CH 13 SEC 4 EASTERN EUROPE

I. HISTORY OF CULTURAL CROSSROADS People have been moving across Eastern Europe for thousands of years. There is great diversity of ethnicity and culture. The region includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Yugoslavia.

I. HISTORY OF CULTURAL CROSSROADS Different empires controlled the region over the centuries. The Romans held most of it, then control transferred to the Byzantine Empire. Austria controlled much of Eastern Europe starting in the 1400’s all the way until World War 1.

II. TURMOIL IN THE 20 TH CENTURY Because the region was controlled by so many groups, the ethnic populations held to their culture fiercely. These cultural divisions would be the cause of wars in the region throughout the century.

II. TURMOIL IN THE 20 TH CENTURY World War 1 started because Serbians wanted to be independent from Austria-Hungary. A Serbian group assassinated the crown prince of Austria- Hungary. After the war, the Austria- Hungary empire and the Ottoman empire fell, giving independence to many Eastern European countries.

II. TURMOIL IN THE 20 TH CENTURY Then, Germany invaded Poland in 1939 starting World War 2, and Germany and the Soviet Union divided up Eastern Europe, until the end of the war when the Soviets kept all of Eastern Europe under its control. When the Soviet Union fell apart, these countries became independent once again, and the populations began to divide along ethnic lines once again. War broke out among some of the countries.

III. DEVELOPING THE ECONOMY The region had an agricultural based economy until the Soviet Union took it over after WW2. Once in charge, the Soviets brought industries to the region. The factories produced inferior goods that no one wanted outside of Eastern Europe, but after the Soviet Union fell many factories improved their production.

III. DEVELOPING THE ECONOMY The economies in the region still are struggling for many different reasons. One of the main reasons was the civil war in Yugoslavia and its former republics. There are still reservations from other countries about investing in former Communist countries because of corruption and lack of skilled workers.

IV. A PATCHWORK CULTURE There are so many different languages and cultures in the region that it makes unification of the area almost impossible. Religion is also divided between Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, and Muslim. There are also groups of Jews, but the numbers were reduced because of the Holocaust.

V. MOVING TOWARD MODERN LIFE While there are large cities in Eastern Europe, much of the region is less urban than the rest of Europe. As industries develop, cities will grow, causing other problems such as pollution and overcrowding.

V. MOVING TOWARD MODERN LIFE There are still many ethnic conflicts that occur in the region. Serbs hate Croats because they feel betrayed by them in World War 2. There is still a general anti- Semitism throughout Europe, even after the Holocaust. There is also discrimination against Gypsies, mostly because of their nomadic lifestyle.

V. MOVING TOWARD MODERN LIFE Since the populations have been used to having a dictator in charge, democracy is still a hard idea to embrace. They are accepting the ideas of democracy, but putting those ideas into practice has been difficult, and there have been setbacks.

IN YOUR NOTEBOOKS Create a poster that shows how you would fix three of the problems that Eastern Europe face today. Use pictures and descriptions to show your solutions. Full page in color.