Englishman Reacts to... Where's the Line Between Western & Eastern Europe?
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- čas přidán 26. 12. 2023
- Where would you place the line between Western and Eastern Europe?
Original: • 403,843 Votes: Where's...
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In Poland🇵🇱, the nobility elected the king(Wolna elekcja). So we had "democracy" earlier than some Western countries.😅
To be correct, we never were "democratic" just as today no country is, we live in democratic republic just like rest of Europe.
Similar thing was with medieval Poland we had parliament manarchy, something between monarchy and republic thus why Poland is called Rzeczpospolita in our country from latin words Res Publica.
Polska in times of elected kings was no democracy but oligarchy (fu***n sarmacka szlachta)
@@marcin7054 ale odpowiedź na pytanie który Kraj jest bardziej "demokratyczny" Francja, czy Polska, nie jest taka oczywista.
Owszem, ustrój jest republikański, tak jak w większości krajów "Demokratycznych". Czyli nazywanych "demokratyczne".
And now it's due to that democracy that the line of east and west is put by where people think it is and not by the actual location of the place... Crazy.
@@hory-portier Not crazy at all. When it comes to geography it's different, but calling for example Lithuania, Czechs or Poland one of western countries is happening in cultural way. So called western(Latin) civilization reach as far as catholic church was considered main religion it bringed western values and European style on those lands with baptism of those countries like Poland in 966 or Lithuania in 1387, also reforms of finances that came after clergy and developed roman philosophy and science.
Eastern countries are descendants of Byzantium and Orthodox church.
Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany, Austria have almost a millennium of history as Central Europe. Just look at the central squares in the historic towns of those countries. They share many similarities. Also the traditional religion. You won't find that in Russia or Belarus. In Eastern Europe you get the Cyrillic script and Orthodox Christianity as the main traditional religion. The German concept of 'Mitteleuropa' is very old. Being part of the so-called 'Eastern Block' is just a short episode in the history of those countries - and one that happened mostly against their will, for that matter.
Labelling Poland, Czechia or Slovakia as 'Eastern Europe' is nonsense. Unless a person can grasp only two things: black/white and no blue/red/green.
Dobrze napisane.
East jest zdrowszy mentalnie i normalny. Nie musimy na siłę pchać się do upadającego Zachodu.
Szczególnie Rosja jest bardzo zdrowym i moralnym krajem 😂
Totally agree. Cocept of this video is very, very poor. First, what is the point of asking a cohort of such incompetent people, that 2% of them didn't marked western-most continental country as West? Secondly, giving only W-E option they required to give false answers for middle, nordic, balcan, mediterian countries.
This is a dumbass cope. I'm Czech and people repeat this bullshit here as well. We were behind the Iron Curtain so we're Eastern Europe, simple as. Who cares what happened 100's or 1000's years ago. The effects of communism are still clearly visible today.
Nobody outside of Poland and Czechia has ever heard of this so-called "Central Europe". Maybe we should be working on getting rid of stereotypes about Eastern Europe instead of insisting on this pathetic lie that "we're not part of it."
Bez europejskiej części Rosji ten materiał nie ma sensu.
Idioci nie wiedza o europejskiej czesci Rosji, a zapytano tylko idiotow
Zgadza się szczególnie, że zawarto w w tych rozważaniach Turcję, która tak, jak Rosja ma azjatycką i europejską część. Poza tym Turcja jest krajem muzułmańskim, nie mającym nic wspólnego z Europejską cywilizacją przeciwieństwie do Rosji.
Jeśli o byciu krajem zachodnim, czy nie ma decydować stosunek do lgb... to lepiej być Wschodem, bo jest to zagrożeniem dla cywilizacji człowieka.
@@andHAM8
Załóż sobie pancerną szybę na tyłek albo lecz się z paranoi. Twoja niewiedza po prostu poraża. Ty myślisz, że w rosji nie ma gejów? Tam aż się od nich roi, problem w tym, że ty nic nie wiesz ani o rosji, ani o świecie. Wolę żyć wśród gejów, niż wśród dziczy, która idzie mordować sąsiadów, rozruszać życie milionom ludzi dla 200 tysięcy rubli. Przemyśl swoją moralność, bo głupio myślisz.
Dlaczego nie ma? Autorzy zastanawiają się, czy kraj jest uważany za wschidni czy za zachodni. Po co mieli więc pytać o państwo, w które leży najbardziej na wschód ze wszystkich? Inna sprawa, że ten materiał rzeczywiście nie ma sensu, ale z innych powodów.
