucasus region that exist under the presence of Russian military. Both states participate in the [[Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations]]:
* [[Abkhazia]]
* [[South Ossetia]]
Former republics with limited recognition:
* [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]] (1991–2000) – existed in former Soviet territory until it was driven into exile during the [[Second Chechen War]]
* [[Republic of Artsakh]] (1991–2023) – breakaway state from Azerbaijan that ceased to exist by 1 January 2024[{{cite news |last1=Sauer |first1=Pjotr |title=Nagorno-Karabakh's breakaway government says it will dissolve itself |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/28/nagorno-karabakh-separatist-government-says-dissolve-azerbaijan-armenia |work=The Guardian |date=28 September 2023 |access-date=28 September 2023 |archive-date=15 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231115231542/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/28/nagorno-karabakh-separatist-government-says-dissolve-azerbaijan-armenia |url-status=live }}]
====Post-Soviet states====
{{main|Post-Soviet States}}
Some [[Post-Soviet states#Country comparison|European republics]] of the former [[Soviet Union]] are considered a part of Eastern Europe:
* [[Belarus]]
* [[Moldova]] (sometimes considered a part of the [[Balkans]] or [[Southeast Europe]])[{{cite journal|last=Simic|first=Predrag|title=Do the Balkans Exist? Visions of the Future of Southeastern Europe: Perspectives from the Region|journal=Medzinárodné otázky|publisher=Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association|pages=19–39|volume=10|number=1|date=2001|jstor=44963345}}]
* [[Russia]]
* [[Ukraine]]
[[List of states with limited recognition|Unrecognized states]]:
* [[Transnistria]]
====Central Europe====
{{main|Central Europe}}
The term "Central Europe" is often used by historians to designate states formerly belonging to the [[Holy Roman Empire]], the [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg Empire]], and the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]].
In some media, "Central Europe" can thus partially overlap with "Eastern Europe" of the Cold War Era. The following countries are labelled Central European by some commentators, though others still consider them to be Eastern European.[Wallace, W. ''The Transformation of Western Europe'' London, Pinter, 1990][Huntington, Samuel ''The Clash of Civilizations'' Simon & Schuster, 1996][Johnson, Lonnie ''Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbours, Friends'' Oxford University Press, US, 2001]
* [[Czech Republic]]
* [[Croatia]] (can variously be included in [[Southeast Europe|Southeastern]][{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/croatia/|title=Croatia |website=The World Factbook |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |date=18 January 2022 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240219055717/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/croatia/ |archive-date= February 19, 2024 }}] or [[Central Europe]])[Lonnie Johnson, [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195100716 ''Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends''], Oxford University Press]
* [[Hungary]]
* [[Lithuania]] (can variously be included in [[Northeastern Europe|Northeastern]] or [[Central Europe]])
* [[Poland]]
* [[Romania]] (can be included in [[Southeast Europe|Southeastern Europe]][{{Cite web|url=https://www.eia.gov/emeu/cabs/SE_Europe/Background.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205212441/http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/SE_Europe/Background.html|url-status=dead|title=U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)|archivedate=February 5, 2009|website=www.eia.gov}}] or partially in [[Central Europe]])[{{Cite web|url=https://www.nato.int/invitees2004/romania/glance.htm|title=7 Invitees - Romania|website=www.nato.int|access-date=2021-04-25|archive-date=2023-10-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231029052253/https://www.nato.int/invitees2004/romania/glance.htm|url-status=live}}]
* [[Serbia]] (most often placed in [[Southeast Europe|Southeastern Europe]] but sometimes partially included in [[Central Europe]])[{{cite book |author1=Steven Tötösy de Zepetnek |author2=Louise Olga Vasvári |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pFCzty0P4UcC&q=central+europe+serbia+culture&pg=PA24 |title=Comparative Hungarian Cultural Studies |publisher=Purdue University Press |isbn=9781557535931 |year=2011 |access-date=2020-11-10 |archive-date=2024-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240330041420/https://books.google.com/books?id=pFCzty0P4UcC&q=central+europe+serbia+culture&pg=PA24#v=snippet&q=central%20europe%20serbia%20culture&f=false |url-status=live }}]
* [[Slovakia]]
* [[Slovenia]] (most often placed in [[Central Europe]] but sometimes in [[Southeast Europe|Southeastern Europe]])[{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FWA3ppuOgK4C&pg=PA165 |title=Geopolitics of European Union Enlargement: The Fortress Empire |page=165 |chapter=Borders in Central Europe: From Conflict to Cooperation |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-134-30132-4 |author1=Armstrong, Werwick |author2=Anderson, James |access-date=2016-03-10 |archive-date=2024-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240330041921/https://books.google.com/books?id=FWA3ppuOgK4C&pg=PA165#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}]
====Southeastern Europe / Balkan states====
{{Main|Southeast Europe|Balkans}}
Some countries in [[Southeast Europe]] can be considered part of Eastern Europe. Some of them can sometimes, albeit rarely, be characterized as belonging to [[Southern Europe]], and some may also be included in [[Central Europe]].
