Western Europe

Western Europe as defined by the National Geographic Society.^[1]

Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the westernmost region of Europe, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity — the region lying in the Western part of Europe. Another definition was created during the Cold War and used to describe the non-Communist states of Europe that were allied with the United States to some degree. As a result, geographically central and eastern countries that steered clear of Soviet influence during the Cold War are usually included, while western members of the former Eastern Bloc (with the exception of Eastern Germany) are excluded.

Countries described as Western European are invariably high-income developed countries, characterized by democratic political systems, mixed economies combining the free market with aspects of the welfare state, and are members of NATO.

Classical antiquity and medieval origins

As Roman domain expanded, a cultural and linguistic division appeared between the mainly Greek-speaking eastern provinces which had formed the highly urbanized Hellenistic civilization. In 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 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 Greek or 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.

Western Europe's significant historical events include 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. During the final stages of World War II the future of Europe was decided between the Allies in the 1945 Yalta Conference, between the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin.

Post-war Europe would be divided into two major spheres: the West, influenced 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:

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

Eastern Europe

Trade blocs in 1988. EEC member states are marked in blue, EFTA – green, and Comecon – red.

Eastern Europe, in the view accepted after the second World War, was mainly composed of all the European countries 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 of Western culture,^[2] identifying themselves with Central Europe and Northern Europe.

• Most of these countries were members of the military Warsaw pact and its economic twin COMECON. First and foremost was the Soviet Union (which included the modern-day territories of Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine). 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 World War II 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

Western Europe is composed of:

• Andorra
• Austria
• Belgium
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Italy
• Liechtenstein
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Monaco
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Portugal
• San Marino
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom
• Vatican City

Later political developments

Western European Union Union de l'Europe occidentale
Members • Associate members • Observers • Associate partners
Membership		10 member states 6 associate member states 5 observer countries 7 associate partner countries
Establishment		Treaty of Brussels
-	Signed	17 March 1948

The world changed dramatically with the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. The Federal Republic of Germany peacefully absorbed the German Democratic Republic, 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.

Western Europe has increasingly less to do with the European Union. The 1995, 2004, and 2007 enlargements saw many post-Soviet 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 countries of Central Europe and Northern Europe.

Present time

Definition used by the United Nations Statistics Division

Regions used for statistical processing purposes by the United Nations Statistics Division (Western Europe marked light blue):      Northern Europe      Western Europe      Eastern Europe      Southern Europe

The United Nations Statistics Division considers Western Europe to consist of the following nine countries,^[3] except in the case of United Nations Regional Groups, in which the term also includes northern and southern Europe:

•  Austria
•  Belgium
•  France
•  Germany
•  Liechtenstein
•  Luxembourg
•  Monaco
•  Netherlands
•  Switzerland

However, it should be noticed that this statistical division was designed during the Cold War period. According to the UN Statistics Division, the assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories by the United Nations.^[4]

Population of Western Europe

Countries of Western Europe as defined by the National Geographic Society.^[1]

Name of country, with flag	Population (2009 est.)	Population (2000 est.)	-/+ of Population	Percent change	Capital
Austria	8,355,260	8,002,186	353,074	4.33%	Vienna
Belgium	10,665,867	10,296,350	369,517	3.46%	Brussels
Denmark	5,511,451	5,330,020	181,431	3.30%	Copenhagen
Finland	5,244,749	5,167,486	77,263	1.58%	Helsinki
France	64,351,000	60,537,977	3,813,023	6.03%	Paris
Germany	82,002,356	82,163,475	-161,119	-0.11%	Berlin
Iceland	319,368	279,049	40,319	12.73%	Reykjavík
Ireland	4,465,540	3,777,763	687,777	15.51%	Dublin
Italy	60,053,442	56,923,524	3,129,918	5.32%	Rome
Luxembourg	493,500	433,600	59,900	12.24%	Luxembourg
Netherlands	16,486,587	15,863,950	622,637	3.88%	Amsterdam
Norway	4,799,252	4,478,497	320,755	6.79%	Oslo
Portugal	10,627,250	10,195,014	432,236	4.17%	Lisbon
Spain	46,661,950	40,049,708	6,612,242	12.71%	Madrid
Sweden	9,256,347	8,861,426	394,921	4.37%	Stockholm
Switzerland	7,700,202	7,1624,444	535,758	7.06%	Bern
United Kingdom	61,634,599	58,785,246	2,849,353	4.73%	London
Total	397,475,574	378,309,715	19,519,387	4.82%

See also

• Western European Union
• Western world
• First World
• New Europe
• Old Europe
• Marshall Plan
• Eastern Europe
• Central Europe
• Northern Europe
• Romano-Germanic culture

References and notes

• The Making of Europe, ISBN 0-14-015409-4, by Robert Bartlett
• Crescent and Cross, ISBN 1-84212-753-5, by Hugh Bicheno
• The Normans, ISBN 0-7524-2881-0, by Trevor Rowley
• 1066 The Year of the Three Battles, ISBN 0-7126-6672-9, by Frank McLynn

External links

• The European sub-regions according to the UN
• Teaching about Western Europe
• Western Europe.info

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