Western Europe

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A common post-WWII understanding of Western Europe
A common post-WWII understanding of Western Europe

Western Europe is mainly a socio-political concept coined and forged during the Cold War, which largely defined its borders. Its boundaries were effectively forged during the final stages of World War II and came to encompass all European countries which were not occupied by the Soviet army and subsequently did not fall under control of Communist regimes. Its borders have little to do with clear and precise geography or culture. In popular perception and usage, Western Europe was and still is, to a much lesser extent, distinguished from Eastern Europe by differences of politics and economics. Boundaries between these two regions are subject to considerable overlap and – most importantly – historical fluctuation, which makes an precise understanding somewhat difficult.

Today, the term Western Europe has less to do with Cold War politics and it is commonly associated, but not clearly delimited, with liberal democracy, capitalism and also with the European Union. Most of the countries in the region share Western culture, and many have economic, and political ties with countries in North and South America and Oceania.

Alternatively, Western Europe is also a less-known geographic subregion of Europe that is far more restrictive than traditional political and cultural reckonings; as defined by the United Nations (the sub-regions according to the UN), it comprises the following nine countries:

Regions of Europe as delineated by the United Nations (UN definition of Western Europe marked light blue):      Northern Europe      Western Europe      Eastern Europe      Southern Europe
Regions of Europe as delineated by the United Nations (UN definition of Western Europe marked light blue):      Northern Europe      Western Europe      Eastern Europe      Southern Europe


Contents

[edit] Classical Antiquity/Medieval Origins

The earliest known distinctions between east and west in Europe originate in the history of the Roman Empire. As the empire established itself it became somewhat culturally divided between the urbanized Greek-speaking eastern lands which had been part of the Macedonian Empire, and the western territories which widely adopted Latin as their common language. This cultural and linguistic division was eventually reinforced by the later political east-west division of the empire.

The fall of the Western Roman Empire while the eastern Byzantine Empire managed to survive and to thrive, and the later rise of the Frankish Empire under Charlemagne, and particularly the Great Schism in the Christian Church enhanced this cultural division between Eastern and Western Europe. These divisions, particularly the religious division, formed the basis (albeit mostly unofficially) for defining East and West in the European context until the 19th century.

The conquest of the Byzantine Empire, center of Eastern Orthodoxy, by the Muslim Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, and the gradual fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire (which had replaced the Frankish empire) led to a change of the importance of Roman Catholic/Protestant vs. Eastern Orthodox concept in Europe. With the Age of Discovery, most of the the western European countries spread their influence and colonized Africa, Asia, South and North America. These historical developments still have influence over the Western European concept even into the 21st century.

[edit] The Cold War divides Europe into the Eastern/Western blocs

Western Europe (blue and light grey) was largely defined by the Cold War, with the "Iron Curtain" separating it from the Warsaw Pact countries (red).
Western Europe (blue and light grey) was largely defined by the Cold War, with the "Iron Curtain" separating it from the Warsaw Pact countries (red).

During the final stages of WWII the future of the whole of Europe was decided between the Allies in the 1945 Yalta Conference, between the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Winston Churchill, the President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the Premier of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin. Post-war Europe would be divided into two major spheres: the "West" mainly influenced by the USA, and the Eastern Bloc dominated by the Soviet Union. With the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain, a name popularized by a speech of Winston Churchill. Some countries were officially politically neutral, but they were classified according to the nature of their political and economical systems. This division largely defined the popular perception of borders between Western Europe and Eastern Europe till this day.

[edit] Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe was composed of all the European countries occupied by the Soviet army. It also came to include the German Democratic Republic (informally known as East Germany) formed by the Soviet occupation zone of Germany. By order of Stalin, all these countries had communist regimes imposed upon them. Although they were officially independent from the Soviet Union, the practical extent of this independence was quite limited. Yugoslavia and Albania, communist countries which were fiercely independent with regard to the Soviet Union were nevertheless considered to be a part of the Eastern/communist bloc by the West.

  • The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (formed after WWII and before its later dismemberment) was not a member of the Warsaw Pact. It was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, an organization created in an attempt to avoid being assigned to any of the two blocs. It was demonstratively independent from the Soviet Union for most of the Cold War period, despite being a communist regime, but because of its political system it was still widely regarded part of the Eastern/communist bloc.
  • Albania was fiercely independent towards the Soviet Union and preferred to ally itself with China. Despite this, it had a communist regime and thus was considered part of the Eastern/communist bloc.

[edit] Western Europe

Western Europe was composed by all the countries liberated by the Western Allies (USA, Canada, UK, France, etc) from German occupation, the European western allies themselves, plus Italy (a former Axis Power who had surrendered and been occupied by the Western Allies) and the Federal Republic of Germany (informally known as West Germany) formed by the three of the four Allied Occupation Zones in Germany, namely the zones of the USA, UK, and France.

Other countries would also became increasingly part of Western Europe. They joined NATO and/or joined the European Union or its rival, the European Free Trade Association. Almost all countries of Western Europe received economical assistance from the United States through the Marshall Plan.

