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Mitteleuropa (German:[ˈmɪtl̩ʔɔʏˌroːpa]), meaningMiddle Europe, is one of theGerman terms forCentral Europe.[1] The term has acquired diverse cultural, political and historical connotations.[2][3][4]
ThePrussian vision ofMitteleuropa was apan-Germanist state-centricimperium, an idea that was later adopted in a modified form byNazi geopoliticians.[5][6][7]
The German term "Mitteleuropa" is usually considered to have negative connotations attributed to Germanimperialism, and has been defined in various ways over time. In Austria, Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Croatia and northern Italy, especially in Friuli and Trieste, the common understanding of Mitteleuropa is somewhat different from that in Germany: an imperial term primarily equated with the successor states of the former Habsburg monarchy. The Central EuropeanOrder of St. George has its centers mainly in the area of the former Austrian Empire.[8][9]
By the mid-14th century, when theBlack Death brought an end to the 500-year-longOstsiedlung process, populations from Western Europe had moved into the "Wendish" Central European areas ofGermania Slavica far beyond theElbe andSaale rivers. They had moved along the Baltic coast fromHolstein toFarther Pomerania (in the Kingdom of Poland), up theOder river to theMoravian Gate, down theDanube into theKingdom of Hungary and into theSlovene lands ofCarniola. From the mouth of theVistula river and thePrussian region, theTeutonic Knights by force continued the migration through theGrand Duchy of Lithuania, up to the Estonian Reval (Tallinn) in theLivonian Confederation (encompassing the areas of present-day Estonia, Latvia and northern Lithuania). They had also settled the mountainous border regions ofBohemia andMoravia and formed a distinct social class of citizens in towns likePrague,Havlíčkův Brod (German Brod),Olomouc (Olmütz) andBrno (Brünn). They had moved into the PolishKraków Voivodeship, theWestern Carpathians andTransylvania (Siebenbürgen), introducing the practice ofcrop rotation andGerman town law.
In the first half of the 19th century, ideas of a Central-Europeanfederation between the Russian Empire and the West Europeangreat powers arose, based on geographical, ethnic and economic considerations.
The termMitteleuropa was formally introduced byKarl Ludwig von Bruck andLorenz von Stein, a first theorization of the term attempted in 1848,[10] with the aim of a series of interlocking economic confederations.[11] However, plans advocated by the Austrian minister-president,Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg, foundered on the resistance of the German states. After theAustro-Prussian War of 1866 and the Prussian-ledunification of Germany under ChancellorOtto von Bismarck in 1871, In Austria, theMitteleuropa concept evolved as an alternative to theGerman question, equivalent to an amalgamation of the states of theGerman Confederation and the multi-ethnicAustrian Empire under the firm leadership of theHabsburg dynasty.
Political and ethnic visions of aMitteleuropa began to dominate in Germany. After theRevolutions of 1848liberal theorists likeFriedrich List andHeinrich von Gagern, socialists and then later groups like the GermanNational Liberal Party would adopt the idea. However, a distinctPan-German notion accompanied by the concept of a renewedsettler colonialism would become associated with the idea. In theGerman Empire, theOstforschung concentrated on the achievements byethnic Germans in Central Europe on the basis ofethnocentrism with significantanti-Slavic notions, as propagated by thePan-German League. By 1914 and theSeptemberprogramm,Mitteleuropa, meaning central Europe under the control of Germany, had become a part of German hegemonic policy.[12]
TheMitteleuropa plan was to achieve an economic andcultural hegemony overCentral Europe by theGerman Empire[13][14] and subsequent economic and financialexploitation[15][16] of this region combined with direct annexations,[15] making of puppet states, and the creation of puppet states for a buffer between Germany andRussia.The issue of Central Europe was taken by German politicianFriedrich Naumann in 1915 in his workMitteleuropa. According to his thought, this part of Europe was to become a politically and economically integrated bloc subjected to German rule. In his program, Naumann also supported programs ofGermanization andHungarization as well.[17] In his book, Naumann used imperialist rhetoric combined with praises to nature, and imperial condescension towards non-German people, while advising politicians to show some "flexibility" towards non-German languages to achieve "harmony".[13] Naumann wrote that it would stabilize the whole Central-European region.[18] Some parts of the planning included designs on creating a new state inCrimea and have theBaltic states to be client states.[19]
