Eastern+Europe+and+Russia

=//Eastern Europe and Russia //   = toc By Yoona Cha and Harin Lee

**Introduction**
Eastern Europe is literally the eastern region of Europe but it includes Russia too. Most of the power that Eastern Europe had was from controlling trades routes to Asia, but after more and more merchants began trading through ships, the route became less used. Even through modern times, Eastern Europe tends to be very different from Western Europe, as its culture and religion tend to be rather distinctive with different values. This poses the question as to why Eastern Europe became a lesser power even though it is right next to Western Europe.

**Government**
Although neighboring the countries that once dominated the entire world, unfortunately, most of Eastern Europe's politics and governments were unable to adapt the modern styles of Western Europe. The development of Western Europe's political society was mainly due to the Enlightenment that spread during the 18th century. The Enlightenment was a philosophical movement designed to declare the belief in power of the monarchies; Kings and Queens of the country, and logic as well as reason. Many Western Europe leaders adapted the idea to their countries starting with Germany, France, and Britain. Nonetheless, in Eastern Europe, the Enlightenment was not a very popular topic, and country leaders did not depend on it as their neighboring countries did. Still, there were some countries that did take on the philosophy and thus became the dominant powers in their region. The Enlightenment promoted the Russian government into proliferating the practices of arts and sciences; this led to the creation of universities, theaters, libraries, public museums, etc. By proliferating the status of the country's education, Russia was able to supply their country with human resources that helped influence the country's power. The Enlightenment in Poland however, was very different from the original Enlightenment philosophy. Enlightenment in Poland started much later than that in Western Europe, 1730s-1740s, and also while had many similarities with the original idea, had many key differences that set Poland to being able to conquer many of the smaller countries near it. The Polish Enlightenment asserted the belief of almost anarchy by electing the Kings and handing most of the powers of authority and rule not to the King, but to the Parliament. Overall, although Russia and Poland, one of the few Eastern European countries to expand politically due to the Enlightenment, were benefited during the 18th century, other Eastern European country's failure to reconcile to the "modernization" that the Enlightenment brought was one of the key factors that kept the countries of Eastern Europe from rising to a world dominant power at the time.

**Trade**
As identified in the map above, Eastern Europe, including Russia, was not located in an ideal position for vast amounts of trading between countries. At the time, the Black Sea was dominated by the Ottoman Empire, consisting of Turkish people, and the Baltic Sea was controlled by the Swedish. Thus, even growing nation states of Eastern Europe such as the Russian Empire, at the time, was not in a favorable position for international trading.

**War**
During the mid 17th century, the Thirty Year's War is fought in Germany. At this time, Europe as a whole was in turmoil and distress. Using the disadvantages of other European countries to the benefit fir their own country, France sent troops into weakened countries to savagely annihilate the main cities, and take the village men to use in their army. Near the turn of the 18th century, many Eastern European countries were transfered to France, and their men were also selected to be in the French army. Because men of the Eastern European countries were being separated from their own nations, many weaker countries lacked soldiers to fight in their army and thus, were unable to protect themselves from foreign threats, becoming an easy and more vulnerable target for stronger nations.

[[image:europe_climate.gif width="240" height="240" align="right"]]
Most of Eastern Europe straddles between Western Europe and Russia. Majority of the countries (that exist in the 21st century) are landlocked and shipping is not part of the economy. However, countries that are not landlocked consist of either the extreme northern Atlantic Ocean or the eastern Mediterranean. Russia has the Arctic Sea and its eastern border is the Pacific Ocean that displaces it from major seaports. The eastern Mediterranean may have had a passageway to the Atlantic, but the Spanish and the Portuguese, during the time, controlled the one way out. Access to Egypt and the Middle East may have been possible, but borders of the Mediterranean were also controlled by the Ottoman Empire, which expanded across deep into Eastern Europe. The Ottoman Empire was dominantly controlling the trade of goods from Asia as the restricted access to the east.

[[image:regions003.jpg width="200" height="212" align="left"]]
The climate in Eastern Europe is predominantly a humid continental climate, which results a various range of different summers and winters (depending heavily on the location to the ocean and wind patterns). Russia contains a very wide v ariety of climates, however they are unfavorable for farming. Due to the humid climate, some central Eastern European countries contain very moist soil which may be good for natural resources such as peat, but it does not give the highest quality for essential staple crops (resulting in potatoes, which do not require high quality soil). Most elevation in Europe is situated around the Alps and northern regions resulting Eastern Europe to have flat ground that a lot of the annual precipitation does not drain away. Due to this factor, a lot of the soil is ineffective for agriculture, but this gives the region a lot of water. This surplus of water would contribute by allowing the region to not be concerned for its water supply.

**Movements**
The most major movement during the 18th Century that affected Europe the most was the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a movement that presented the fact everything came with reason. It was also a time that authorities found it important to spread this idea of reason to make the people happier. It affected a lot of the government; it even spread to the United States that made it spread westward. Eastern Europe on the other hand, was not as affected. Of the many countries that could’ve accounted for being affected by the Enlightenment, Eastern Europe did not take such a movement as dramatically as Western Europe. In a few cases, they did take in some forms of the Enlightenment, such as Czech Republic taking it in for their government, Eastern Europe generally kept their own cultures and chose to not follow the Humanists as passionately. Mostly culture kept Eastern Europe away from Western Europe as most form of transportation for them was by foot, as they did not have the largest access to water that could be used as transportation (the most sophisticated type of transportation during the 18th Century. The Enlightenment eventually lead to the Industrial Evolution, which immediately became one of the most critical turns in the economic history of Europe. Unfortunately, Eastern Europe was not the ones to develop such technology. Even with such close contact with their adjacent neighbors, the Eastern side of Europe never came to final leap in the movement for the Enlightenment.

**Conclusion**
According to the UN, Eastern Europe currently consists of Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. However, during the eighteenth century, countries such as Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine did not officially exist yet, or were being overpowered by stronger countries such as Poland, the Russian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. During this time period, the key facts that made these Slavic countries powerful is the unification of countries; more powerful countries took over the less powerful ones in order to expand their territories and belief systems, thus expanding their power. Because smaller countries formed together with more powerful and influential countries, almost all of Eastern Europe consisted of very powerful nation-states, and no individual poor nation-state. Therefore, Eastern Europe, though it may have been unified, it lacked the advance in society that stronger nations like Western Europe were going through such as the Enlightenment. Also, Eastern Europe still tends to lead off Western Europe, culture and religion-wise. This could have happened because of it's political status at the time being, as it was annexed by the Ottoman and Russian powers. Also, Eastern Europe's geography affected its trade as most of the countries were landlocked, limiting what was the most efficient type of travel during the 18th Century. These factors were most likely the reason Eastern Europe lead to be a lesser powerful nation when it could have been otherwise.

**Bibliography**
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