Eastern Europe!, 2nd Edition (eBook)

Everything You Need to Know About the History (and More) of a Region that Shaped Our World and Still Does

Tomek Jankowski (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021 | 2. Auflage
New Europe Books (Verlag)
978-0-9973169-3-3 (ISBN)

Infos

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

Autor

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. Currently 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 Londonderry, New Hampshire and still spends time in Eastern Europe.

Inhalt

Table o’ Contents

Foreword xiii
Introductory FAQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Acknowlegments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
Table o’ Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxii
Section I 1
A Few Words About a Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
A Note on Pronunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
A Word (or Two) about Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Section II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Introduction: A Prehistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Introduction: History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Introduction: Classical Eastern Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Chapter 1: Setting the Stage, 500–800 CE . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
A. Western Rome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
B. The Avars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
C. The Slavs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
D. The First Slavic States 75
E. The Bulgars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
F. The Dacians and Vlachs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
G. The Khazars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
H. (A Bunch of) Finns and Balts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Special Insert: The Steppe 85
viii
Table o’ Contents
Chapter 2: The Origins of States, 800–1242 CE . . . . . . . . . 88
A. The Franks 88
B. Moravia Magna and Bohemia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
C. The Bulgarians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
D. The Rus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
E. The Magyars/Hungarians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
F. The Slovenes and Croatians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
G. Duklja, Raška, and the Serbs 104
H. The Poles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
I. The Pechenegs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
J. The Cumanians 110
K. The Lithuanians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
L. The Finale: 1239–42 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Special Insert: Peoples of Eastern Europe—The Jews . . . . 117
Chapter 3: The Medieval Years, 1242–1600 CE . . . . . . . . 120
A. The Mongol Empire, the Golden Horde, and Tartars 123
B. Bulgaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
C. Serbia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
D. Montenegro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
E. Bosnia & Herzegovina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
F. Croatia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
G. The Republic of Ragusa/Dubrovnik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
H. Albania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
I. The Byzantine Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
J. The Ottoman (Turkish) Empire 135
K. Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
L. Hungary 140
M. Bohemia 143
N. The Teutonic Knights and Schizoid Prussia . . . . . . . . . . . 145
O. Lithuania and the Eastern Slavs 148
P. Livonia and the Balts 149
Q. Poland as Catalyst 151
R. Novgorod, Muscovy, and the Russians 154
S. Halych-Volhynia: A Kingdom in Galicia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Special Insert: Peoples of Eastern Europe—The Germans . . 159–161

Chapter 4: The Dawn of a New Age, 1600–1800 . . . . . . . 162
A. Bohemia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
B. The Principality of Transylvania 166
C. Wallachia and Moldavia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
D. Montenegro 169
E. The Swedish Empire 170
F. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 173
G. The Ukrainians and Belarussians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
H. Ottoman Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
I. Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
J. Of Austrians and Habsburgs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
K. Prussia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Special Insert: Peoples of Eastern Europe—The Gypsies . . . 199–201
Chapter 5: The Very, Very Long 19th Century,1800–1914 . . 202
A. Introduction 203
B. The Ottoman Empire as Doorstop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
C. Serbia’s Front Row Seat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
D. Montenegro Hits the 19th Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
E. Romania is Born 218
F. Bulgaria’s Raw Deal 222
G. Albania as Accident . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
H. The Italian Risorgimento and Irridentism . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
I. Pan-Germanism and How Fritz (and Helga) Got their Mojo . . . 228
J. Pan-Slavism and Pie in the Sky 231
K. The Austrian Dilemma and Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
L. Russia, the Hope and Prison of Nations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
M. Dawn of the Dead: The Poland That Just Won’t Go Away 247
Special Insert: Peoples of Eastern Europe—The Muslims . . 253–255
Chapter 6: The Great War, and a Magic Year, 1914–1939 257
A. The War 258
B. Paris, 1919 263
C. The Ottoman Empire Goes Out in Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
D. Austria-Hungary as a Bug on the Windshield 268
E. Serbia and History 272

F. Montenegro is Pushed Off the Cliff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
G. The Failed Superstates I: Yugoslavia 274
H. Bulgaria Tries 1913 Over Again 277
I. The Failed Superstates II: Romania 280
J. Albania: Let’s Try That Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
K. Hungary Loses the War . . . Again 285
L. The Failed Superstates III: Czechoslovakia . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
M. Ukraine: With Friends Like These 294
N. Belarus Gets Its 15 Minutes . . . Literally . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
O. Libre Baltica: Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia . . . . . . . . . . 299
P. Russia and How Russians Do Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Q. The Failed Superstates IV: Poland 310
Chapter 7: War! 1939–45 317
A. The War as You Probably Don’t Know It . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
B. About the Numbers Used in this Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
C. An Overview of the War 328
D. Poland and The Art of Not Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
E. The Baltics and a Bad Neighborhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
F. The Czech Lands Revert to the 17th Century 339
G. Slovakia Is Born, Sort of 342
H. Hungary Embraces Its Inner Tar Baby 343
I. Romania Guesses Wrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
J. Yugoslavia, Serbia, and 1914 All Over Again 349
K. Croatia’s Dark Side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
L. Albania Tries to Keep Its Head Above Water . . . . . . . . . . . 353
M. Bulgaria: Third Time a Charm? 355
N. The Soviet Union Wins by Knockout in the 9th Round . . . . . 357
O. The Holocaust 362
Special Insert: Home is Where the Border is! . . . . . . . 368–371
Chapter 8: The Frying Pan, the Fire, etc., 1945–92 . . . . . . 374
A. Introduction: The Cold War, or This Town Isn’t Big Enough 379
B. The Warsaw Pact: The Farm Animals Unite 388
C. Yugoslavia: Exit, Stage Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
D. Albania as an Island 395
E. Bulgaria Finally Gets Something in Return . . . . . . . . . . . 398
F. Romania Goes Off the Deep End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
G. Hungary and Its Food-Based Ideologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
H. Czechoslovakia, Just East of Eden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
I. East Germany as the Runt of the Litter 413
J. Poland, the Perennial Pain in the Butt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
K. The Soviet Union, Keeping Up with the Joneses . . . . . . . . . 425
Chapter 9: Easy Come, Easy Go: 1989–92 . . . . . . . . . . . 433
A. Introduction: Ashes to Ashes, We All Fall Down . . . . . . . . 436
B. Poland and the Ghosts of 1980: The First Steps . . . . . . . . . 438
C. The Hungarian “Refolution” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
D. East Germany Goosesteps into Oblivion 441
E. Elvis is Dead, but Czechoslovakia Goes Velvet Anyway . . . . . 443
F. Bulgaria Knows Peer Pressure When It Sees It 445
G. Asking for a Light in the Romanian Powderkeg . . . . . . . . . 446
H. Albania and Frost in Hell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447
I. Playing Fiddle on the Deck of the Titanic: the Soviet Union 450
J. Libre Baltica, Part II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
K. Agonia: The Many Deaths of Yugoslavia 452
Epilogue 461
Reference 469
Musical Chairs, or Place Names in Eastern Europe . . . . . 469
Eastern Europe in Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472
Mrs. Jankowska’s Homemade Pierogis . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 30.11.2021
• Zusatzinfo: 100 B&W photographs and illustrations
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Reisen ► Reiseführer
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• ISBN-10: 0-9973169-3-4 / 0997316934
• ISBN-13: 978-0-9973169-3-3 / 9780997316933