A History of Eastern Europe

by Bideleux,Robert

• ISBN13: 9780415161121
• ISBN10: 0415161126
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-01-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The recent history of Eastern Europe is one of ethnic and national conflict following the collapse of Communism. InA History of Eastern Europe,Robert Bideleux and Ian Jeffries argue that the increasingly complex problems of the post-communist present cannot be understood without the long context they offer here. The authors provide a thematic historical survey and analysis of the formative processes of political, social and economic change which have played the paramount roles in shaping the development of this region. Though giving particular weight to the last century, this book also includes: coverage of ancient and medieval times; a discussion of the Reformation, counter-reformation, the Renaissance and the medieval kingdoms; the influence of Russia and Prussia; and a useful bibliography.

Table of Contents

List of maps	vii
Preface	ix
Abbreviations	xiii
Introduction Crisis and change in East Central and South-eastern Europe	1	(34)
Part I The `Balkanization' of South-eastern Europe: from ancient times to the First World War	35	(74)
Introduction To Part 1: The Process Of `Balkanization'	37	(5)
South-eastern Europe before the Ottomans	42	(20)
The rise of the Ottoman Empire	62	(20)
The seeds of Ottoman decline	82	(15)
The decay of the Ottoman Empire and the emergence of Balkan `national' states	97	(12)
Part II East Central Europe prior to the Habsburg ascendancy	109	(154)
Introduction To Part Ii: The Disputed Roots Of East Central Europe	111	(3)
The vicissitudes of Poland	114	(75)
The rise and decline of the kingdom of Hungary	189	(23)
The kingdom of Bohemia and the Hussite heritage	212	(51)
Part III East Central Europe during the Habsburg ascendancy	263	(142)
Introduction To Part Iii: The Importance Of Being Austria	265	(10)
The rise of the Habsburg Empire	275	(19)
An empire in crisis: East Central Europe and the revolutions of 1848--49	294	(38)
The empire strikes back: 1849--1914	332	(22)
Capitalism and the seeds of social revolution in Austria and Hungary	354	(21)
War, nationalism and imperial disintegration	375	(30)
Part IV Eastern Europe between the two world wars	405	(112)
Introduction To Part Iv: The New Political Order In Eastern Europe	407	(15)
The aftermath of the First World War	422	(13)
The 1930s Depression and its consequences	435	(8)
The plight of the peasantry	443	(15)
The failure of democracy	458	(9)
The lure of fascism	467	(30)
Fascism and the communists' new road to power in Europe	497	(20)
Part V In the shadow of Yalta: Eastern Europe since the Second World War	517	(126)
Introduction To Part V: The East-West Partition Of Europe	519	(5)
The Second World War and the expansion of communist power in East Central and South-eastern Europe	524	(21)
National roads to socialism	545	(17)
From the crisis of 1968 to the Revolutions of 1989	562	(28)
Eastern Europe since 1989: the `triple transition'	590	(18)
The new East European economies: what is to be done?	608	(12)
Conclusion A tentative `return to Europe'	620	(23)
Bibliography	643	(17)
Index	660