In some media, "Southeast Europe" can thus partially overlap with "Eastern Europe" of the Cold War Era. The following countries are labelled Southeast European by some commentators, though others still consider them to be Eastern European.[Bideleux and Jeffries (1998) ''A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change'']
The following eleven countries are generally considered to be part of the Balkans by most definitions:
* [[Albania]]
* [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
* [[Bulgaria]]
* [[Croatia]] (can variously be included in Southeastern[[https://www.pccseesecretariat.si/index.php?item=9&page=static#:~:text=The%20PCC%20SEE%20is%20a,threat%20analysis%2C%20liaison%20officers%2C%20hot "Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe (PCC SEE)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240124191128/https://www.pccseesecretariat.si/index.php?item=9&page=static#:~:text=The%20PCC%20SEE%20is%20a,threat%20analysis%2C%20liaison%20officers%2C%20hot|date=2024-01-24}}. ''PCC SEE Secretariat''. Retrieved 20 December 2023.]
* [[Turkey]] ([[East Thrace]], the portion west of the [[Turkish Straits]])
Additionally, although they have no territory on the Balkan Peninsula, the following countries are sometimes incorporated in the Balkans region, or Southeastern Europe, for cultural and historical affiliations:[{{Cite book |last=Todorova |first=Maria |title=Imagining the Balkans |date=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-508750-5 |location=New York |page=15}}][{{Cite journal |last=Kolstø |first=Pål |date=2016-08-08 |title='Western Balkans' as the New Balkans: Regional Names as Tools for Stigmatisation and Exclusion |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09668136.2016.1219979 |journal=Europe-Asia Studies |language=en |volume=68 |issue=7 |pages=1245–1263 |doi=10.1080/09668136.2016.1219979 |issn=0966-8136|url-access=subscription }}][{{Cite web |title=BUB0028 - Evidence on Beyond Brexit: the UK and the Balkans |url=https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/81047/html/ |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=committees.parliament.uk}}][{{Cite web |last=Djurdjevic |first=Maria |title=The Balkans: Past and Present of Cultural Pluralism |url=https://www.iemed.org/publication/the-balkans-past-and-present-of-cultural-pluralism/ |access-date=2024-11-01 |website=European Institute of the Mediterranean}}][{{Cite web |last=Detrez |first=Raymond |date=2001 |title=Colonialism in the Balkans |url=https://www.kakanien-revisited.at/beitr/theorie/RDetrez1.pdf |pages=1–2 }}][{{Cite journal |last=Juhász |first=József |date=2015 |title=Hungary and the Balkans in the 20th Century — From the Hungarian Perspective |url=http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-4acf4d74-0230-4935-89ff-5cd70c155701 |journal=Prague Papers on the History of International Relations |language= |issue= 1|pages=114–119 |quote=After 1918, with the massive reduction of Hungary’s territory and influence, many Western observers held Hungary to be one of the nations of the Balkans. |via=CEJSH}}][{{Cite web |date=2024-08-11 |title=Balkans |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Balkans |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica |language=en |quote=Moldova—although located north of the Danube River, which is frequently cited as the region’s northeastern geographic dividing line—is included in the Balkans under some definitions by virtue of its long-standing historical and cultural connections with Romania.}}][Hötte, Hans; Mihalik, Béla (2016). ''Atlas of Southeast Europe''. Boston: Brill.][{{cite web|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/where-are-the-balkan-states-4070249|title=A List of Countries That Make up the Balkan Peninsula|website=www.ThoughtCo.com|access-date=2020-01-14|archive-date=2017-10-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014111414/https://www.thoughtco.com/where-are-the-balkan-states-4070249|url-status=live}}][{{cite book|first1=Malcolm|last1=Porter|first2=Keith|last2=Lye|title=Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nXn6qEGYv0QC&q=area+of+kazakhstan+in+europe+sq+km&pg=PA14|publisher=Cherrytree Books|date=2008|isbn=978-1-84234-461-3|page=14|access-date=11 October 2021|archive-date=12 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112032648/https://books.google.com/books?id=nXn6qEGYv0QC&q=area+of+kazakhstan+in+europe+sq+km&pg=PA14|url-status=live}}][{{Cite book | title=World Factbook | date=29 September 2021 | url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kazakhstan/ | location=Washington, D.C. | publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] | access-date=23 January 2021 | archive-date=9 January 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210109132304/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kazakhstan | url-status=dead }} Kazakhstan: Geography]
