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Europe’s East

Europe, Asia, Eurasia Eurasia: one continent or two?

Unity and divisions of the continent The Coastlands and the Heartland. The Heartland and

the Rimland Land Rivers Seas Winds Temperature

Human settlement patterns Search and struggle for resources Potential for development Degree of security

http://stort.unep-wcmc.org/imaps/gb2002/book/viewer.htm

Civilizations Settlers and nomads Human civilization starts in the Middle East The human trek to the East Europe starts in the Southeast The Asian base of Europe

Origins of the modern bias against Asia Middle Ages: Perception of Asia as a source of danger,

Europe defends against Asian invasions Modern Age: Perception of Asia as backward and weak,

object of exploitation, Europe moves in to conquer Asia

Eurasia: the earliest civilizations

EURASIA, 116 C.E.

EURASIA, 8TH CENTURY

EURASIA, 1288

Europe’s Eastern frontier The belt between the Baltic and the Adriatic East European state-forming nations:

Greeks Germans Slavs

• Eastern: Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians• Western: Poles, Czechs, Slovaks• Southern: Serbs, Croatians, Slovenians, Macedonians,

Montenegrins, Bosniaks, Bulgarians Hungarians (Magyars) Finns Balts (Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians) Romanians (19th-century name) Albanians Turks TatarsALL, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF FINNS, GREEKS AND TURKS, LIVED

UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES IN THE 20TH CENTURY

Evolution of the European state system

EUROPE 0001

EUROPE 1000

EUROPE 1600

NATION-STATES VS. EMPIRES A 3-way conflict of civilizations for control of Eastern

Europe. Objects of the struggle: Resources Trade routes Security

THE RISE OF EMPIRES Western Christian (German) – “successors” to the Western

Roman Empire, “Holy Roman Empire”, later the Habsburg Empire (Austria-Hungary) and the Hohenzollern Empire (Germany)

Orthodox Christian (Russian) – “successor” to Eastern Roman Empire (The Romanov Empire)

Muslim (Turkish) – “successor” to the Arab Caliphate (The Ottoman Empire)

EUROPE 1900

EUROPE 1914

How the East fell behind the West

Western Europe begins modernization (16th –17th centuries) Eastern Europe as the West’s defence barrier Eastern Europe as the West’s agricultural base The West:

Industrializing Global trade Capitalism Nation-state

The East: Farming (with pockets of industry) Regional trade Feudalism Empire

\MODERNIZATION CHALLENGES

TO EASTERN EUROPE Political Independence: building modern nation-states Industrialization The agrarian question: turning peasants into farmers,

developing modern agriculture Social development Building civil societies

POLITICAL OPTIONS Western liberalism Socialism of various types Conservative nationalism or fascism

Marx and Engels in London, 1867

The role of Russia

In the Modern Age, Russia expands to take most of the Heartland

Fills much of the space first integrated by the Mongols Expansion driven by:

Struggle for independence and security Access to resources and trade routes Human settlement Political interests of imperial elites

Coat-of-arms of the Russian Empire

Moscow KremlinMoscow Kremlin

The Winter Palace of Russian Emperors, St. Petersburg

THE RUSSIAN SYSTEM

The state is huge, costly, militarized Society (especially the peasantry) is exploited heavily by

the state The state is a highly centralized autocratic hierarchy, with

bureaucracy controlling the economy Society has very little autonomy from the state Individual rights and liberties are circumscribed Market economy has very limited potential for

development When reforms become necessary, the state acts as the

main agent of reforms Society influences the state mostly by resistance to it

(passive or active)

By the end of the 19th century, the flaws of the Russian system become manifest

The gap between Europe and Russia widens fast, the Russian system is too inefficient, too rigid, resistant to reform

The 1904-05 war with Japan and then World War I exhaust the Russian state

1917: the entire state collapses, leaving society to its own devices. REVOLUTION

Empires Fall

As a result of World War I, the four empires which had dominated Eastern Europe – Russian, Turkish, Austro-Hungarian, German –

COLLAPSED

THE FUTURE OF EASTERN EUROPE WAS

Russia Raises the Red Flag

1917: Communists (Bolsheviks) took power in Russia They proclaimed the start of a world revolution against

capitalism From being behind the West, Russia seemed to jump ahead

of it – to the next, postcapitalist stage of world history Western Marxism, a product of developed capitalism, was

transplanted into a country which had just entered the capitalist stage

Russia’s challenge: to prove that modernization was possible without capitalism

Russia’s new role was a sign of the profound crisis of Western civilization

Whites and their supporters fleeing abroad after defeat in the Civil War

The Totalitarian Deadlock To modernize Russia fast, the Communists resorted to the

power of command For that, the state had to reimpose itself upon society The goals of keeping power and defending the state against

foreign enemies became paramount In the 1930s, Russia restored its imperial and autocratic

traditions under Stalin’s dictatorship – and called it “victory of socialism”

