Europe L3 - Geopolitics

Roman Empire

one of the first large political entities to control a good portion of Europe

eventually split into the Western Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire

Migration Period

long period of political fragmentation and population migrations

many non-Roman groups migrated into the former empire, including Slavs and Germans

Holy Roman Empire

a decentralized Germanic empire with an elected “emperor”

Feudalism

a society structured around relationships between different groups of people related to land use and the service/obligations to be given in return

Renaissance of the 12th Century

gave rise to urbanization, architecture, first universities, standaradized languages

Thirty Years War

resulted in a geopolitical system (Westphalian system) to form that was later exported to the world through colonialism and is still used today - the territorial state system

Territorial State

a geographically bounded piece of territory controlled by a single, valid and recognized government (monarchy, dictatorship, republic, etc.)

Westphalian Sovereignty

the legal right of equality given to territorial states (freedom to choose religion, language, laws, etc.)

Nationalism

a movement to promote the interests of a particular nation of people

usually involves the pursuit of sovereignty over a homeland

Nation

a group of people who imagine themselves as the same on the basis of some shared characteristics, (usually language…also religion, race, shared, etc)

Nation State

a territorial state controlled and largely populated by a single nation of people. usually this means a single ethnic group

Two Interesting Forms of Nationalism

unification nationalism

anti-empire nationalism

Unification Nationalism

an ethically related group of people unify politically, usually spurred by the common experience of conflict against another group

Anti-Empire Nationalism

an ethnic group feels oppressed within an empire and so a movement grows to rise up and break away from an empire’s territory (everyone in the Austro-Hungarian empire)

Austro-Hungarian Empire

contained numerous ethnic groups that wanted to gain nation states

Casus Belli

the case for war

the event that kicked off the fighting World War I

Several Reasons for World War I

assassinations and suicides

complex military alliances

German unification

Russian expansion into the declining Ottoman Empire

numerous nationalist movements and uprisings

pervious wars

Geopolitical Results of World War I

large empires disintegrated (German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman)

small nations were created, especially from the Austro-Hungarian Empire

several multiethnic states were created by combining small, related ethnic groups (Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia) these both eventually failed and split up

many ethnic minorities become trapped in other groups’ nation states ex. Germans and Hungarians

2 stateless nations of people present - Jews and Roma were widely dispersed across Europe in various countries

World War II

largely a revanchist and irredentist action by Nazi Germany and fascist allies like Hungary and Italy

Revanchism

literally, ‘revenge’

a movement to reclaim territory lost from a previous war

Irredentism

annexing territories on the basis of shared ethnicity with the people there

Anschluss

the annexation of Austria

this finally unified Germanic peoples and resolved the Prussian/Austrian rivalry

Invasion of Poland and Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia

Germans lived there in large numbers and were brought back into a German state

First and Second Vienna Awards

Hungary regained lots of territory that was lost after WWI

Geopolitical Results of World War II

Germany, Hungary, Italy defeated and their territorial gains lost (again)

Jews and Roma killed in large numbers in the Holocaust (Porajmos)

Many ethnic cleansings occur - Germans expelled from western Poland and Czechoslovakia (Sudeten Germans) also, Hungarians, Poles, Ukrainians

European Union is formed

cold war begins (spread of oppressive communist regimes behind Iron Curtain)

Germany is divided into two countries and four occupation zones. Berlin divided the same way

The Cold War

rivalry grew between winners of WWII - Russia and USA. England ceased to be a world power. the EU wanted to but really wasn’t

soviets and Americans confiscated German tech and started the space/arms race

Iron Curtain was created and in 1961 the Berlin Wall was built

Iron Curtain

the militarized border separating the Russian and American spheres of influence in Europe

The Berlin Wall

the militarized border dividing the city of Berlin into west and east

east was controlled by the communists

The European Union was Created for Several Reasons

to be a ‘third voice’ in geopolitics, besides the USA and Soviet Union

it was meant to integrate the economies of France and Germany so they wouldn’t fight any more (gave each of them economic leverage)

it would allow small post-colonial European countries to collectively negotiate economic and integrate their economies more fully

European Union

a confederation of sovereign nation states to create economic cooperation

it started after WWII in Western Europe and later slowly added central and eastern European states after communism ended

Essential Elements of the European Union

the four freedoms - free movement of goods, capital, services, and labor

the Schengen Area - the border-free territory of the European Union (no tariffs, border controls, etc.)

a common currency (Euro)

a parliament, judiciary, presidency

Major Controversies in the European Union

widening vs. deepening - widening is adding new members, deepening means increasing their control over things

immigration - does the EU trample on state sovereignty by forcing quotas of immigrants to accept?

protectionism - countries still want to protect national industries and food specialties