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History of Eastern Europe: A Captivating Guide to a Shortened History of Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Moldova, Belarus, and Romania
How much Eastern European history do you know?The story of Eastern Europe is one of successes and failures, competing interests, and the rise and fall of states and empires. The ancient Greek and Roman empires knew the importance of Eastern Europe for trade and settlement. Later, during the Migration Period, also known as the “Barbarian Invasions,” Eastern Europe became the stomping grounds for many people groups. The Visigoths, Huns, Slavs, and central Asian Turkic tribes like the Avars and Khazars all made their way into Eastern Europe.With so many people moving in, the first states started to rise. Some of them would break apart as soon as they started, while others would form full-fledged empires. The medieval period would see some of the greatest empires of European history, like Kievan Rus, the Bulgarian Empire, Serbia, and the German Crusader states. By the early modern period, these great states would be replaced by Russia, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Ottoman Empire.In the coming centuries, the rise of Russia, Austria, and Prussia would spell doom for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Ottomans would keep pressing into Eastern Europe. The 19th century would lay the foundations for the outbreak of World War I, which would itself lead to World War II. In the aftermath, Eastern Europe became part of the Eastern Bloc, which was dominated by the USSR until the fall of communism nearly five decades later. This book extends past contemporary histories of Eastern Europe, which usually end at the fall of the Berlin Wall, to cover more recent events, including the conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo and the 2014 Crimean crisis.In this book, you will learn The Greek and Roman influence in Eastern EuropeThe Migration Period, aka the “Barbarian Invasions”Charlemagne and the Holy Roman EmpireThe Mongol invasionsChristian Europe vs. the Ottoman EmpireThe fall of ConstantinopleThe rise of Russia and its famous rulers, like Ivan the Terrible and Catherine the GreatThe path to World War I and World War IIThe Jewish experience in Eastern EuropeThe Soviet Union and the Eastern BlocThe fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communismThe conflicts in Bosnia and KosovoThe 2014 Russian annexation of CrimeaTo learn more about Eastern Europe than you ever thought possible, add The History of Eastern Europe to your cart today!
362 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 24, 2021
269 people are currently reading
398 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 7, 2022
Having just read, 'An Introduction to the History of Western Europe,' and been most pleased by it (see my review), I stuck this little gem in my pocket and packed my bag as was off to see Beth on her family's farm - which is more an estate - where hordes come and go daily, shouldering all manner of fare, to provide a little labour, work with the horses, run the dogs, eat, drink and socialise. I am so glad of my short visit.
We begin some 4,000 years BCE and discuss how the early trading routes across Eastern-Europe (branches off the Silk Road even) allowed the flow of goods, languages, ideas, and mass migrations bringing with them a mix of ethnicities and differing belief systems: paganism held sway over most of Eastern-Europe before the arrival of the Bible and the Karan.
And, these first foundations may give a clue as to why for many Millenia greater discord remained within the eastern reaches of the Great Northern European Plain and the development of civilisations lagged behind Western Europe. Yet, in this, we are told, 'Although most people believe that the very first civilised society within Europe was started by the Greeks, archaeological evidence shows how the land we now know as Bulgaria was settled 1000 years before.'
In the year 9 CE, after defeat at the hands of the Germanic tribes at the battle of the Teutoburg Forest, the Rhine became the eastern border of the Roman Empire: and the heathens on the eastern bank of the river were left to their own devices for 150 years. Christendom, in the West, saw the expansion and development of more and more civilised societies, tied, to a greater extent, by their common language and religious practice.
If the Romans had have seen victory in the forests would they have moved east and had done with the pagan troublemakers as they went?
By 117 CE the Romans had conquered the lands up to and along the western banks of the Danube: these two great rivers now being the eastern extent of the Roman Empire. Thus, trade routes going east to Asia connecting the differing bands of Eastern European peoples and the Muslim Arab empires flourished.
A few centuries on, and with the decline of the Roman Empire, the Germanic tribes: the Franks, the Goths, the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths, the Huns and the Vandals pressing west invaded the Balkans and lands further west, creating an even greater mixing pot of humanity.
Centuries later came the Mongols.
A wonderful book capturing the history of Eastern Europe from its earliest times to the fall of communism.
I am so glad I read this.
We begin some 4,000 years BCE and discuss how the early trading routes across Eastern-Europe (branches off the Silk Road even) allowed the flow of goods, languages, ideas, and mass migrations bringing with them a mix of ethnicities and differing belief systems: paganism held sway over most of Eastern-Europe before the arrival of the Bible and the Karan.