[edit] Recent political developments

The factual accuracy of this section is disputed.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page
Huntington's clashing civilizations; see also full world map.      Western Christianity      Orthodox Christianity      Turkey      Islam      Israel
Huntington's clashing civilizations; see also full world map.
     Western Christianity      Orthodox Christianity      Turkey      Islam      Israel

The world changed dramatically with the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. The Federal Republic of Germany peacefully absorbed the Democratic Republic of Germany, leading to the German reunification. COMECON and the Warsaw Pact were dissolved. In 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

As the ideological division of the Cold War has now disappeared, the cultural division of Europe between Western Christianity, on the one hand, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Islam, on the other, has reemerged. It follows the so-called Huntington line of "clashing civilizations" corresponding roughly to the eastern boundary of Western Christianity in the year 1500. This line runs along what are now the eastern boundaries separating Norway, Finland, Estonia and Latvia from Russia, continues east of Lithuania, cuts in northwestern Ukraine, swings westward separating Transylvania from the rest of Romania, and then along the line now separating Slovenia and Croatia from the rest of ex-Yugoslavia. In the Balkans this line coincides with the historic border between the Hungarian Kingdom (later Habsburg) and Ottoman empires, whereas in the north it marks the then eastern boundaries of Kingdom of Sweden and Teutonic Order, and the subsequent spread of Lutheran Reformation. The peoples to the west and north of the Huntington line are Protestant or Catholic; they shared most of the common experiences of Western European history — feudalism, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution.

The 1995 and 2004 enlargements arguably brought the European Union's eastern border up to the boundary between Western and Eastern Orthodox civilizations. Most of Europe's historically Protestant and Roman Catholic countries (with the exception of Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, and the various European microstates) were now EU members, while most of Europe's historically Eastern Orthodox countries (with the exception of Greece and Cyprus) were outside the EU. This was, however, temporary, as the 2007 accession of Bulgaria and Romania, both predominantly Eastern Orthodox and located in Southeastern Europe, shifted the EU's borders further east to reach the west coast of the Black Sea.

A view that Europe is divided strictly into the West and the East is considered patronising or pejorative by many in the nominally eastern countries. For example, inhabitants of Estonia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic or Slovenia note that countries in more "eastern" locations and with more "eastern" history as parts of Imperial Russia (Finland) or Eastern Orthodoxy (Greece) are clearly being referred to as Western Europe for non-geographical reasons. Some feel the label to be stigmatizing for their countries in comparison with states that have successfully asserted their belonging to "the West". Czechs, for instance, will often point out that Prague is significantly west of Vienna, but Austria is never categorized as Eastern Europe.

Although the term Western Europe was largely defined of the Cold War, it remains much in use 15 years after its end. The term is commonly used in the media and in everyday use both in "western" and other regions of Europe. Some reasons for the continued use of the term include economic differences with the former Eastern Bloc countries, cultural differences (e.g. the consequences of all the European colonial "powers" apart from Russia being from Western Europe), and sometimes a resulting feeling of superiority among the inhabitants of "Western Europe".

[edit] Current understanding

A current understanding of Western Europe includes the following countries:


In detail:

  • United Kingdom and France, victors of World War II.
  • The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg countries who had been occupied by Nazi Germany and subsequently liberated by the Western allies.
  • The Federal Republic of Germany, which had been formed by the three occupation zones of Germany belonging to the Western Allies (USA, UK and France).
  • Italy, a former Axis Power who had surrendered and been occupied by the Western Allies.
  • Ireland gained its independence in the 1920s from the United Kingdom. It stayed neutral during World War II and was never invaded. It never joined NATO but it joined the European Union in 1973. It is regarded as part of Western Europe.
  • Countries who were under the rules of dictators, Portugal, Spain, and Greece became parliamentarian democracies in the mid-1970s. The first two are situated in the geographic south-west of Europe, while the last one is located in the south-east of it. All of them joined NATO and also the European Union.
  • The Nordic countries were a different case. Denmark and Norway had been conquered by Nazi Germany but were not liberated by the allies. Sweden had been neutral, and while Finland had been a co-belligerent of Germany against the Soviet Union, it had been defeated but not conquered and occupied. The peace treaty between Finland and the Soviet Union stipulated that Finland would surrender some of its territory, that it would not ally with Germany or against the Soviet Union, and that Finland would have friendly relations with the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, all these Nordic countries usually are considered part of Western Europe.
  • Austria and Switzerland are also a peculiar case. Austria had been incorporated into Nazi Germany through the Anschluss before the war, while Switzerland had managed to remain neutral throughout the WWII. After the war both of them remained neutral, in the case of Austria through the Austrian State Treaty. Austria later joined the European Union but not NATO. Switzerland declined membership of NATO and the European Union and joined EFTA instead. Nevertheless both of these countries are considered part of Western Europe.
  • The island-states of Iceland, Malta and Cyprus are generally considered part of Western Europe, but most of the time they are simply ignored.
  • The European microstates of Vatican City, San Marino, Monaco, Andorra and Liechtenstein are considered part of Western Europe but they too are mainly overlooked. Many of these states have special agreements and treaties with the European Union.
  • The legal status of many of the Overseas territories in Europe (Gibraltar, Channel Islands, Faroe Islands etc) are peculiar and vary from case to case. Despite all that, they are also part of Western Europe.

[edit] Turkey

  • Turkey, as a member of NATO was accepted as belonging to the Western bloc. Nevertheless it never became a part of the European Union. Turkey is typically considered to be a transcontinental nation in Western Asia. Historically, however, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes considered a European great power.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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