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Draft:History of Eastern Europe

This article covers the history of Eastern Europe from early hominids to the modern day.

Prehistory

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Paleolithic

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The first modern human culture in Eastern Europe and Europe in general was the Aurignacian culture, parts of which were located in the modern-day Czechia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine. It is thought to have lasted from around 43,000 to 28,000 BP.[1][2]

 
Entrance of Szeleta Cave, Bükk Mountains, Miskolc, Hungary

The Szeleta Culture was a culture contemporary to that of the that of the Aurignacian culture that existed between the Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic periods in Austria, Moravia, northern Hungary and southern Poland.[3] It is dated to have existed 44,000 to 40,000 years ago when both modern humans and Neanderthals co-existed with each other. Most experts believe it to be a Neanderthal culture though this is still disputed.

 
Venus of Moravany, a Gravettian Venus figurine discovered in Slovakia

In around 33,000 BP, the Gravettian culture of the Upper Paleolithic would form.[4][5] The eastern Gravettians lived in modern day Ukraine and Russia and would hunt mammoths in the East European Plain.[6][7]

The eastern Gravettian culture would be succeeded by the Epigravettian culture. The Epigravettian culture was the last Upper Paleolithic culture and existed in parts of modern day Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Russia. It is estimated to have started around 21,000 years ago and ended around 10,000 years ago.

Mesolithic and Neolithic

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Sculpture with abstract engravings from Lepenski Vir, a major site of the Iron Gates Mesolithic culture

One of the first Mesolithic cultures to exist in Eastern Europe is that of the Iron Gates Mesolithic which is dated anywhere between 13,000-6,000 BCE. It existed in the Iron Gates which is a gorge in the river Danube between modern day Serbia and Romania.

In what is now Poland, the Swiderian culture existed and lasted from c. 11,000 to c. 8,200 BCE.

 
Tools used by the Kunda culture

The Kunda culture of Estonia (c. 8500– c. 5000 BC) is thought to have succeeded from the Swiderian culture.

Around a thousand years or so after the start of the Kunda culture, the Elshanka culture would start. Located in the middle of the Volga river in modern day Russia, the culture formed around 7,000 BCE.[8]

The sites of the Elshanka culture are home to the oldest pottery ever discovered in Europe.[9][10] The creation of pottery would spread to other cultures in Eastern Europe such as the Dnieper–Donets culture (c. 5000-4200 BCE), which was a culture was located in Ukraine near the Black Sea, and the Narva culture (c. 5300 to 1750 BCE)[11], which was a culture located in the eastern Baltic and succeeded the Kunda culture.

Chalcolithic

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Reconstruction of an elite burial at the Varna Necropolis

The Varna culture (c. 4550 BC – c. 4,100 BC)[12][13] was a Chalcolithic culture in northeastern Bulgaria. The main site of the Varna culture is that of the Varna Necropolis which is home to 294 graves and the oldest gold jewellery ever discovered in Europe.[14]

The culture was contemporary of and closely related to the Gumelnița culture which was a culture in modern day Romania based around the banks of the Danube river.

 
Map of the extent of the Vinča culture

In Southeast Europe, the Vinča culture existed. It is dated to have started around 5400 and ended in around 4500 BC.[15][16][17]

World Wars and Interwar period (1917-1945)

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German cession of the Sudetenland

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Main articles: Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945) § Demands for Sudeten autonomy, and Munich Agreement

On the 28 March 1938, pro-Nazi Sudetenland politician, Konrad Henlein would meet with Adolf Hitler in Berlin. Henlein would instruct Hitler to raise demands on the Czechoslovak government for the cession of the Sudetenland to Germany.

Hitler would start demanding that Sudetenland be ceded to Germany. Britain and France, believing Hitler's demands were limited, would pressure Czechoslovakia into giving into German demands though the Czechoslovak president, Edvard Beneš, would continue to refuse to accept such demands. Beneš would mobilise Czechoslovakia due to the threat of a German invasion.[18]

On the 30 May, Hitler would sign the Fall Grün, a secret directive for a war with Czechoslovakia no later than 1 October.

