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

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

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

Eastern Europe: The Basics Landforms/Bodies of Water: –Balkan Mountains –Balkan Mountains (Block off the Balkan Peninsula from the rest of Europe) –Balkan Peninsula –Balkan Peninsula (Difficult Transportation) –Danube River –Danube River (Flows through the heart of Europe; flows from East to West over 9 countries; links Europeans to the Black Sea) –Volga River: –Volga River: (Russia) –Ural Mountains –Ural Mountains (Russia) Climates: 1.Humid Continental 2.Marine West Coast 3.Humid Subtropical 4.Mediterranean Marine West Coast: Frequently cloudy, foggy, and damp; constant temps; even amounts of precipitation Humid Continental: Variety in temperature and precipitation; all 4 seasons Mediterranean: Summers are dry and hot; winters are cool and rainy Humid Subtropical: long periods of summer heat and humidity; subject to hurricanes

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

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

Cultural Crossroads aplace where multiple cultures crossed pathsDue 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

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

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

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 nations Soviet refusal to “un-occupy”

After WWII: Soviet Union dominates Eastern Europe Became “Satellite Nations” (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” Soviet Union’s Control of Eastern Europe Nations dominated by another country

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

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

Seeking Independence Mikhail Gorbachev1989: Reforms by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev gave Eastern European countries more freedoms Result: –Many Eastern European countries were successful in establishing independent governments

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

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

Economic Changes after Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe Command Economies (govt controlled) to Market Economies (people controlled) supply & demand –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

Problems of Economic Changes 1.Inflation (money isn’t worth as much) 2.Factories closed 3.Unemployment –Some Eastern European countries have found ways to prosper economically –Other are having issues with economic progress

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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)

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

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”

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

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