Eastern Europe!, 2nd Edition

The long-awaited 2nd edition of the first English-language comprehensive popular history of Eastern Europe

When the legendary Romulus killed his brother Remus and founded the city of Rome in 753 BCE, Plovdiv—today the second-largest city in Bulgaria—was thousands of years old. Indeed, London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Madrid, Brussels, Amsterdam are all are mere infants compared to Plovdiv. This is just one of the paradoxes that haunts and defines the New Europe, that part of Europe that was freed from Soviet bondage in 1989, and which is at once both much older than the modern Atlantic-facing power centers of Western Europe while also being much younger than them.Eastern Europe! is a brief and concise (but informative) introduction to Eastern Europe and its myriad customs and history. Even those knowledgeable about Western Europe often see Eastern Europe as terra incognito, with a sign on the border declaring “Here be monsters.” Tomek Jankowski's book is a gateway to understanding both what unites and separates Eastern Europeans from their Western brethren, and how this vital region has been shaped by but has also left its mark on Western Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. It is a reader-friendly guide to a region that is all too often mischaracterized as remote, insular, and superstitious. The book comprises three parts, The first sums up modern linguistic, geographic, and religious contours of Eastern Europe, while the second, main part delves into the region's history, from the earliest origins of Europe up to the end of the Cold War, as well as--new to the 2nd edition--a section on the post-Cold War period. Closing the book is a section that makes sense of geographical name references -- many cities, rivers, or regions have different names -- and also includes an "Eastern Europe by Numbers" feature that provides charts describing the populations, politics, and economies of the region today. Throughout are boxed-off anecdotes ("Useless Trivia") describing fascinating aspects of Eastern European history or culture.

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, Raška, 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