And, these first foundations may give a clue as to why for many Millenia greater discord remained within the eastern reaches of the Great Northern European Plain and the development of civilisations lagged behind Western Europe. Yet, in this, we are told, 'Although most people believe that the very first civilised society within Europe was started by the Greeks, archaeological evidence shows how the land we now know as Bulgaria was settled 1000 years before.'
In the year 9 CE, after defeat at the hands of the Germanic tribes at the battle of the Teutoburg Forest, the Rhine became the eastern border of the Roman Empire: and the heathens on the eastern bank of the river were left to their own devices for 150 years. Christendom, in the West, saw the expansion and development of more and more civilised societies, tied, to a greater extent, by their common language and religious practice.
If the Romans had have seen victory in the forests would they have moved east and had done with the pagan troublemakers as they went?
By 117 CE the Romans had conquered the lands up to and along the western banks of the Danube: these two great rivers now being the eastern extent of the Roman Empire. Thus, trade routes going east to Asia connecting the differing bands of Eastern European peoples and the Muslim Arab empires flourished.
A few centuries on, and with the decline of the Roman Empire, the Germanic tribes: the Franks, the Goths, the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths, the Huns and the Vandals pressing west invaded the Balkans and lands further west, creating an even greater mixing pot of humanity.
Centuries later came the Mongols.
A wonderful book capturing the history of Eastern Europe from its earliest times to the fall of communism.
I am so glad I read this.
September 30, 2021
A special thank you goes to whoever insisted on all of the maps for this book about Eastern Europe. Because many Americans are not as familiar with the countries of Eastern Europe, the maps were critical to understanding what was going on. Sit back and be prepared to be surprised by the amazing history of Eastern Europe -- they were part of nearly continuous migrations and fights over valuable trade routes.
The opening explanation of the more diverse collections of ethnic groups in Eastern Europe (than Western Europe) was eye-opening. The explanation of how Western Europe was able to secure self-rule earlier than their eastern neighbors was also helpful. I thought the explanation of Eastern Europe's diverse languages (and their origins) was worth the price of the book. I've never seen such a complex concept explained so well.
During the Migration Period, the lands of Eastern Europe were dominated by four groups: The Byzantines, the Franks, the Khazars, and the Bulgarians. Each group was coalescing around their own economy, government, religion, and social hierarchies. However, the issue of religion often led to disputes and warring between groups. This book offers a different look at Christian conversion; there was a distinct competition between the Eastern Byzantine and Western Roman Catholic Churches that played out in Eastern Europe.
Another surprising fact was the story about the trade of Slavic peoples (as prisoners of war) who were captured and sold as slaves between the 700- and the 1100s. But as more Slavs became Christians, Slavs stopped being the targets of the slave trade.
Another snippet of fascinating history is the fact that since the Mongols took over Russian lands and dominated Russia for 200 years, the Russians were not part of the Renaissance or the Reformation. Before reading this information, it never registered with me that the Russians were not part of these two historic events.
This author reminds us that, just as in every other Ottoman territory, the Albanians were forced to send their Christian sons to the Ottomans as tribute. These sons were trained to serve the state as Janissaries. By 1600 CE, there were four major powers in Eastern Europe were the Habsburg dynasty, the Ottoman Empire, Sweden, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
It was fascinating to read how many countries imported leaders over the centuries. One real surprise was the Greek Phanariot family (only interested in merchandise), who were imported to Romania to serve as rulers by the Ottomans! Sheesh.
Overall, this is a staggering amount of history in just over 350 pages. However, I don't plan to read any more historical books of this length. There is just too much history crammed together to keep the info straight. I had to read parts twice.
The opening explanation of the more diverse collections of ethnic groups in Eastern Europe (than Western Europe) was eye-opening. The explanation of how Western Europe was able to secure self-rule earlier than their eastern neighbors was also helpful. I thought the explanation of Eastern Europe's diverse languages (and their origins) was worth the price of the book. I've never seen such a complex concept explained so well.
During the Migration Period, the lands of Eastern Europe were dominated by four groups: The Byzantines, the Franks, the Khazars, and the Bulgarians. Each group was coalescing around their own economy, government, religion, and social hierarchies. However, the issue of religion often led to disputes and warring between groups. This book offers a different look at Christian conversion; there was a distinct competition between the Eastern Byzantine and Western Roman Catholic Churches that played out in Eastern Europe.
Another surprising fact was the story about the trade of Slavic peoples (as prisoners of war) who were captured and sold as slaves between the 700- and the 1100s. But as more Slavs became Christians, Slavs stopped being the targets of the slave trade.