The ruling political elites of Germany accepted theMitteleuropa plan during World War I while drawing outGerman war aims and plans for the new order of Europe.[17]Mitteleuropa was to be created by establishing a series of puppet states whose political, economic and military aspects would be under the control of the German Reich.[20] The entire region was to serve as an economic backyard of Germany, whose exploitation would enable the German sphere of influence to better compete against strategic rivals likeBritain, theUnited States.[20] Political, military and economic organization was to be based on German domination,[21] with commercial treaties imposed on the newly-created states of Poland and Ukraine, working as Germanprotectorates. It was believed that the Germanworking classes could be appeased by German politicians through the economic benefits of territorial annexation, a neweconomic sphere of influence, andexploitation of conquered countries for the material benefit of Germany.[22] Partial realization of these plans was reflected in theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk, where guarantees of economic and military domination over Ukraine by Germany were laid out.[23] TheMitteleuropa plan was viewed as a threat by the British Empire, which concluded it would destroy British continental trade and diminish its military power.[14]
WhileMitteleuropa describes a geographical location, it also is the word denoting a political concept of aGerman-dominated and exploited Central European union that was put into motion during theFirst World War. The historian Jörg Brechtefeld describesMitteleuropa as the following:
The termMitteleuropa never has been merely a geographical term; it is also a political one, much as Europe, East and West are terms that political scientists employ as synonyms for political ideas or concepts. Traditionally,Mitteleuropa has been that part of Europa between East and West. As profane as this may sound, this is probably the most precise definition ofMitteleuropa available.[24]
Mitteleuropean literature of the period between the end of the 19th century and World War II has been the subject of renewed interest, starting in the 1960s. Pioneers in this revival have beenClaudio Magris,Roberto Calasso, and the Italian publishing houseAdelphi.[25] In the 1920s, French scholarPierre Renouvin published eleven volumes of documents explaining that Germany decided to bail out Austria which they believed was threatened with economic disintegration by Serbian and other nationalist movements. J Keiger maintained in the debate on the Fischer Controversy that confirmed this opinion rebutting revisionist arguments that Germany was looking for an excuse to occupy Austro-Hungary.[26]
German ChancellorTheobald von Bethmann Hollweg's plan prepared for aCentral European Economic Union. Published in September 1914, the program for interdependent development was designed to include France in aCentral European Customs Federation. TheGerman occupation of Belgium was the first phase in this process, which ultimately failed to come to fruition. Plans to create a Duchy of Flanders and a Grand Duchy of Warsaw were discussed as political units of future "localized" administration. The original economic plan was conceived pre-1914 byWalther Rathenau andAlfred von Gwinner, respectively, with the legal support ofHans Delbrück. It was a Customs Union consistent with a history of theZollverein andGerman Confederation of the 19th century, in which German philosophers believed in the wider sustainability of a Greater Europe. There were concerns from Schoenbeck and others that it would make Germany too inward-looking, butMitteleuropa gained the support of von Hertling, later a Chancellor and Kurt Kuhlmann, the diplomat. The major sticking point was continued and exclusive German access to Austrian markets, while in the mind of others, like von Falkenhausen, mastery of competition was not possible before military mastery of Europe.[27]
An extension ofMitteleuropa was the Longwy-Briey basin. Capturing this mining area west ofAlsace-Lorraine, already annexed since 1871, was a major part of theSchlieffen Plan and Germany's war aims. The high plateau dominated the French interior, giving the German army a wide range of fire. But the area also contained immensely prized deposits of iron. These were essential to both France and German war efforts. The development of heavy industry was a central feature of economic policy "under Imperial Protective Administration." Initially, Roedern, theReich treasurer, was deeplyskeptical that a plan to "incorporate" French assets into a customs union and federation would succeed, but civilian doubts were overcome by January 1915, and by 26 August 1916, it was official German policy.