==History==
{{split section|History of Eastern Europe|date=November 2023|discuss=Talk:Eastern Europe#History of Eastern Europe}}
===Classical antiquity and medieval origins===
Ancient kingdoms of the region included [[Orontid Armenia]], [[Caucasian Albania]], [[Colchis]] and [[Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity)|Iberia]] (not 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 (country)|Georgia]]. These peripheral kingdoms were, either from the start or later on, incorporated into various Iranian empires, including the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid Persian]], [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]], and [[Sassanid Persian]] Empires.[Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), ''Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts'', pp. 292-294. Peeters Bvba {{ISBN|90-429-1318-5}}.] Parts of the [[Balkans]] and some more northern areas were ruled by the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid Persians]] as well, including [[Thrace]], [[Paeonia (kingdom)|Paeonia]], [[Macedon]], and most of the [[Black Sea]] coastal regions of [[Romania]], [[Ukraine]], and [[Russia]].[The Oxford Classical Dictionary by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth,{{ISBN|0-19-860641-9}}, "page 1515, "The Thracians were subdued by the Persians by 516"][{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=QsJ183uUDkMC&q=Achaemenid+Persians+ruled+balkans&pg=PA345|title= A Companion to Ancient Macedonia|access-date= 22 April 2015|isbn= 9781444351637|last1= Roisman|first1= Joseph|last2= Worthington|first2= Ian|date= 7 July 2011|publisher= John Wiley & Sons|archive-date= 30 March 2024|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240330042424/https://books.google.com/books?id=QsJ183uUDkMC&q=Achaemenid+Persians+ruled+balkans&pg=PA345#v=snippet&q=Achaemenid%20Persians%20ruled%20balkans&f=false|url-status= live}}] Owing to the rivalry between the [[Parthian Empire]] and [[Roman Empire|Rome]], and later between [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantium]] and the [[Sassanid Persians]], the Parthians would invade the region several times, although it was never able to hold the area, unlike the Sassanids who controlled most of the [[Caucasus]] during their entire rule.[{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=CquTz6ps5YgC&q=sassanids+rule+most+of+the+caucasus&pg=PA27|title= An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires|access-date= 22 April 2015|isbn= 9780313274978|last1= Olson|first1= James Stuart|last2= Pappas|first2= Lee Brigance|last3= Pappas|first3= Nicholas Charles|last4= Pappas|first4= Nicholas C. J.|year= 1994|publisher= Bloomsbury Academic|archive-date= 30 March 2024|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240330042425/https://books.google.com/books?id=CquTz6ps5YgC&q=sassanids+rule+most+of+the+caucasus&pg=PA27|url-status= live}}]
[[File:Theodosius I's empire.png|thumb|The [[Eastern Roman Empire|Eastern]] and [[Western Roman Empire]] at the death of Theodosius I in 395. The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 while the Eastern lasted until 1453.]]
The earliest known 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 [[Koine Greek|Greek-speaking]] eastern provinces had formed the highly urbanized [[Hellenistic civilization]]. In contrast, the western territories largely adopted the [[Latin language]]. The 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]] because of 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]], called the "[[Byzantine Empire]]" in the West, had a survival strategy that kept it alive for another 1,000 years.[Edward Luttwak, ''The grand strategy of the Byzantine Empire'' (Harvard UP, 2009).]
