Slavic Europe

Slavic Europe
Capitals		Belgrade; Bratislava; Kiev; Ljubljana; Minsk; Moscow; Podgorica; Prague; Sarajevo; Skopje; Sofia; Warsaw; Zagreb
Official languages		Belarusian; Bosnian; Bulgarian; Croatian; Czech; Macedonian; Montenegrin; Polish; Russian; Serbian; Slovak; Slovene; Ukrainian
Membership		Belarus Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic Macedonia Montenegro Poland Russia Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Ukraine
Area
-	Total	18,716,278 km2  7,226,395 sq mi
Population
-	estimate	278,825,656
GDP (PPP)		estimate
-	Total	3,827,843

Slavic Europe is a region of Europe where Slavic languages are spoken. This area is situated in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, and includes the nations of Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, and the disputed territories of Transnistria and Kosovo.

The Baltic states also have considerable Slavic populations plus large numbers of other citizens who can speak a Slavic language, particularly Russian. Over three-quarters of the population of Latvia speaks Russian either natively or as a second language. Roughly 29% of Latvia's and Estonia's population is Slavic (mostly Russian and Ukrainian), and 14.3% of the population of Lithuania speaks a Slavic language natively (mostly Polish).

Also included are Lusatia in eastern Germany (homeland of the Sorbs); parts of Carinthia, Vienna, and Burgenland in Austria; parts of Macedonia and Thrace in northern Greece; East Thrace in Turkey (by Bulgarians and Pomaks); north-eastern Italy (Trieste and surrounding areas, and in Molise); Romania (Caraș-Severin County, Timișoara and Dobruja); Moldova (home to Bessarabian Bulgarians); Hungary (south and west, home to Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, north home to Slovaks and Ukrainians); and Albania in regions close to border with former Yugoslav lands. These are home to historic Slavic-speaking minorities in what are majority non-Slavic nations.

History

Pan-Slavism

Main article: Pan-Slavism

Throughout the late Middle and early Modern Ages, many Slavs were under foreign rule. Whilst the western Slavs were dominated by German Empires, South and East Slavs served as a buffer from Mongol attacks onto the rest of Europe, falling under Asiatic rule for a few centuries.

In the 19th century, the consolidation of a national ideology searched for the ancestry of ethnic groups; one of the movements was called Pan-Slavism and it tried to unite nations of Slavic origins to a common interest and develop a common identity. These efforts failed for a number of reasons, one of them being attempts of Imperial Russia to take it over in order to justify its territorial expansion and the subjugation of nations of Slavic origin such as Ukrainians or Poles.

Another fact was due to independent developments amongst Slavic peoples and the development of antagonisms between them. Thirdly, due to divergent interests between various groups; for example, the Poles repressed the freedom of the Ukrainians both religiously and culturally. Also, while certain Slavic nations such as the Czechs and Slovaks in the Austro-Hungarian Empire desired Russian protection and wanted its dissolution, the Poles were pro-Austrian, because Austria treated its Polish subjects much better than either Germany or Russia, who both brutally repressed theirs.

With the Soviet Union came another period of attempts to use the idea of Slavic unity for political purposes, and post-war Soviet propaganda often made use of Pan-slavist ideology, while before World War II, Poland‘s repressive policy created a great deal of resentment amongst its populous Belarusian and Ukrainian minorities. See also Polish-Ukrainian War in which the Ukrainians fought for independence from Poland. Ukrainians did not fare any better under the Soviet Union as a 1932-33 famine (Holodomor) killed millions partially due to the inaction of Stalin's government.

Due to the past, historical sympathy for the idea of a Slavic identity and unity is found mostly in Russia, while in many other countries the idea is part of the fringe of politics, with people having no interest or desire for such concepts and viewing them as part of Soviet-dominated politics aimed at the area of Central and Eastern Europe.^{[citation needed]}

Religion and culture

  Slavic language is the national/official language

  Slavic language is co-official

  Slavic language is unofficial, but significantly used

Slavic languages of Europe

The two main religions within countries with Slavic populations are Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism. Religious areas are clearly divided between the East Slavic and West Slavic regions though historically western Ukraine was affected by Roman Catholicism resulting in a Uniate Church. South Slavs are divided between Orthodoxy in Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro and Roman Catholicism in Croatia and Slovenia, while in Bosnia and Herzegovina Muslims form a plurality.

Besides religion there are also divisions of culture and political orientations. Over time nations with West Slavic origins increasingly patterned their thought and institutions on Western models in areas ranging from philosophy, art, literature, and architecture to government, law, and social structure, whereas Eastern Slavs developed their culture influenced by the once powerful Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire).

For example, while Eastern Slavic people use Cyrillic (a larger alphabet derived from the Greek and Glagolitic alphabets), Western Slavic people use the Latin alphabet. South Slavs are split, Orthodox Bulgarians, Serbs, Macedonians and Montenegrins use the Cyrillic alphabet, while Roman Catholic Croats and Slovenes and Muslim Bosniaks use the Latin alphabet.

Statistics

Country	Population	Area - km ²	GDP ($ billion)	Capital
Belarus	9,709,722	207,600	105,246	Minsk
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4,438,967	51,129	27,728	Sarajevo
Bulgaria	7,389,678	110,910	86,317	Sofia
Croatia	4,290,612	56,542	78,687	Zagreb
Czech Republic	10,199,540	78,866	248,902	Prague
Macedonia	2,057,419	25,713	18,831	Skopje
Montenegro	703,505	13,812	2,974	Podgorica
Poland	38,518,241	312,685	620,868	Warsaw
Russia	141,856,572	17,098,242	2,087,815	Moscow
Serbia	7,120,666	88,361	82,274	Belgrade
Slovakia	5,452,987	48,845	109,587	Bratislava
Slovenia	2,006,929	20,253	54,669	Ljubljana
Ukraine	46,293,659	603,700	320,126	Kiev
Total	278,825,656	18,716,278	3,846,843

See also

• Slavic peoples
• Pan-Slavism

Other groups:

• Ethnic groups of Europe
• Germanic Europe
• Romance Europe
• Celtic Europe

Footnotes

1. ^ Michael Fleischer: Niemcy, Europa, USA i Rosja w polskim systemie kultury, Wrocław 2004 (in Polish)