Geographical definition of Central Europe

For hundreds of years, the Czech Lands and Czechoslovakia in the 20th century were regarded as lands in Central Europe. However, Central Europe is a term variously perceived: geographical, geopolitical or reflecting the regional identities and mental images of the population. From the geographical perspective, Central Europe is defined by the Baltic Sea from Scandinavia in the north and by the Alps from the Italian Peninsula in the south. The western and eastern borders are not completely stabilized and can change according to the experts' various opinions.

References

Hloušek, V.: Pojem střední Evropy, jeho proměny a milníky politického vývoje. In: Sborník prací Filozofické fakulty Brněnské univerzity C 54, Brno 2007, s. 25‒39;
Nováček, A.: Střední Evropa a území Československa mezi Západem a Východem, Geografické rozhledy 28/1, (1918‒1919), s. 4‒7;
Semotanová, E. Zudová-Lešková, Z. ‒ Močičková, J. Cajthaml, J. ‒ Seemann, P. ‒ Bláha J. D. a kol.: Český historický atlas. Kapitoly z dějin 20. století. Praha 2019.

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Definition of Central Europe at the beginning of the 20th century

The geopolitical definition is far more variable. It has been discussed not only by the geographers but also by politicians, historians, publicists or writers motivated by ideologies of certain ruling or expansionary groups, notions of an ideal arrangement of Europe or by economic interests. Such definitions are very hard to express in cartography. They are usually not exactly formulated by the authors and do not contain a full list of countries that fall into their ideas. The opinion of Friedrich Naumann was chosen for the early 20th century

Map of Central Europe from 1922, private collection of Eva Semotanová Display map

References

Kárník, Z.: T. G. Masaryk a Friedrich Naumann ‒ dva koncepty pro Evropu. In: AUC, Studia territorialia III, Univerzita Karlova, Praha 2001, s. 93‒115;
Semotanová, E. Zudová-Lešková, Z. ‒ Močičková, J. Cajthaml, J. ‒ Seemann, P. ‒ Bláha J. D. a kol.: Český historický atlas. Kapitoly z dějin 20. století. Praha 2019.

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Definition of Central Europe after 1943

The term Danube Federation (Donauföderation) refers to political concepts of unification of a part of Europe within the Danube states. One of the best-known concepts is a proposition by Otto von Habsburg and Winston Churchill from 1943 ‒ 1945 regarding the post-war arrangement of this region. In the mid-20th century, the Polish historian Oskar Halecki perceived Central Europe as a transition zone between the West and the East. In the early 1980s, the writer Milan Kundera considered the position of Central Europe tragic due to the loss of its political and cultural importance.

References

Křen, J.: Dvě století střední Evropy. Praha 2005;
Havelka, M. ‒ Cabada, L.: Západní, východní a střední Evropa jako kulturní a politické pojmy. Plzeň 2000;
Semotanová, E. Zudová-Lešková, Z. ‒ Močičková, J. Cajthaml, J. ‒ Seemann, P. ‒ Bláha J. D. a kol.: Český historický atlas. Kapitoly z dějin 20. století. Praha 2019.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0

Definition of Central Europe at the end of the 20th century

The term Danube Federation (Donauföderation) refers to political concepts of unification of a part of Europe within the Danube states. One of the best-known concepts is a proposition by Otto von Habsburg and Winston Churchill from 1943 ‒ 1945 regarding the post-war arrangement of this region. In the mid-20th century, the Polish historian Oskar Halecki perceived Central Europe as a transition zone between the West and the East. In the early 1980s, the writer Milan Kundera considered the position of Central Europe tragic due to the loss of its political and cultural importance.

References

Křen, J.: Dvě století střední Evropy. Praha 2005;
Havelka, M. ‒ Cabada, L.: Západní, východní a střední Evropa jako kulturní a politické pojmy. Plzeň 2000;
Semotanová, E. Zudová-Lešková, Z. ‒ Močičková, J. Cajthaml, J. ‒ Seemann, P. ‒ Bláha J. D. a kol.: Český historický atlas. Kapitoly z dějin 20. století. Praha 2019.

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Definition of Central Europe in the early 21st century

Perception of a region at the time of its creation and identification by the actual nations living in the respective geographical space plays an important role. The degree of identification with an inhabited region can be detected in various ways, for example by using mental maps of the individual nations' populations. The map presents an aggregate result of a survey involving 513 respondents of a comparable social status from eight countries of the Central European region. Attitudes of respondents from the individual countries suggest that the concept of Central Europe is not stabilized and that the respondents tend to locate 'their' country to the centre of Central Europe. The resulting plot shows that the Czech Lands and Austria are currently perceived as typical Central Europe.

Borders of Central Europe as perceived by participants in the inquiry from the individual states. Produced by Jan D. Bláha, 2016, 2020.

References

Nováček, A.: Dualita Evropy: historickogeografická analýza. Praha 2012;
Nováček, A.: Střední Evropa jako „rakousko-uherské“ dědictví, Geografické rozhledy 23 (5), 2014, s. 2–4;
Bláha, J. D. – Nováček, A.: How Central Europe is Perceived and Delimited, Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft 158, 2016, s. 193–214.;
Semotanová, E. – Zudová-Lešková, Z. ‒ Močičková, J. – Cajthaml, J. ‒ Seemann, P. ‒ Bláha, J. D. a kol.: Český historický atlas. Kapitoly z dějin 20. století. Praha 2019.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0