The rise of the [[Carolingian Empire|Frankish Empire]] in the west and in particular the [[East–West Schism|Great Schism]], which formally divided [[Eastern Christianity|Eastern]] and [[Western Christianity]] in 1054, heightened the cultural and religious distinctiveness between Eastern and Western Europe. Much of Eastern Europe [[Mongol occupation of Eastern Europe|was invaded and occupied by the Mongols]].[Denis Sinor, "The Mongols in the West." ''Journal of Asian History'' 33.1 (1999): 1-44 [http://www.m-hosseini.ir/mongol/articles-1/43.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709190741/http://www.m-hosseini.ir/mongol/articles-1/43.pdf |date=2021-07-09 }}.]
During the {{Lang|de|[[Ostsiedlung]]}}, towns founded under [[Magdeburg rights]] became centres of economic development and [[History of German settlement in Central and Eastern Europe|scattered German settlements]] were founded in parts of Eastern Europe.[Martyn Rady, "The German Settlement in Central and Eastern Europe during the High Middle Ages." in ''The German Lands and Eastern Europe'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 1999) pp. 11-47.] Introduction of German town law is often seen as a second great step after introduction of Christianity at the turn of the first and the second millennia. The ensuing modernization of society and economy allowed the increased role played by the rulers of [[Bohemia]] and [[Poland]].[{{cite book|author=Jan M. Pisorski|chapter=Medieval Colonization in East Central Europe|title=The Germans and the East|editor1-last=Ingrao|editor2-last=Szabo|publisher=Purdue University Press|year= 2008|pages=31}}]
===1453 to 1918===
The conquest of the Byzantine Empire, the centre of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], by the [[Ottoman Empire]] in the 15th century and the gradual fragmentation of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] (which had replaced the Frankish Empire) led to a change of the importance of [[Catholic Church|Catholic]]/[[Protestant]] vs. [[Eastern Orthodox]] concept in Europe. Armour points out that [[Cyrillic]]-alphabet use is not a strict determinant for Eastern Europe, where from Croatia to Poland and everywhere in between, the Latin alphabet is used.[Armour, Ian D. 2013. ''A History of Eastern Europe 1740–1918: Empires, Nations and Modernisation''. London: Bloomsbury Academic. p. 23. {{ISBN|978-1849664882}}] 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.[See, ''inter alia'', Norman Davies, Europe: a History, 2010, Eve Johansson, Official Publications of Western Europe, Volume 1, 1984, Thomas Greer and Gavin Lewis, A Brief History of the Western World, 2004] 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.[
{{cite book
|author= Baten, Jörg
|title= A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present
|date= 2016|publisher= Cambridge University Press
|page= 46|isbn= 9781107507180
}}
] At the beginning of the 17th century, [[numeracy]] levels in eastern Europe were relatively low, although regional differences existed. During the 18th century, the region began to catch up with Western Europe, but did not develop as rapidly. Areas with stronger female autonomy developed more quickly in terms of numeracy.[{{Cite journal |last1=Baten |first1=Joerg |last2=Szołtysek |first2=Mikołaj |date=2017 |title="Girl Power" in Eastern Europe? The human capital development of Central-Eastern and Eastern Europe in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries and its determinants |journal=European Review of Economic History |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=29–63}}]
===Serfdom===
[[Serfdom]] was a prevalent status of agricultural workers until the 19th century. It resembled slavery in terms of lack of freedom, with the distinction that the landowners could not buy and sell serfs separately from the specific plots of land to which they were permanently attached. The system emerged in the 14th and the 15th centuries while it was declining in Western Europe.[[[Jerome Blum]], "The Rise of Serfdom in Eastern Europe" ''American Historical Review'' 62#4 (1957), pp. 807-836 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1845515 Online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207063533/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1845515 |date=2020-02-07 }}]
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 with the [[Emancipation reform of 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 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, and 20th-century scholars downplayed the evils and emphasized the complexities.[Boris B. Gorshkov, "Serfdom: Eastern Europe" in Peter Stearns, ed., ''Encyclopedia of European Social History'' (2001) 2:379-88; [https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX3460500100/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=GPS&xid=e29075bb Online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240330042426/https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&u=wikipedia&id=GALE%7CCX3460500100&v=2.1&it=r&sid=GPS&asid=e29075bb |date=2024-03-30 }}.][David Moon, "Reassessing Russian Serfdom." ''European History Quarterly'' 26 (1996): 483–526.]