Another snippet of fascinating history is the fact that since the Mongols took over Russian lands and dominated Russia for 200 years, the Russians were not part of the Renaissance or the Reformation. Before reading this information, it never registered with me that the Russians were not part of these two historic events.
This author reminds us that, just as in every other Ottoman territory, the Albanians were forced to send their Christian sons to the Ottomans as tribute. These sons were trained to serve the state as Janissaries. By 1600 CE, there were four major powers in Eastern Europe were the Habsburg dynasty, the Ottoman Empire, Sweden, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
It was fascinating to read how many countries imported leaders over the centuries. One real surprise was the Greek Phanariot family (only interested in merchandise), who were imported to Romania to serve as rulers by the Ottomans! Sheesh.
Overall, this is a staggering amount of history in just over 350 pages. However, I don't plan to read any more historical books of this length. There is just too much history crammed together to keep the info straight. I had to read parts twice.
January 17, 2022
I am not sure how you judge a history book, as you assume that they have got the dates right. I felt that I lacked knowledge of the history of Eastern Europe and chose this book to get some more factual background. Not surprisingly, at times the book is boring and seems to be a recitation of dates, battles, mergers, massacre's and the rewriting of borders. Certainly there was no shortage of massacres as the Eastern Europeans have been a blood thirsty people for at least the last one thousand years and it seems to be one of the benefits that the current period of stability has brought. It is not the book of choice for a recreational read, but I found that is suited my purpose.
May 26, 2022
This book was a fantastic introduction to the complex and unique history of eastern Europe. As someone who is already interested in history, this book still found new information to teach me while keeping the book extremely easy to digest. The only problem with this book is that it attempts to cover slightly too much with the discussion of ancient history confusing the purpose of the book and removing space for the more recent history. While I didn't find a golden line the maps in this book really pulled it together, helping show the stories and complexity of the political borders of eastern Europe.
April 1, 2022
A vast amount of history in a short book, so many areas received just a brief overview. I found this a good introduction, though, and helps me understand the current war in Ukraine (actually started in the 1600s!). Worth reading if only for the maps.
April 7, 2022
Really great overview from the beginning of time until recently. My big takeaway from this book is the land in Eastern Europe has been in turmoil and borders changing leadership forever. Russia has definitely had influence over this area of the world.
August 16, 2022
A good crash course on the often ignored part of Europe.
Very Informative! It is a lot of information to digest in a relatively short book. At some point will I will reread to make sure I retain more of the knowledge.
Very Informative! It is a lot of information to digest in a relatively short book. At some point will I will reread to make sure I retain more of the knowledge.
April 22, 2022
I came across this book to empower myself to understand the history of Eastern Europe with what is currently going on. It has opened my eyes. Worth a read. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
May 5, 2022
It's not the book it's me
Lots of good info but so much my head is spinning. For someone who wants all the info I think it would be a great book.
Lots of good info but so much my head is spinning. For someone who wants all the info I think it would be a great book.
June 4, 2023
How to cram the complete history of Eastern Europe into 300 pages? I think it is impossible to do so and be 'captivating'. The final sentence of the book states: "The story of Eastern Europe is one of waxing and waning in territory, control, and power, but it is also a tale of resilience." (pp. 334-335). And that is what this book is all about: territory and control.
The first 100 pages are mainly about the Greeks and the Roman Empire with an emphasis on the southern part of Eastern Europe.. I think this could have been shortened to create room for actual Eastern European history. The book continues with mainly enumerating armies attacking territories and monarchs claiming rule.
Now, the book does what it can do: explain the borders of modern day Eastern European nations, but it barely speaks about culture, trade, and social issues. Surely there must be more to Eastern Europe than mere conflict?
It also lacks elements to tell a unified story, something to hold to or to get back to when the book deviates. I would also have liked some benchmarks from history to link events in Eastern Europe to global events, for example what was Eastern Europe up to when Christopher Columbus discovered America?
The book uses some maps from Wikipedia, but I would have preferred the book using its own maps to be more in line with the text. Also, using your own maps would unify the book more, helping the reader to comprehend all the fights between nations, peoples, and factions. It would be interesting to have a map with an overlap in which you can compare historic borders with contemporary ones.
It was also striking to see how much Eastern Europe! Everything You Need to Know About the History (and More) of a Region that Shaped Our World was cited, so that might go on my TBR as well.
Overall, the book does what it can do: being an introduction. It relates events of power struggles but it could have done a better job by either having doubled the amount of pages, or splitting the book in half: one up until the 19th century (the end of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) and one up until present day.