The goal of social development was subjugated to the goal of security

The resulting model was deeply flawed, fit only for situations of extreme emergency (war)

Stalin as a young revolutionary (1902)

Global civil war and interstate conflict Fierce Left-Right struggles in European countries since

WWI, the lure and fear of revolution Stalinism in Russia as a new stage in the Russian civil

war: forced modernization to strengthen the state and make it fit for the next round of interstate wars

Fascism as a new stage in European Left-Right conflict: to defeat the Left internally and externally

Projection of the internal conflicts on interstate relations Spain: a classic example Appeasement: betrayal of Czechoslovakia The fall of democracies across Europe was due to both

internal (Left vs. Right) and external (German policies) factors

Empires Strike Back In the 1920s and 1930s, the rising forces in Eastern Europe

are socialism and nationalism Failure of old elites The peasantry moves to take over land Rise of working–class movements Nationalist mobilization The Great Depression Defeat of liberal democracy By 1939, Russia and Germany became 2 dominant empires

in the region – but their organization was vastly different from that of their predecessors

Hitler and Mussolini in Munich, June 1940

German poster depicting Soviets: “The lower race”

Hitler’s Empire, 1942

German POWs in Russia

Buchenwald, 1945: Survivors of Hitler’s “Final Solution”

The Red Army takes Berlin, May 1945

In 1945, with the defeat of fascism, communism replaced it in Eastern Europe

Occupation by Soviet troops was a key factor – but the case of Yugoslavia showed that communist regimes could be established by internal forces

Attractiveness of socialism: rapid modernization on an egalitarian basis

The Right was discredited Eastern European communism became a specific avenue of

development (both social and national)

Establishment of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe

3 dimensions of the problem of communism in Eastern Europe after World War II

1. The need for fundamental societal changes 2. Existence of political forces prepared to lead the postwar

transformation 3. Role of the USSR

Eastern Europe in 1945

2 groups of countries:

1. Germany and her former allies:

Romania

Hungary

Bulgaria

Finland

2. Victims of aggression:

Poland

Czechoslovakia

Austria (?)

Yugoslavia

Albania

Shattered states and societies Discredited elites Economies destroyed Legacies of ethnic warfare Masses in turmoil Intensive political struggles in each country In Western Europe, too:

Capitalism shattered Socialism popular

The Right is either eliminated or severely weakened The situation favours the Left But what was East European Left in 1945? 3 types of left-wing forces:

Agrarian socialists Social Democrats Communists

Throughout East Europe, left-wing parties were banned since 1920s or 1930s

Only in Czechoslovakia the Left, including CP, was fully legal until the German occupation - and was dominant in politics

Now the Left is free to act and take advantage of the postwar crisis

Its issues are popular: Punishment of collaborators Building democracies Socialist reforms

Even without the Soviet factor, Eastern European politics would have shifted drastically leftward

The Soviet factor was a double-edged sword

Stalin’s support of East European Leftists The only Left Moscow was prepared to tolerate had to

follow Stalin’s orders And the orders were not necessarily: take power now! And one did not have to be a Communist No independent Left had a right to exist, from the Kremlin’s

point of view Logic of totalitarianism This puts East European communists in a situation radically

different from the Russian situation in 1917 Fundamental contradiction between the Left project and

Stalinism

East European Communists welcomed Soviet aid, but did they want to be Soviet puppets?

Some did, others not Those who did not, tried to find other options And the West was more or less willing to treat them as

legitimate forces in the region But Stalin would not tolerate the slightest dissent from the

Kremlin line He was the Red Emperor And dissenters were severely punished Degree of Soviet control was determined by Soviet

strategic considerations Any leeway was possible only if Soviet interests demanded

it

The logic of Red imperialism Geopolitics and security above all In 1945-47, Stalin considered it pragmatic to allow a degree

of freedom to East European countries “People’s Democracies” In 1948-49, he decided to go for full control and isolation

from the West East European Communists were to serve as the tools for

the Soviet takeover The issue of national independence It required a massive purge of East European Communist

Parties Installation of Soviet-type totalitarian regimes

The Soviet Empire, 1949

Communism’s Impact The Communist regimes carried out modernization policies Eastern European societies became industrialized,

educated, more egalitarian Resistance to Soviet control fostered nationalist movements Struggle for democracy and human rights As societies developed, their ability to challenge the states

grew As the Soviet model stagnated and the West regained its

strength, capitalism began to look more and more attractive By late 1980s, East European communist reforms became

plans for Westernization Under Gorbachev, Russia recognized that it could no longer

offer an alternative to the West In the 1990s, the East became the West’s periphery again