East-Central Europe
East-Central Europe (or Middle Europe, Median Europe, fr. Europe médiane) – a term defining the countries located between German-speaking countries and Russia[1][2]. Those lands are situated “between two”: between two worlds, between two stages, between two futures[3]. Median Europe is opposed to the Western and Eastern Europe, is one of the “Three Europes”[4].
Differing from ideas of Eastern Europe and Central Europe, the concept is based on different criteria of distinction and has different geographical spread.[5]. In addition, countries of Central Europe and of Eastern Europe belong to two different cultural circles[6][7].
Definitions
Paul Robert Magocsi
Paul Robert Magocsi described this region in this work Historical Atlas of East Central Europe. He distinguished 3 main zones:
- The northern zone, located between the Baltic Sea (in the north) and the alignment Ore Mountains-Sudetes-northern Carpathians-Prut river (in the south) and the Dnieper in the east. The countries located by the author in this zone are: former East Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine (west of the Dnieper river) and Moldova.
- The Alpine-Carpathian zone, located on the south of the northern zone, bordered in the south by the rivers Kupa-Sava-Danube. This area roughly coincides with the former Habsburg Empire (minus Galicia) before the mid nineteenth century and the Danubian Principalities (Wallachia and Moldavia). The countries located by the author in this zone are: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia (north of the Kupa-Sava rivers), Serbia (Vojvodina) and notheast Italy.
- The Balkan zone, located on the south of the Alpine-Carpathian zone and matching with the Balkan peninsula. The countries located by the author in this zone are: Croatia (south of the Kupa-Sava rivers), Bosnia-Herzegovina, Central Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece and European Turkey.
Oscar Halecki
Oscar Halecki, who distinguished four regions in Europe (Western, West Central, East Central and Eastern Europe) defined East-Central Europe as a region from Finland to Greece[8], the eastern part of Central Europe, between Sweden, Germany, and Italy, on the one hand, and Turkey and Russia on the other[9]. According to Halecki, in the course of European history, a great variety of peoples in this region created their own independent states, sometimes quite large and powerful; in connection with Western Europe they developed their individual national cultures and contributed to the general progress of European civilization[10].
- ↑ Palmer, Alan (1970)The Lands between: A History of East-Central Europe Since the Congress of Vienna, New York: Macmillan
- ↑ J. Kłoczowski (ed.), Central Europe Between East and West, Lublin 2005, ISBN 83-85854-86-X
- ↑ François Jarraud [1]
- ↑ F. Braudel, Preface to Szucs J., Les trois Europes, Paris 1990
- ↑ I. Loucas, The New Geopolitics of Europe & The Black Sea Region, Naval Academy, UK National Defence Minister’s Staff, p. 8 [2]
- ↑ Huntington, Samuel P., The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, New York, Simon & Schuster, 1996 ISBN 0-684-84441-9
- ↑ Milan Kundera, The tragedy of Central Europe, New York Review of Books, 26 April 1984, pp.33-8
- ↑ O. Halecki, The limits and divisions on European history, Sheed&Ward, New York 1950, p. 120
- ↑ O. Halecki, Borderlands of Western Civilization: A History of East Central Europe, Fordham University (1952, 1980) (online)
- ↑ O. Halecki, Borderlands of Western Civilization: A History of East Central Europe, Fordham University (1952, 1980) (online)
