Synopses & Reviews
This historical survey of Central Europe covers a region that encompasses contemporary Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, and Croatia. Author Lonnie R. Johnson illuminates the competing religious, cultural, economic, national, and ideological interests that have driven the history of Central Europe in the past millennium. Each chapter is thematically organized around issues or events that are key to developing an appreciation for the historical and political dynamics of the region, particularly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This third edition also contains a new concluding chapter and epilogue and several redesigned and updated maps.
About the Author
LJ: Executive Director of the Fullbright Commission in Vienna, Austria; specializes in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly in the 20th Century. Books include: Introducing Austria (Ariadne Press, 1989) and Vienna (Ariadne Press, 1995).
Table of Contents
Introduction: Where is Central Europe?
1. Central Europe and the Roman Christian West, 400-1000
2. Feudal Foundations, 1000-1350
3. The Great Late Medieval Kingdoms
4. The Bulwarks of Christendom
5. The Counter Reformation: The Roman Catholic Church and the Habsburg Dynasty, 1550-1700
6. Absolutism as Enlightenment, 1700-1790
7. Nations without States, States without Nations, 1790-1848
8. The Demise of Imperial Austria and the Rise of Imperial Germany, 1848-1890
9. World War I and National Self-Determination, 1914-1922
10. Spheres of Influence I, Germany and the Soviet Union
11. Spheres of Influence II, East and West or "Yalta Europe"
12. The Failure of Eastern Europe, 1956-1989
13. The Revolutions of 1989 and their Aftermaths
Epilogue: Old Europe, New Europe, and Central Europe since 9/11
Notes
Index