 
From left to right: Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Galeazzo Ciano pictured before signing the Munich Agreement

On the 13 September, British prime minister Neville Chamberlain and French prime minister Édouard Daladier would meet Adolf Hitler in Munich for the Munich Agreement in which they would both agree to accept the German occupation of the Sudetenland.[19]

On the 1 October, the Sudetenland was annexed by Germany.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Milisauskas, Sarunas (2012-12-06). European Prehistory: A Survey. Springer. ISBN 9781461507512.
  2. ^ Shea, John J. (2013-02-28). Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic Near East: A Guide. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139619387.
  3. ^ B, Adams (1998). The Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transition in Central Europe: The Record from the Bükk Mountain Region. BAR Publishing. p. 175.
  4. ^ Jacobi, R.M.; Higham, T.F.G.; Haesaerts, P.; Jadin, I.; Basell, L.S. (2015). "Radiocarbon chronology for the Early Gravettian of northern Europe: New AMS determinations for Maisières-Canal, Belgium". Antiquity. 84 (323): 26–40. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00099749. S2CID 163089681.
  5. ^ Pike, A. W. G.; Hoffmann, D. L.; Garcia-Diez, M.; Pettitt, P. B.; Alcolea, J.; De Balbin, R.; Gonzalez-Sainz, C.; De Las Heras, C.; Lasheras, J. A.; Montes, R.; Zilhao, J. (2012). "U-Series Dating of Paleolithic Art in 11 Caves in Spain". Science. 336 (6087): 1409–13. Bibcode:2012Sci...336.1409P. doi:10.1126/science.1219957. PMID 22700921. S2CID 7807664.
  6. ^ Marquer, L.; Lebreton, V.; Otto, T.; Valladas, H.; Haesaerts, P.; Messager, E.; Nuzhnyi, D.; Péan, S. (2012). "Charcoal scarcity in Epigravettian settlements with mammoth bone dwellings: The taphonomic evidence from Mezhyrich (Ukraine)". Journal of Archaeological Science. 39 (1): 109–20. Bibcode:2012JArSc..39..109M. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.09.008.
  7. ^ Germonpré, Mietje; Sablin, Mikhail; Khlopachev, Gennady Adolfovich; Grigorieva, Galina Vasilievna (2008). "Possible evidence of mammoth hunting during the Epigravettian at Yudinovo, Russian Plain". Journal of Anthropological Archaeology. 27 (4): 475–92. doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2008.07.003.
  8. ^ Baumer, Christoph (18 April 2018). History of Central Asia, the: 4-volume set. Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781838608682.
  9. ^ Anthony, David W. (26 July 2010). The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1400831104.
  10. ^ Anthony, D.W. (2007). "Pontic-Caspian Mesolithic and Early Neolithic societies at the time of the Black Sea Flood: a small audience and small effects". In Yanko-Hombach, V.; Gilbert, A.A.; Panin, N.; Dolukhanov, P.M. (eds.). The Black Sea Flood Question: changes in coastline, climate and human settlement. Springer. pp. 245–370. ISBN 978-9402404654.
  11. ^ Zinkevičius, Zigmas; Luchtanas, Aleksiejus; Česnys, Gintautas (2007). "Papildymai. Narvos kultūra". Tautos kilmė (in Lithuanian). Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas. Archived from the original on 2011-07-22.
  12. ^ Chapman, John (2012). "Varna". The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, Volume 1. Oxford University Press. p. 342. ISBN 978-0-19-973578-5.
  13. ^ Jeunesse, Christian (2017). "From Neolithic kings to the Staffordshire hoard. Hoards and aristocratic graves in the European Neolithic: The birth of a 'Barbarian' Europe?". The Neolithic of Europe. Oxbow Books. p. 175. ISBN 978-1-78570-654-7.
  14. ^ Grande, Lance; Augustyn, Allison (15 November 2009). Gems and Gemstones: Timeless Natural Beauty of the Mineral World. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226305110.
  15. ^ Suciu 2011
  16. ^ Perić 2017
  17. ^ Roberts, Radivojević & Marić 2021
  18. ^ Timelines of World History. DK. 5 May 2022. p. 259. ISBN 978-0-2415-1575-4. German claims on the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia… led Hitler to threaten to take the disputed territory by force. The Czech government looked to France and Britain for support, but this was not forthcoming. A general mobilization ensued, attracting over a million volunteers, but Hitler was not deterred.
  19. ^ Timelines of World History. DK. 5 May 2022. p. 259. ISBN 978-0-2415-1575-4. Seeking to appease Hitler over his claims in Czechoslovakia, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and France's premier Édouard Daladier flew to Munich to sign an agreement accepting the German occupation of the Sudetenland and establishing a commission to determine the future of other disputed areas.
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