===Lack of industrialization during the long nineteenth century===
Before 1870 and to some extent until [[World War I]] (the end of the [[long nineteenth century]]), 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 largely in serfdom.[Jackson J. Spielvogel: ''Western Civilization: Alternate Volume: Since 1300''. p. 618.]
=== World War I ===
{{Excerpt|Eastern Front (World War I)|only=paragraph|paragraphs=1}}
===Interwar period (1919–1939)===
{{Further|International relations (1919–1939)|Interwar era}}
A major result of World War I 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 [[Versailles Treaty of 1919]]. Following the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]], [[Russian Civil War]], and [[Polish-Soviet War]] [[Second Polish Republic|Poland was reconstituted]] after the [[Partitions of Poland|partitions of the 1790s]] had divided it between Prussia, Austria, and Russia. New or renewed countries included Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine (which was [[History of Ukraine#Ukraine and the world wars|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 protection regime.[P. de Azcarate, ''League of Nations and National Minorities'' (1945) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.55314/page/n5/mode/2up online]] Throughout Eastern Europe, ethnic Germans constituted by far the largest single ethnic minority.[{{cite book|title=Orderly and Humane. The Expulsion of the Germans after the Second World War|author=R. M. Douglas|publisher=Yale University Press|pages=331}}] In some areas, as in the [[Sudetenland]], regions of [[Poland]] and parts of [[Styria (Slovenia)|Slovenia]], German-speakers constituted the local majority, which created conflict 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, which felt threatened by majority elements. Nearly all became democratic in the 1920s, but all of them (except Czechoslovakia and Finland) gave up democracy during the depression years of the 1930s in favour of autocratic, strong-man or single-party states. The new states were unable to form stable military 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.
===World War II===
{{Further|Eastern Front (World War II)|Generalplan Ost|The Holocaust}}
The region was the main battlefield in the [[World War II|Second World War]] (1939–45), with the German and Soviet Armies sweeping back and forth; millions of Jews and others being killed by the Nazis in {{lang|de|[[Generalplan Ost]]}}; and millions of others killed by disease, starvation, and military action, or executed after being deemed as politically dangerous.[Timothy Snyder, ''Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin'' (2011) [https://www.amazon.com/Bloodlands-Europe-Between-Hitler-Stalin/dp/0465031471/ excerpt and text search] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170919203522/https://www.amazon.com/Bloodlands-Europe-Between-Hitler-Stalin/dp/0465031471 |date=2017-09-19 }}] During the final stages of World War II, the future of Eastern Europe was decided by the overwhelming power of the Soviet Army, which swept the Germans aside. It did not reach Yugoslavia and Albania, however. Finland was free but forced to be neutral in the upcoming Cold War. Throughout Eastern Europe, [[History of German settlement in Central and Eastern Europe|German-speaking populations]] [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)|were expelled]] to the [[West Germany|reduced borders of Germany]] (or even [[Austria]]) in one of the largest ethnic cleansing operations in history.[{{cite book|title=Uprooted: How Breslau Became Wroclaw during the Century of Expulsions|author=Gregor Thum|publisher=Princeton University Press}}] Regions where Germans had formed the local population majority were re-settled with Polish- or Czech-speakers.
==== Military history ====
{{Excerpt|Eastern Front (World War II)|only=paragraph|paragraphs=1}}
==== Generalplan Ost ====
{{Excerpt|Generalplan Ost|only=paragraph}}
==== The Holocaust ====
{{Excerpt|The Holocaust|only=paragraph|paragraphs=1}}
=== Cold War ===
The region fell to Soviet control, and communist governments were imposed. Yugoslavia, Albania and later Romania had their own communist regimes independent of Moscow. The [[Eastern Bloc]] at the onset of the Cold War in 1947 was far behind the Western European countries in economic rebuilding and economic progress. Winston Churchill, in his well-known "[[Sinews of Peace]]" address of 5 March 1946, at [[Westminster College, Missouri|Westminster College]] in [[Fulton, Missouri|Fulton]], Missouri, stressed the geopolitical impact of the "iron curtain":{{Citation needed|date=February 2026}}
{{Blockquote|From [[Szczecin|Stettin]] in the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] to [[Trieste]] in the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]] an ''iron curtain'' has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of [[Central Europe|Central]] and Eastern Europe: [[Warsaw]], [[Berlin]], [[Prague]], [[Vienna]], [[Budapest]], [[Belgrade]], [[Bucharest]], and [[Sofia]].|sign=|source=}}
[[File:Eastern-Europe-small.png|thumb|Pre-1989 division between the "West" (grey) and "Eastern Bloc" (orange) superimposed on current borders:
{{legend|#CB8807|Russia (the former [[Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic|RSFSR]])}}
{{legend|#EAB34D|Other countries formerly part of the [[USSR]]}}
{{legend|#EEC77F|Members of the [[Warsaw Pact]]}}
{{legend|#E9D2A5|Other former Communist states not aligned with Moscow}}]]
====Eastern Bloc====
{{Further|Eastern Bloc}}
Eastern Europe after 1945 usually meant all the European countries liberated from Nazi Germany and then occupied by the Soviet Army. It included the [[German Democratic Republic]] (also known as East Germany), formed by the [[Soviet occupation zone]] of Germany. All countries in Eastern Europe adopted communist modes of control by 1948. They were officially independent of the Soviet Union, but the practical extent of this independence was quite limited. Yugoslavia and Albania had Communist control that was independent of the Kremlin.
