Cambridge University Central European Society - CUCES

Date: Monday 6 March 2006
Venue: Lloyd Room, Christ's College

5–7pm

During the talk we learnt everything we needed to know about the term Central Europe. First of all, it has to be noted that it consists of two terms: central and Europe and it is putting these terms together that resulted in the birth of Central Europe as such. For a long time there was no need for the term because of the domination of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation in the region. After the split between the Prussians and Austro-Hungarians the region was no longer uniform and a search for a new term began. The first definition of Central Europe ever to be published (in the 19th century) said that it was a part of Europe which stayed under the German cultural influence thus excluding Poland which is central to our society. Not surprisingly that's the way the Germans understood it. The current ‚Central Europe‘ was termed Central-Eastern Europe but it's history now ;) Anyway, we believe that ‚Central Europe‘ should now be used instead of the slightly outdated ‚Eastern Europe‘. That might be an oversimplification, but if in doubt just say Central!