1. Eastern Europe
Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia & Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, and Russia

2. Match the Eastern European countries! Russia Hungary Belarus
Estonia
Latvia
Russia
Hungary
Lithuania
Czech Republic
Belarus
Poland
Slovakia
Ukraine
Slovenia
Moldova
Croatia
Romania
Bosnia &
Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Serbia &
Montenegro
Macedonia
Albania

3. Elbe River (stretches
From Germany
to Czech Republic)
Baltic Sea
Carpathian
Mtns
Black Sea
Adriatic Sea
Danube River
(begins in Austria,
empties into
Black Sea
Balkan Mtns
Aegean Sea

4. Eastern Europe: The Basics
Landforms/Bodies of Water:
Balkan Mountains (Block off the Balkan Peninsula from the rest of Europe)
Balkan Peninsula (Difficult Transportation)
Danube River (Flows through the heart of Europe; flows from East to West over 9 countries; links Europeans to the Black Sea)
Volga River: Russia
Ural Mountains (Russia)
Climates:
Humid Continental
Marine West Coast
Humid Subtropical
Mediterranean
Humid Continental: Variety in
temperature and precipitation;
all 4 seasons
Marine West Coast: Frequently
cloudy, foggy, and damp;
constant temps; even
amounts of precipitation
Humid Subtropical: long periods of
summer heat and humidity; subject
to hurricanes
Mediterranean: Summers are dry
and hot; winters are cool and
rainy

5. Volga River Russia and Europe’s longest River! (**)
Empties into Caspian Sea
Handles 60% Russian trade (importance**)
Home to 11 of 20 major Russian cities**

6. Eastern Europe: Natural Resources
Abundant in Natural Resources throughout Europe
Major Resources found in Eastern Europe:
Copper, Coal, Zinc, Petroleum, Iron Ore, Lead

7. Cultural Crossroads
Due to Eastern Europe’s location, it has become a “cultural crossroads”: a place where multiple cultures crossed paths
Many people have passed through this portion of Europe to cross between Europe and Asia
Exs:
Traders, nomads, migrants, armies

8. Conflicts over National Identities
In Eastern Europe, there have been frequent conflicts over ethnic identities
Why? Centuries of foreign rule = ethnic groups in want to fiercely protect their ethnic heritage
Wanted to become “nation-states”
Examples:
Balkan Countries vs. the Ottomans
Fought over who should rule territory
Led to “Balkanization”: process of a region breaking up into small, mutually hostile units
Political unit of people
Who share a common
Culture or history

9. Conflicts over National Identities
Serbia:
Freedom for Slavs in Austria-Hungary
1914: Serbian nationalists assassinated Austrian noble, Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Marked the beginning of WWI
Result of War:
Austria-Hungary split apart (2 Separate Countries)
Albania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Poland gain independence

10. History of Struggle Eastern Europe has been susceptible to invaders
German invasions of Soviet Union during WWII
After WWII, the Soviet Union created a “Political Barrier” with Eastern European countries
Why?
Wanted to protect itself from future invasions
Established COMMUNIST governments in these countries
Soviet refusal to “un-occupy”

11. Soviet Union’s Control of Eastern Europe
After WWII: Soviet Union dominates Eastern Europe
Became “Satellite States” (mini-Soviet Unions)
CHARACTERISTICS:
Military treaties
Military bases placed in most countries
Communist govs took power;
Controlled almost all aspects of people’s
lives
“Hammer & Sickle”
Countries dominated by
another country

12. Western and Eastern Divisions
Result of Soviet domination:
Lack of growth and prospering
Eastern Europe cut off from technological advancements
Created a boundary between West and East

13. Dividing West from East
This division between Western and Eastern Europe became known as the “Iron Curtain” (imaginary)

14. Seeking Independence
1989: Reforms by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev gave Eastern European countries more freedoms
Result:
Many Eastern European countries were successful in establishing independent governments

15. Fall of Communism Fall of Communism led to Independence & Instability
Newly found independence = ethnic loyalties very important
Led to civil wars, which created instability in the region
Ex:
Serbian Civil War (didn’t want to split into separate countries)
Czechoslovakia = Czech Republic & Slovakia

16. Eastern Europe is Culturally Diverse!
Multiple Languages & Religions
Religion: Major ones are Eastern Orthodox Christians, Catholicism, Islam, and Judaism
Result: Many different ethnic groups of people all living in the same place = conflict
Less URBAN than rest of Europe
Folk Art
Artwork produced by rural people, not professional artists
Woodcarving, pottery, embroidered costumes
Influenced by religion & rural customs

17. Economic Changes after Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe
Command Economies (govt controlled) to Market Economies (people controlled)
Where industry makes the goods consumers want to buy; supply & demand
Factories became privately owned
How is this different from the Soviet Union era?
Factories were State-Owned and Operated

18. Problems of Economic Changes
Inflation (money isn’t worth as much)
Factories closed
Unemployment
Some Eastern European countries have found ways to prosper economically
Other are having issues with economic progress

19. Civil War in Serbia
Slobodan Milosevic: Wanted to Increase Serbia’s power over the rest of Yugoslavia
Republics began leaving Yugoslavia
Serbia declared war and lost
Milosevic tried for war crimes
Nations end trade w/Yugoslavia and country grew poorer
2000: Milosevic voted out of office

20. Why Serbia Feared? Milosevic’s “Greater Serbia”
Expansion of Serbian borders to countries w/Serbian populations
Alarmed territories of impact; declared independence
Led to wars/conflicts between Serbia and other newly independent nations

21. War in Bosnia
Use of VIOLENCE to STOP Independence of Bosnia & Herzegovina
Many of Bosnia’s Muslims and Croats (Croatians) were murdered
Tried to eliminate entire ethnic group
Ethnic Cleansing
More than 200,000 died; over 2 million fled their homes

22. Kosovo Milosevic tried to gain control of Kosovo (Serbian area)
Get rid of Albanian influences (culture)
Response by Kosovo:
Declared their independence
1990s: KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) carries out attacks against Serbian officials
Serbian Ethnic Cleansing against Albanians
Bombed villages, etc.
Outcome of conflicts: new nation—Serbia & Montenegro

24. Ukraine
Has a large mining industry – has huge open-pit iron-ore mines ( this led to large amounts of pollution)

25. Ukraine Capital = Kiev A large number of ethnic Russians live here
Russians call Ukrainians “little Russians” and talk of Ukraine as if it were part of Russia  the Ukrainians obviously do not like this and relations between the groups of people are difficult.

26. The Crimea Small peninsula that goes out into the black sea
The people have never thought of themselves as part of Ukraine  have ties with Russia (summer homes of Russian czars (rulers) have been built here)

27. Chernobyl
1986 nuclear power plant disaster – (significance) worse nuclear disaster in world history

28. Due to safety issues a ‘meltdown’ occurred and the area had to be evacuated  a 30km exclusion zone was established around the plant “the dead zone”

29. Today a few have moved back, but it remains the same as it was when left in 1986
For those exposed to radiation rates of cancer have gone up

31. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Russia
Resources:
Has some of the world’s largest supplies
Natural Gas: world’s largest reserves
Coal: 2nd largest reserves
Oil: 8th in world for reserves, but 2nd producer
Problem: Majority of the resources are in Siberia (frozen parts of Russia) and thus can’t be accessed.
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics