What Countries Are In Eastern Europe?

Introduction
Eastern Europe is a collection of nations on the Continent of Europe with many categories, many of which are physical in form and others which are more highly political. The word is frequently used to refer to European nations with (previously) communist governments.

Their inhabitants do not always identify as Eastern Europeans, and so many regard the phrase as derogatory. Most nations would rather be associated with other groupings, such as Germany in Central Europe, Sweden in Northern Europe, or Greece and Italy in Southern Europe.

What Countries Are In the Eastern Europe?
Eastern Europe is defined by the United Nations Statistics Division as:

Romania
Russia
Slovakia
Czech Republic
Hungary
Moldova
Ukraine
Poland
Belarus
Bulgaria

Origin of the Eastern Europe Term
Its beginnings as a phrase are quite recent. Europe was split along a North-South axis for many decades. With much in commonality across the southern Mediterranean republics, as well as the northern Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea bordered states. The phrase was invented in the 18th and 19th centuries to describe a region that was lagging financially while behind rest of Europe. It was seen as a place where serfdom and autocratic government agencies remained long after these ideas had faded in the countryside. Nevertheless, it was always a hazy concept, and many countries in the region did not fit the stereotype.

Many parts of Eastern Europe have connections to both the East and the West.

Geography of Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is typically believed to be bounded on the north by the Baltic and Barents seas; on the south by the Adriatic, Black, and Caspian seas and the Caucasus Mountains; and on the east by the Caucasus Mountains.

The western part of the region is mostly made up of glaciated plains. Mountains and highlands linked with the Alpine chain predominate the west-central section, with river systems and geological basins interspersed between the hills. The eastern half is covered by a huge, generally level, stable geologic plateau.

Eastern European Countries Had Relationship with the Eastern Countries in the World.
As all of the nations were highly impacted by Roman Catholicism or Reformation and had strong historical and political links to Germany, Italy, France, or Scandinavia, several also had relations with the East. For centuries, Russia was under Mongol dominion and absorbed its political and social customs. The Ottoman Empire and Islam had a tremendous effect further south. The Turks ruled over the Balkan states, as well as Hungary and Romania at one point.

Eastern Europe and the Western World
Neoconservative Americans invented the approving phrase "New Europe" to characterize former Eastern-Bloc countries that reject Western Europe's antagonism toward US politics.

Conclusion
As a cultural and ethnic idea, nineteenth-century Prussian nationalism regarded Eastern Europe as identical with "Slavic Europe," as opposed to Germanic (Western) Europe. During the years prior up to World War II, this view was reinforced, and it was frequently employed in racist rhetoric to define Eastern/Slavic civilization as backwards and subordinate to Western/Germanic culture, language, and traditions. Eastern Europe would thereafter refer to the fictitious boundary that separated largely German and mostly Slavic territories. As a result of the World Wars, as well as other expulsions and genocides, the dividing line has varied over time.

#easterneurope #eu #russianbloc #countries #history #originofterm #whatiseasternerupe #how #europe