The communists had a natural reservoir of popularity in that they had destroyed the German invaders.[Applebaum, pp. 312–33.] Their goal was to guarantee long-term working-class solidarity. The Soviet secret police, the [[NKVD]], working in collaboration with local communists, created secret police forces using leadership trained in Moscow. This new secret police arrived to arrest political enemies according to prepared lists.[Anne Applebaum, ''Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944–1956'' (2012) p. xxix.] The national communists then took power in a gradualist manner and were backed by the Soviets in many, but not all, cases. For a while, co-operative non-communist parties were tolerated.[Applebaum, p. xxx] The communist governments nationalized private businesses, placed them under state ownership and monitored the media and the churches.[Applebaum, p. 71.] They also took control of the mass media, especially radio,[Applebaum, pp. 174–191.] as well as the education system.[Applebaum, pp. 172–173.] They confiscated and redistributed farmland[Applebaum, pp. 223–228.] and seized control of or replaced the organizations of civil society, such as church groups, sports, youth groups, trade unions, farmers' organizations, and civic organizations. In some countries, they engaged in large-scale ethnic cleansing by moving ethnic groups such as Germans, Poles, Ukrainians and Hungarians far away from where they had lived, often with high loss of life, and relocating them within the new post-war borders of their respective countries.[Applebaum, pp. 1162–147.]
Under Stalin's direct instructions, these nations rejected grants from the American [[Marshall Plan]]. Instead, they joined the [[Molotov Plan]], which later evolved into the [[Comecon]] (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance). When [[NATO]] was created in 1949, most countries of Eastern Europe became members of the opposing [[Warsaw Pact]], forming a geopolitical concept that became known as the ''[[Eastern Bloc]]''. This consisted of:
* First and foremost was the [[Soviet Union]] (which included the modern-day territories of [[Russia]], [[Belarus]], [[Ukraine]] and [[Moldova]] and the illegally occupied [[Lithuania]], [[Latvia]] and [[Estonia]]). Other countries dominated by the Soviet Union were the [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]], [[People's Republic of Poland]], [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic]], [[People's Republic of Hungary]], [[People's Republic of Bulgaria]], and [[Socialist Republic of Romania]].
* The [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]] (SFRY; formed after World War II and before its later dismemberment) was not a member of the [[Warsaw Pact]] but was a founding member of the [[Non-Aligned Movement]], an organization created in an attempt to avoid being assigned to either the NATO or Warsaw Pact blocs. The movement was demonstratively independent of both the Soviet Union and the Western bloc for most of the Cold War, which allowed Yugoslavia and its other members to act as a business and political mediator between the blocs.[Jeronim Perović, "The Tito-Stalin split: a reassessment in light of new evidence." ''Journal of Cold War Studies'' 9.2 (2007): 32-63 [https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/62735/1/Perovic_Tito.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704114441/https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/62735/1/Perovic_Tito.pdf |date=2022-07-04 }}.]
* The [[Socialist People's Republic of Albania]] broke with the Soviet Union in the early 1960s as a result of the [[Sino-Soviet split]] and aligned itself instead with China. Albania formally left the Warsaw Pact in September 1968 after the suppression of the [[Prague Spring]]. When China established diplomatic relations with the United States in 1978, Albania also broke away from China.