The first 100 pages are mainly about the Greeks and the Roman Empire with an emphasis on the southern part of Eastern Europe.. I think this could have been shortened to create room for actual Eastern European history. The book continues with mainly enumerating armies attacking territories and monarchs claiming rule.
Now, the book does what it can do: explain the borders of modern day Eastern European nations, but it barely speaks about culture, trade, and social issues. Surely there must be more to Eastern Europe than mere conflict?
It also lacks elements to tell a unified story, something to hold to or to get back to when the book deviates. I would also have liked some benchmarks from history to link events in Eastern Europe to global events, for example what was Eastern Europe up to when Christopher Columbus discovered America?
The book uses some maps from Wikipedia, but I would have preferred the book using its own maps to be more in line with the text. Also, using your own maps would unify the book more, helping the reader to comprehend all the fights between nations, peoples, and factions. It would be interesting to have a map with an overlap in which you can compare historic borders with contemporary ones.
It was also striking to see how much Eastern Europe! Everything You Need to Know About the History (and More) of a Region that Shaped Our World was cited, so that might go on my TBR as well.
Overall, the book does what it can do: being an introduction. It relates events of power struggles but it could have done a better job by either having doubled the amount of pages, or splitting the book in half: one up until the 19th century (the end of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) and one up until present day.
March 24, 2022
One of my biggest issues with this history book is that it's supposed to be for Eastern Europe. The first 20% of the book deals primarily with the Roman Empire, including things like Julius Caesar and Gaul, and western European history, revealing a very western European bias. If they wanted to illustrate how Eastern European history interacted with the Roman Empire, they could have focused on the emperors who were from Eastern Europe rather than basic Roman Empire history. Kiev was founded prior to the year 500, but there was nothing about this or really Eastern Europe except in passing and how conquerors moved through the area as they moved into western Europe. It almost seems to me that the writers of this book didn't want to take the time to actually research the history of Eastern Europe during this time frame. Even the Bulgarian Empires, which the authors say was one of the major powers of the time got a scant one page. Not impressed by this at all. I have to conclude that the authors really don't know much about Eastern Europe history. Would I suggest this history book to anyone? Absolutely not.
August 31, 2023
Since I have visited the wonderful country of Estonia and have been interested in Ukraine, I thought I would give this book a try. It is a very broad overview from ancient times (fairly interesting) up to the present day. I do mean a very broad overview too. The maps were generally quite helpful, but reading how this was written was a challenge. The writing was disjointed and uneven and more resembled a cut from a first draft of Wikipedia or a high school term paper. Sadly, this very much undercut the value of the book. Nonetheless, I did learn a bit about this part of Europe and wish to dive deeper into the topic so that and the maps garnered a 3 star (with the writing being 1.5).
December 3, 2023
covered a lot of history.
It was a good book as far as early settlement and shifting empires, I think I was hoping for more detail and even something more than shifting political landscapes. But a good intro to the subject.
It was a good book as far as early settlement and shifting empires, I think I was hoping for more detail and even something more than shifting political landscapes. But a good intro to the subject.
January 2, 2024
How We Got Here
Interesting, informative. There is a lot of useful background which helps makes sense of what is happening in Eastern Europe today. My only criticism is that the writing is not engaging.
Interesting, informative. There is a lot of useful background which helps makes sense of what is happening in Eastern Europe today. My only criticism is that the writing is not engaging.
September 1, 2024
excellent read
This book explains the mess Eastern Europe has been in and where it stands now. From the early Middle Ages to Frans Joseph and the beginning of WW1 until today with the influence of Putin and the disaster that is the Ukraine.
This book explains the mess Eastern Europe has been in and where it stands now. From the early Middle Ages to Frans Joseph and the beginning of WW1 until today with the influence of Putin and the disaster that is the Ukraine.
September 27, 2024
Making History Clear...
Very interesting reading. You hear of these countries on the news and wonder why such things are going on. After reading this (History of Eastern Europe) it makes clear the conflicts that has plagued this area of the world for centuries.
Very interesting reading. You hear of these countries on the news and wonder why such things are going on. After reading this (History of Eastern Europe) it makes clear the conflicts that has plagued this area of the world for centuries.
June 15, 2023
The worst kind of history. Like a high school project using Wikipedia as the source.
March 4, 2025
Definitely a historical overview of the 30,000-foot variety. Still, some descriptions were too brief to convey true understanding.
March 19, 2023
This book has a lot of information presented in a dry format. I would not recommend the Kindle format because the maps are too small to discern key boundaries. It covers ancient history while I was more interested in modern history. It may be the book for you. It's described as "captivating" which is a stretch. Just one opinion.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews