Western Europe

Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe'. The concept at different times has had different meanings, at times including political and cultural considerations as well as geographical.

Classical antiquity and medieval origins

The earliest known distinctions between east and west in Europe originate in the history of the Roman Republic. As Roman domain expanded a cultural and linguistical division appeared between the mainly Greek-speaking eastern provinces which had formed the highly urbanized Hellenistic civilization. On contrast the western territories largely adopted the Latin language. This cultural and linguistic division was eventually reinforced by the later political east-west division of the Roman Empire

The division between these two spheres was enhanced during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages by a number of events. The Western Roman Empire collapsed starting the Early Middle Ages. By contrast, the Eastern Roman Empire, mostly known as Byzantine Empire, managed to survive and even to thrive for another 1000 years. The rise of the Frankish Empire in the west, and in particular the Great Schism that formally divided Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, enhanced the cultural and religious distinctiveness between Eastern and Western Europe.

The conquest of the Byzantine Empire, center of the Eastern Orthodox Church, by the Muslim Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, and the gradual fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire (which had replaced the Frankish Empire) led to a change of the importance of Roman Catholic/Protestant vs. Eastern Orthodox concept in Europe.

Historical events like the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation by Martin Luther and the Counter-Reformation of the Catholic Church, the Age of Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution are considered to be common experiences which have shaped Western European culture and identity. During the Age of Discovery, most of the Western European countries colonized Africa, Asia, South and North America. All these historical events and cultural developments have influence over the Western European concept.

The Cold War

During the final stages of WWII the future of Europe was decided between the Allies in the 1945 Yalta Conference, between the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, the President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin.

Post-war Europe would be divided into two major spheres: the "West", influence by the United States, and the Eastern Bloc, dominated by the Soviet Union. With the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain.

This term had been used during World War II by German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and later Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk in the last days of the war; however, its use was hugely popularised by Winston Churchill, who used it in his famous "Sinews of Peace" address March 5, 1946 at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri:

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.

Although some countries were officially neutral, they were classified according to the nature of their political and economical systems. This division largely defined the popular perception and understanding of Western Europe and its borders with Eastern Europe till this day.

A divided Europe

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe, in the view accepted after the second World War, was mainly composed of all the European countries liberated and then occupied by the Soviet army. It included the German Democratic Republic, widely known as East Germany, formed by the Soviet occupation zone of Germany. All the countries in Eastern Europe had communist regimes imposed upon them. Most of these countries were officially independent from the Soviet Union, but the practical extent of this independence was quite limited. In some matters many of them were little more than client-states of the Soviet Union.

Currently, the borders of Eastern Europe are a topic of debate, especially because of the countries and people identifying themselves with Central Europe and denouncing the notion of "Easternity".^{[dubious – discuss]}

Most of these countries were members of the military Warsaw pact and its economical twin COMECON. First and foremost was the Soviet Union (which by itself included Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, etc). Other countries dominated by the Soviet Union were the German Democratic Republic, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania.

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (formed after WWII and before its later dismemberment) was not a member of the Warsaw Pact. It was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, an organization created in an attempt to avoid being assigned to any of the two blocs. It was demonstratively independent from the Soviet Union for most of the Cold War period, but because of its communist regime it was widely regarded part of the Eastern/communist bloc.

Albania broke with the Soviet Union in the early 1960s as a result of the Sino-Soviet split, aligning itself instead with China. Despite this, it had a communist regime and thus was considered part of the Eastern/communist bloc.

Western Europe

At the end of the World War II almost all countries of Western Europe received economical assistance from the United States through the Marshall Plan. Most joined NATO and/or the European Community or its rival, the European Free Trade Association.

Western Europe was and is composed by:

United Kingdom and France, one of the several victors of the war.
The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg countries who had been occupied by Nazi Germany and subsequently liberated by the Western Allies.
The Federal Republic of Germany, widely known as West Germany, which had been formed by the three occupation zones of Germany belonging to the Western Allies (USA, UK, and France). The whole of Germany is now regarded as Western Europe
Italy, a former Axis Power who had surrendered and been occupied by the Western Allies.
Ireland gained its independence in the 1922 from the United Kingdom. It stayed neutral during the war. It never joined NATO but it joined the European Union in 1973.
The Nordic countries were a peculiar case. Denmark and Norway had been conquered by Nazi Germany but were not liberated by the allies. During the war Iceland, then still united with Denmark under a common king, had been invaded and occupied by the United Kingdom and the United States without any casualties by either side. In fact Iceland proclaimed its full independence during the war.
Sweden had managed to remain neutral throughout the war.
Finland had been a co-belligerent of Germany against the Soviet Union and it had been defeated, but was not conquered or occupied. (for further details see: Continuation War). The peace treaty between Finland and the Soviet Union stipulated that the Soviet Union would annex minor parts of Finland, and that Finland would have friendly relations with the Soviet Union (see also: Moscow Armistice).

Austria and Switzerland were also a peculiar case. Austria had been incorporated into Nazi Germany through the Anschluss before the war, while Switzerland had managed to remain neutral throughout the WWII. After the war both of them remained neutral, in the case of Austria through the Austrian State Treaty. Austria later joined the European Union but not NATO. Switzerland declined membership of NATO and the European Union and joined EFTA instead.

Other countries also became increasingly part of Western Europe.

Countries who were under the rule of dictators, Portugal, Spain, and Greece became parliamentarian democracies in the mid-1970s. The first two are situated in the geographic south-west of Europe, while the last one is located in the south-east of it. They joined NATO and also the European Union.
The European microstates of Vatican City, San Marino, Monaco, Andorra and Liechtenstein are considered part of Western Europe but they are mainly overlooked. Many of these states have special agreements and treaties with the European Union.
The legal status of many of the Overseas territories in Europe (Gibraltar, Channel Islands, Faroe Islands, etc) are peculiar and vary from case to case. Despite all that, they are also considered part of Western Europe.
Malta is generally considered part of Western Europe.^[1]

Turkey

Turkey, as a member of NATO was accepted as belonging to the Western bloc. However, it has yet to become a part of the European Union. Turkey is typically considered to be a transcontinental nation in both Southeastern Europe and Southwest Asia.

Later political developments

The world changed dramatically with the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. The Federal Republic of Germany peacefully absorbed the Democratic Republic of Germany, leading to the German reunification. COMECON and the Warsaw Pact were dissolved, and in 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Several countries which had been part of the Soviet Union regained their full independence.

Although the term Western Europe was largely defined of the Cold War, it still remains much in use. The term is commonly used in the media and in everyday use both in "western" and other regions of Europe.

The term Central Europe reappeared. Germany for example is still often considered Western in some countries, but Germans (also politicians) consider Germany more and more Central European (see also German Wikipedia).

Western Europe has increasingly less to do with the European Union. The 1995, 2004, and 2007 enlargements saw many eastern countries joining the EU, and a view that Europe is divided strictly into the West and the East is sometimes considered patronising or pejorative by many in the nominally eastern countries. Though the majority in the West see a difference between their cultures and the former Eastern Bloc nations.

Present time

Definition by the United Nations

File:Location-Europe-UNsubregions.png

Contemporary statistical regions of Europe as delineated by the United Nations (UN definition of Western Europe marked light blue):

Northern Europe

Western Europe

Eastern Europe

Southern Europe

The United Nations definition considers Western Europe to consist of the following nine countries,^[2] except in the case of United Nations Regional Groups, in which the term also includes northern and southern Europe: