World Regional Geography Ohio Northern University Eastern Europe

Major Geographic Qualities of Europe Continental land mass: maximum efficiency for contact mild climate Industrial Revolution Development declines East  West Population Geography natural increase / immigration urbanization Strong internal regional differences cultural / physical functionally specialized

NATO membership

North Atlantic Treaty Organization New military role for United States? Russia: Friend or Foe? Absorb Warsaw Pact? European’s own defense?

NATO’s transformation Extension of alliance eastward? Conditions for admittance? governed democratically military under civilian control market economies protect domestic human rights Partnership for Peace program (1994) all ex-communist countries (ex. Yugoslavia) military attack? consultation

NATO/Warsaw Pact NATO Today

Border adjustments

Germany: re-unification? German re-unification ? F Cause of two world wars F Economic dominance? F Border adjustments? F Capital city / “Forward Thrust” capital

Eastern Europe: Political Evolution Eastern Europe a buffer zone East / West Objectives of post-WW2 communists economic reconstruction industrial development True communism:  no private property.  people own means of production.  from each according to ability, to each according to need. socialism  transitional period of socialism  destroy remnants of capitalism  state owns everything  command economies / central planning

Economic reforms needed 1. Price reform. 2. Financial reform: a) fiscal policy. b) monetary control. 3. Privatization. 4. Trade reform. 5. Build new institutions. 6. Changes in attitudes: work ethic, profit motive.

Eastern Europe  Countries facing the Baltic: –Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Kaliningrad, Belarus? F Landlocked Center: –Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary F Countries facing the Black Sea: –Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Moldova F Countries facing the Adriatic Sea: –Albania, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia

Countries facing the Baltic Sea Latvia:  pop. 2.5 million  1/3 rd Russian  land area: 24,000 mi 2  required Russians to become Latvian citizens  products: refrigerators, TVs, railroad cars Lithuania:  pop. 3.7 million  80% Lithuanian/RC  land area: 25,000 mi 2  Vilnius inland, little coastline  access thru Lithuania to Kaliningrad

Countries facing the Baltic Sea Poland:  population 39,000,000 / Polish >90%  land area: 118,000 mi 2  language  religion Roman Catholic  true nation-state  Warsaw: historic capital & primate city  economic and boundary changes Kaliningrad:  population one million / 90% Russian (exclave)  German heritage: Immanuel Kant  crucial military base for Russia

Landlocked Center Czech Republic: Warsaw Pact invasion 1968 “Velvet Revolution” 1991 population 10 million, large minority Roma (Gypsies) land area: 29,800 mi 2 (1/2 size of Ohio) western Czechoslovakia until 1993 (Velvet Divorce) Bohemia: mountain enclosed core - Prague (Elbe R.) Moravia: linked to Poland’s Silesia by Moravian gate Slovakia: population 5,400,000 / 11% Hungarians land area: 18,600 mi 2 less developed, rural, slower economic changes

Landlocked Center Hungary: population 10 million, Irredentism land area: 35,700 mi 2 (Ohio) Magyars: Danubian basin mid-9th century Stephen I: Christianity AD Hungarian Revolution NATO member, EU?

Countries facing the Black Sea Romania: population 22.4 million, 10% Hungarian land area: 88,900 mi 2 communist totalitarianism: Nicolae Ceausescu Independent foreign policy  foreign loans Bucharest & Danube & Carpathians Bulgaria: country in 1878 (Russians drove out Turks) population 8.2 million, 9-10% Turkish minority land area: 42,700 mi 2 (Ohio) rugged topography / climate

Countries facing the Black Sea Ukraine: population 50 million, 22% Russian largest population in Eastern Europe land area: 223,700 mi 2 (Texas = 267,000 mi 2 : France = 212,000 mi 2 ) largest territory in the European Realm! Donets Basin (Donbas) iron ore and coal dependent on energy imports  Chernobyl 1986 boundary changes: Crimean Peninsula 1954 cultural / economic divide Dnieper River