The first port ofMitteleuropa was Antwerp: Belgium's occupation in August 1914 was suggestive of partition. AnglophileAlbert Ballin, therefore, set up a "German–Belgian trading company" to transfer assets and people from the occupied territories back to the Reich. The Post Office was to become German, and so too the railways, and the banks, all overseen by anEconomics Committee, which would be a liaison group between private enterprise and the public sector. Belgian capital markets were absorbed into Karl von Lumm's Report, and all currency issued was backed by theReichsbank. German obsession with the "Race to the Sea" and right to Belgian seaports continued to be a major policy initiative in the Memorandum of "Attachement" maritime security persisted in theGerman-Luxembourg Customs Association finally completed on 25 November 1915. Much of the theoretical work would be carried out bySix Economic Associations discussed in memoranda from Spring 1915 designated so as to set Germany free from British tutelage.
Mitteleuropa also had its opponents inside Germany.Erich Marcks, a historian from Magdeburg and a member ofSPD, had referred to "that great European idea" before the war. And then, in March 1916, he urged the Chancellor to renew calls in theReichstag for a public debate on the war's aims.
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisourceit may refer to different things for different people. Its meaning changes in different national and historical contexts, or as Jacques Rupnik ... observed: "Tell me where Central Europe is, and I can tell who you are." For example, when Germans start talking about Central Europe,Mitteleuropa, or their historical relations with "the East," everyone starts getting nervous because this inevitably conjures up negative historical associations starting with the conquests of the Teutonic Knights in the Middle Ages and ending with German imperialism in the nineteenth century, World War I, the Third Reich, Nazi imperialism, World War II, and the Holocaust.
I have identified at least seven different "definitions" of "Central Europe":Mitteleuropa (in the German imperial sense); German-Jewish Central Europe; the Central Europe of small (non-Germanic) nations (the Palacky-Masaryk tradition); the nostalgic,k.u.k. or Austro-Hungarian version ofMitteleuropa (without imperial Germans) which is related to the Austro-Hungarian version ofMitteleuropa in the 1970s and 1980s (Kreisky-Kadar-Busek); theMitteleuropa of the West German left and peace movement in the 1980s; the "Central Europe" of Eastern European dissidents and intellectuals (for example, Milosz, Kundera, Konrad); and finally the "Central and Eastern Europe" of the European Union.
The notion ofMitteleuropa carries diverse connotations, many far from positive. ... theMitteleuropa fondly recalled by Habsburg-era nostalgics stands in clear oppositions to the Prussian understanding ofMitteleuropa. The Habsburg multi-national vision is a negation of the Prussian state-centric ideal first promoted by Friedrich Naumann and others, and later adopted by Nazi geopoliticians.
Not only has Central Europe been recovered from oblivion, but also the memory of past links, affinities and cultural commonalities between Italy and other Mitteleuropean countries — namely, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia — seems to have come to the forefront again. ... one should mention the role and the weight of Mitteleuropean literature in Italy. This genre has acquired considerable prominence among Italian readers and in cultural debates since the early 1960s, thanks to literary festivals such asMittelfest and to the support of important publishing houses such as Adelphi. Authors such as ... are all read and known to Italians not only as Italian, Austria, Czech, Hungarian, etc, but also asMitteleuropean. The well-known writer Claudio Magris contributed more than anybody else to the 1960s revival of Mitteleuropean culture and to the awareness of the existence of a common cultural koiné among those territories that were once part of the Habsburg Empire. ... The notion ofMitteleuropa, as authors such as Magris conceive it, has nothing to do with the notorious pan-Germanist interpretation of it that goes back to Frederich Naumann'sMitteleuropa (Le Rider 1995:97–106). The point of reference is, instead, the super-national, cosmopolitan Austro-Hungarian Empire and its specific 'cultural and spiritual koiné'. ... there is no embarrassment surrounding the use of this term in Italy as is the case with Germany and Austria.
the German-speaking world was the filter through which western European ideas were transmitted to central Europe; ... The frontier of thisMitteleuropa may correspond to the more benign Habsburg or, after 1867, the Austro-Hungarian version ofMitteleuropa as well as the more aggressive imperial German versions of Naumann's German "economic space" or Hitler'sLebensraum.
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