Post War (WWI) Central and Eastern Europe: Time of Civilizational Choice

Abstract

The creation of the national states in the Central and Eastern Europe after First World War was of enormous importance to the peoples of this region. Nevertheless, despite the important issue of gaining their independence and sovereignty, the agenda of their social life at the time contained yet a really crucial issue. The peoples who received the right to statehood after the end of the war, at the same time had to solve another, no less important, problem, namely the choice of the form of this statehood, its social-political system and the model of economic development. This decision largely depended on the direction of the historical development of the states during the 20th century. We must recall that from the mid-17th century until the First World War, the population of a large European region (to the east of Oder) was in a state of economic and social stagnation. This situation is explained by the previous political and social-economic conditions, dependent on all aspects of historical development. That is why, at the beginning of the 20th century, most of the peoples who were part of the Austro-Hungarian, German and Russian empires have actually remained at the periphery of European civilization, lagging far behind industrial countries of Western Europe and North America, according to many indicators of social development. It was vital for the newly formed states of Central and Eastern Europe to choose the optimal model of a social system to compensate for the lost time and overcome the civilizational gap between them and the advanced Western countries. It is a matter of actual scientific analysis of how natural and justified this choice was.

Keywords

• Central and Eastern Europe
• civilization choice
• modernization
• nationalism
• authoritarian dictatorships