Albania and especially Yugoslavia were not unanimously appended to the Eastern Bloc, as they were neutral for a large part of the Cold War.[Stavro Skendi, "Albania and the Sino-Soviet Conflict." ''Foreign affairs'' 40.3 (1962): 471-478.]{{clear}}
=== Since 1989 ===
{{multiple image
| header = '''2004–2013 EU enlargements'''
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| image1 = EU25-2004 European Union map enlargement.svg
| caption1 = {{legend|#003399|Existing members}} {{legend|#ffcc00|New members in 2004}}
[[Cyprus]]
[[Czech Republic]]
[[Estonia]]
[[Hungary]]
[[Latvia]]
[[Lithuania]]
[[Malta]]
[[Poland]]
[[Slovakia]]
[[Slovenia]]
| width2 = 125
| image2 = EU27-2007 European Union map enlargement.svg
| caption2 = {{legend|#003399|Existing members}} {{legend|#ffcc00|New members in 2007}}
[[Bulgaria]]
[[Romania]]
| width3 = 125
| image3 = EU28-2013 European Union map enlargement.svg
| caption3 = {{legend|#003399|Existing members}} {{legend|#ffcc00|New members in 2013}}
[[Croatia]]
}}
With the [[Revolutions of 1989|fall]] of the [[Iron Curtain]] in 1989, the political landscape of the [[Eastern Bloc]], and indeed the world, changed. In the [[German reunification]], the Federal Republic of Germany peacefully absorbed the German Democratic Republic in 1990. In 1991, [[COMECON]], the [[Warsaw Pact]], and the Soviet Union were dissolved. Many European nations that had been part of the Soviet Union declared or regained their independence ([[Belarus]], [[Moldova]], [[Ukraine]], as well as the [[Baltic States]] of [[Latvia]], [[Lithuania]], and [[Estonia]]). [[Czechoslovakia]] [[Dissolution of Czechoslovakia|peacefully separated]] into the [[Czech Republic]] and [[Slovakia]] in 1993. Many countries of this region joined the [[European Union]], namely [[Bulgaria]], the Czech Republic, [[Croatia]], Estonia, [[Hungary]], Latvia, Lithuania, [[Poland]], [[Romania]], Slovakia and [[Slovenia]]. The term "EU11 countries" refers to the [[Central Europe|Central]] and Eastern European member states, including the [[Baltic states]], that accessed in 2004 and after: in 2004 the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, and the Slovak Republic; in 2007 Bulgaria, Romania; and in 2013 Croatia.
The economic changes were in harmony with the constitutional reforms: constitutional provisions on public finances can be identified and, in some countries, a separate chapter deals with public finances. Generally, they soon encountered the following problems: high inflation, high unemployment, low economic growth, and high government debt. By 2000 these economies were stabilized, and between 2004 and 2013 all of them joined the European Union. Most of the constitutions define directly or indirectly the economic system of the countries parallel to the democratic transition of the 1990s: free-market economy (sometimes complemented with the socially [and ecologically] oriented sector), economic development, or only economic rights are included as a ground for the economy.[{{Cite journal|last=Vértesy|first=László|date=2018|title=Macroeconomic Legal Trends in the EU11 Countries|url=https://www.dialogcampus.hu/users/default/dialogcampus/uploads/elektronikus_konyvek/pga2018_01_09_vertesy.pdf|journal=Public Governance, Administration and Finances Law Review|volume= 3. No. 1. 2018|access-date=12 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812055105/https://www.dialogcampus.hu/users/default/dialogcampus/uploads/elektronikus_konyvek/pga2018_01_09_vertesy.pdf|archive-date=12 August 2019|url-status=dead}}]
In the case of fiscal policy, the legislative, the executive and other state organs (Budget Council, Economic and Social Council) define and manage the budgeting. The average government debt in the countries is nearly 44%, but the deviation is great because the lowest figure is close to 10% but the highest is 97%. The trend shows that the sovereign debt ratio to GDP in most countries has been rising. Only three countries are affected by high government debt: Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia (over 70% of the GDP), while Slovakia and Poland fulfill the Maastricht requirement but only 10% below the threshold. The contribution to cover the finances for common needs is declared, the principle of just tax burden-sharing is supplemented sometimes with special aspects. Tax revenues expose typically 15–19 % of the GDP, and rates above 20% only rarely can be found.