Synopses & Reviews
Throughout the Cold War era, the Iron Curtain divided Central Europe into a Communist East and a democratic West, and we grew accustomed to looking at this part of the world in bipolar ideological terms. Yet many people living on both sides of the Iron Curtain considered themselves Central Europeans, and the idea of Central Europe was one of the driving forces behind the revolutionary year of 1989 as well as the deterioration of Yugoslavia and its ensuing wars.
Central Europe provides a broad overview and comparative analysis of key events in a historical region that encompasses contemporary Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, and Croatia. Starting with the initial conversion of the "pagan" peoples of the region to Christianity around 1000 A.D. and concluding with the revolutions of 1989 and the problems of post-Communist states today, it illuminates the distinctive nature and peculiarities of the historical development of this region as a cohesive whole. Lonnie R. Johnson introduces readers to Central Europe's heritage of diversity, the interplay of its cultures, and the origins of its malicious ethnic and national conflicts. History in Central Europe, he shows, has been epic and tragic. Throughout the ages, small nations struggled valiantly against a series of imperial powers--Ottoman Turkey, Habsburg Austria, imperial Germany, czarist Russia, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union--and they lost regularly. Johnson's account is present-minded in the best sense: in describing actual historical events, he illustrates the ways they have been remembered, and how they contribute to the national assumptions that still drive European politics today. Indeed, the constant interplay of reality and myth--the processes of myth-making and remembrance--animates much of this history.
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, the unanticipated problems of transforming post-Communist states into democracies with market economies, the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and the challenges of European integration have all made Central Europe the most dynamic and troubled region in Europe. In Central Europe, Johnson combines a vivid and panoramic narrative of events, a nuanced analysis of social, economic, and political developments, and a thoughtful portrait of those myths and memories that have lives of their own--and consequences for all of Europe.
Review
"Written by a sophisticated historical analyst, this book is nevertheless more accessible to non-specialists than any comparable work. Lonnie Johnson explains the region's paradoxes objectively, but also with deep sympathy.... Travelers, officials, and businessmen who wish to understand the contradictions of this vital, appealing, but often alarming heart of Europe must read this illuminating narrative." -- Daniel Chirot, University of Washington
Synopsis
This historical survey of Central Europe covers a region that encompasses contemporary Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, and Croatia.
Central Europe abandons the Cold War convention of defining Central Europe in the bipolar terms of "East" and "West", and emphasizes the underlying continuities in the region's history. It opens with the initial conversion of the "pagan" peoples of the region to Christianity before 1000 A.D. and ends with the revolutions of 1989 and the problems of post-Communist states today. Johnson provides a broad comparative overview of the events, national traditions, conflicts, and patterns of development that are essential for an appreciation of how Central Europeans view their histories, themselves, and each other.
Each chapter is thematically organized around issues or events that are important in helping students develop an understanding of the region's internal dynamics. Johnson illuminates the competing religious, cultural, economic, national, and ideological interests that have driven the history of Central Europe. Thorough, objective, and focused, Johnsons work stands out both as a useful core text covering an area of growing interest and a brilliant account of a region that is only just beginning to receive the attention it deserves.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 299-314) and index.
About the Author
Lonnie R. Johnson has taught for a variety of institutions in Vienna, Austria, and has travelled extensively in Central Europe. He currently is the editor of
KOOPERATIONEN: Higher Education, Science and Research in Austria, published by the Austrian Academic Exchange Service.
Table of Contents
Preface 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
Epilogue: Postrevolutionary Paradoxes: Central Europe since 1989
Notes
Index