Eastern Europe

1. 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

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

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

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

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

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

7. Cultural Crossroads • Due to Eastern Europe’s location, it has become a “cultural crossroads”: aplace 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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”

11. Soviet Union’s Control of Eastern Europe • 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” Nations dominated by another country

12. 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

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

14. Seeking Independence • 1989: Reforms by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev gave Eastern European countries more freedoms • Result: • Many Eastern European countries were successful in establishing independent governments

15. 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

16. Eastern Europe is Culturally Diverse! • Multiple Languages & Religions • Religion: Major ones are Eastern OrthodoxChristians, 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

17. Economic Changes after Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe • Command Economies (govt controlled) to Market Economies (people controlled) • 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

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

19. 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

20. Why Serbia Feared? • Milosevic’s “Greater Serbia” • Expansion of Serbian bordersto countries w/Serbian populations • Alarmed territories of impact; declared independence • Led to wars/conflicts between Serbia and other newly independent nations

21. 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

22. 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

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

25. 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.

26. 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)

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

28. 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”

29. Today a few have moved back, but it remainsthe same as it was when left in 1986 • For those exposed to radiation rates of cancer have gone up

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