Eastern Europe!, 2nd Edition: Everything You Need to Know about the History (and More) of a Region That Shaped Our World and Still Does

Tomek Jankowski⎯who was raised in a Polish family in Buffalo, New York⎯worked, studied, and traveled in Poland, Hungary, and other regions of Eastern Europe from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, gaining a functional literacy of several languages in the process. He holds a degree in history from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is a senior analyst at a research firm that specializes in producing market analysis for the management consulting world, where he has authored numerous reports focusing on Eastern Europe and other emerging markets regions, as well as the financial services industry. Married to a native Pole, he lives in Pembroke, New Hampshire, and still spends time in Eastern Europe.

The long-awaited new edition of the acclaimed, first-ever comprehensive, informative, and entertaining history of Eastern Europe in English¿thoroughly updated, with a major new section on the postcommunist era and a foreword by BBC Central Europe Correspondent Nick Thorpe.

Table o' ContentsForeword xiiiIntroductory FAQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvAcknowlegments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxTable o' Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxiiSection I 1A Few Words About a Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2A Note on Pronunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5A Word (or Two) about Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Section II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Introduction: A Prehistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Introduction: History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Introduction: Classical Eastern Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Chapter 1: Setting the Stage, 500-800 CE . . . . . . . . . . . . 68A. Western Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68B. The Avars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73C. The Slavs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74D. The First Slavic States 75E. The Bulgars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77F. The Dacians and Vlachs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78G. The Khazars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80H. (A Bunch of) Finns and Balts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Special Insert: The Steppe 85viiiTable o' ContentsChapter 2: The Origins of States, 800-1242 CE . . . . . . . . . 88A. The Franks 88B. Moravia Magna and Bohemia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94C. The Bulgarians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96D. The Rus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97E. The Magyars/Hungarians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100F. The Slovenes and Croatians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103G. Duklja, RaSka, and the Serbs 104H. The Poles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105I. The Pechenegs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110J. The Cumanians 110K. The Lithuanians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111L. The Finale: 1239-42 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Special Insert: Peoples of Eastern Europe-The Jews . . . . 117Chapter 3: The Medieval Years, 1242-1600 CE . . . . . . . . 120A. The Mongol Empire, the Golden Horde, and Tartars 123B. Bulgaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126C. Serbia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126D. Montenegro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128E. Bosnia & Herzegovina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129F. Croatia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130G. The Republic of Ragusa/Dubrovnik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130H. Albania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131I. The Byzantine Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133J. The Ottoman (Turkish) Empire 135K. Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137L. Hungary 140M. Bohemia 143N. The Teutonic Knights and Schizoid Prussia . . . . . . . . . . . 145O. Lithuania and the Eastern Slavs 148P. Livonia and the Balts 149Q. Poland as Catalyst 151R. Novgorod, Muscovy, and the Russians 154S. Halych-Volhynia: A Kingdom in Galicia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Special Insert: Peoples of Eastern Europe-The Germans . . 159-161Chapter 4: The Dawn of a New Age, 1600-1800 . . . . . . . 162A. Bohemia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162B. The Principality of Transylvania 166C. Wallachia and Moldavia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168D. Montenegro 169E. The Swedish Empire 170F. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 173G. The Ukrainians and Belarussians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179H. Ottoman Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183I. Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186J. Of Austrians and Habsburgs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192K. Prussia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195Special Insert: Peoples of Eastern Europe-The Gypsies . . . 199-201Chapter 5: The Very, Very Long 19th Century,1800-1914 . . 202A. Introduction 203B. The Ottoman Empire as Doorstop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208C. Serbia's Front Row Seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213D. Montenegro Hits the 19th Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218E. Romania is Born 218F. Bulgaria's Raw Deal 222G. Albania as Accident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225H. The Italian Risorgimento and Irridentism . . . . . . . . . . . . 227I. Pan-Germanism and How Fritz (and Helga) Got their Mojo . . . 228J. Pan-Slavism and Pie in the Sky 231K. The Austrian Dilemma and Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233L. Russia, the Hope and Prison of Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240M. Dawn of the Dead: The Poland That Just Won't Go Away 247Special Insert: Peoples of Eastern Europe-The Muslims . . 253-255Chapter 6: The Great War, and a Magic Year, 1914-1939 257A. The War 258B. Paris, 1919 263C. The Ottoman Empire Goes Out in Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265D. Austria-Hungary as a Bug on the Windshield 268E. Serbia and History 272F. Montenegro is Pushed Off the Cliff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274G. The Failed Superstates I: Yugoslavia 274H. Bulgaria Tries 1913 Over Again 277I. The Failed Superstates II: Romania 280J. Albania: Let's Try That Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283K. Hungary Loses the War . . . Again 285L. The Failed Superstates III: Czechoslovakia . . . . . . . . . . . . 289M. Ukraine: With Friends Like These 294N. Belarus Gets Its 15 Minutes . . . Literally . . . . . . . . . . . . 298O. Libre Baltica: Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia . . . . . . . . . . 299P. Russia and How Russians Do Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303Q. The Failed Superstates IV: Poland 310Chapter 7: War! 1939-45 317A. The War as You Probably Don't Know It . . . . . . . . . . . . 321B. About the Numbers Used in this Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . 326C. An Overview of the War 328D. Poland and The Art of Not Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331E. The Baltics and a Bad Neighborhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336F. The Czech Lands Revert to the 17th Century 339G. Slovakia Is Born, Sort of 342H. Hungary Embraces Its Inner Tar Baby 343I. Romania Guesses Wrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346J. Yugoslavia, Serbia, and 1914 All Over Again 349K. Croatia's Dark Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351L. Albania Tries to Keep Its Head Above Water . . . . . . . . . . . 353M. Bulgaria: Third Time a Charm? 355N. The Soviet Union Wins by Knockout in the 9th Round . . . . . 357O. The Holocaust 362Special Insert: Home is Where the Border is! . . . . . . . 368-371Chapter 8: The Frying Pan, the Fire, etc., 1945-92 . . . . . . 374A. Introduction: The Cold War, or This Town Isn't Big Enough 379B. The Warsaw Pact: The Farm Animals Unite 388C. Yugoslavia: Exit, Stage Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392D. Albania as an Island 395E. Bulgaria Finally Gets Something in Return . . . . . . . . . . . 398F. Romania Goes Off the Deep End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401G. Hungary and Its Food-Based Ideologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404H. Czechoslovakia, Just East of Eden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409I. East Germany as the Runt of the Litter 413J. Poland, the Perennial Pain in the Butt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417K. The Soviet Union, Keeping Up with the Joneses . . . . . . . . . 425Chapter 9: Easy Come, Easy Go: 1989-92 . . . . . . . . . . . 433A. Introduction: Ashes to Ashes, We All Fall Down . . . . . . . . 436B. Poland and the Ghosts of 1980: The First Steps . . . . . . . . . 438C. The Hungarian "Refolution" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440D. East Germany Goosesteps into Oblivion 441E. Elvis is Dead, but Czechoslovakia Goes Velvet Anyway . . . . . 443F. Bulgaria Knows Peer Pressure When It Sees It 445G. Asking for a Light in the Romanian Powderkeg . . . . . . . . . 446H. Albania and Frost in Hell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447I. Playing Fiddle on the Deck of the Titanic: the Soviet Union 450J. Libre Baltica, Part II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452K. Agonia: The Many Deaths of Yugoslavia 452Epilogue 461Reference 469Musical Chairs, or Place Names in Eastern Europe . . . . . 469Eastern Europe in Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472Mrs. Jankowska's Homemade Pierogis . . . . . . . . . . . . 498Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598