@@karfrancouzsky9725 W takim razie konsekwentnie nie ma sensu pytać o państwo, które leży najbardziej na zachód ze wszystkich, co nie?
The geographical center of Europe is almost in the center of Poland., near Łódź city. The European continent's eastern border is the Ural Mountains, the joint between Europe and Asia.
No nie bardzo. Geograficzny środek Europy jest blisko zbiegu granic Białorusi, Polski i Litwy, a leży na Litwie. Koło Łodzi jest geograficzny środek Polski.
@@laggyluke5700Jest kilka wyznaczonych środków Europy zależnie od sposób liczenia, wiesz co jest ciekawe ? Zwolennicy teori, że śród Europy jest w Polsce byli bardzo chętnie na ugodę ze zwolennikami teorii o środku Europy w Niemczech, Białorusi, Litwie i Białorusi, jakoby środkiem Europy była granicą pomiędzy państwami z ich punktami. Oznacza to, że po rozmowie, 95% osób, zgadza się z tym, że środek Europy jest w pobliżu granic Polski, ale nie wewnątrz jej.
Dla mnie jest to bardzo dziwna zależność, ale hej, spójrz na mapę na końcu przedstawianego filmu, po podzieleniu Europy na Wschód i Zachód geograficznie, linia przebiega przez Polsko- Niemiecką granicę, więc może coś w tym jest...
Eastern border of Europe is Ural Mountains.
Western, Central and Eastern Europe, that's how we should split Europe
and a little far east and far west
Poland is firmly in the middle, so geographically it's located in central Europe. The concept east west was established after the 2nd world war.
Poland is a Christian European country, it's culture is a product of European values, and norms.
The video clearly illustrated how people, especially west of Europe perceives things, how can Greece be west when by their logic it's located towards the east. The whole concept of east west is a product of the cold war
Zabawne, że Polska od 966 aż do 1939 należała do Europy zachodniej, a przez pryzmat komunizmu, (który został nam narzucony i z którym walczyliśmy od początku jak tylko pojawił się w rosji w 1917)wszyscy postrzegają Polskę jako wschód. Takie filmy negują fakty i historie. Co jest większe, 1000 lat? Czy 50 lat? Tyle części zachodu jest w Polsce w stosunku do wschodu jak proporcja 1000:50
A przez tysiące lat przed przyjęciem Chrztu byliśmy uważani za kraj wschodniej Europy
@@janeq6146 Nie jest to prawda, ponieważ granice Polski były takie jak dziś plus wschodnie dzisiejsze Niemcy. W dodatku słowianie zachodni mają swój genetyczny fenotyp lechicki, którego nie mają żadni Słowianie pomieszany z genami nordyckimi i germańskimi. I tylko 4 haplogrupy tworzą aż 95% polskiego społeczeństwa dlatego jesteśmy monolitem nie tylko kulturowym i wyznaniowym ale też genetycznym. Ludzie na wschodzie mają mieszankę Słowian ze Skandynawami, ludami północy: Estonią i Finlandią, ale głównie z grupą dynarską z bałkan że względu na Bizancjum aż 40% ale też z wszystkimi ludami Azji. Rosja miesza geny ponad stu narodowości. Widzisz różnicę? Już przez sam podział na wyznawców Rzymu i wyznawców Bizancjum wyznaczył podział genetyczny a do tego kulturowy i wyznaniowy.
@@janeq6146 zresztą wtedy to sobie mogli uważać. Jak były same nieuki i nikt nie badał położenia geograficznego, genetyki itd. Mówili co widzieli gołym okiem. Ale żeby dziś ludzie nie potrafili określić na podstawie położenia geograficznego, religii, języka, kultury, pisma i genetyki oraz geopolityki gdzie należy kraj to wstyd
@@AngelikaCiurej xD. Równie dobrze można powiedzieć to samo o ludziach od X do XX wieku. Poza tym rozpatrując każdy aspekt osobno można uzyskać za każdym razem inną odpowiedź.
@@janeq6146 gdzie masz inną odpowiedź?
Since its birth in 966, Poland has been one of the countries with Latin and Western civilization. This is evidenced by religion, Roman law, the location of cities and the entire cultural legacy. Everything east of Poland is eastern, Byzantine civilization. If someone does not understand this difference and classifies Poland as an eastern country, he is a fool or poorly educated...
Christianization but not birth of it
Whoever says "The birth of Poland was in 966" is a fool or poorly educated.
The author probably didn't learn geography since he shows Europe without Russia but with Cyprus and Anatolia 🤣
Jest takie miejsce u zbiegu dróg,
Gdzie się spotyka z Zachodem Wschód.
Nasz pępek świata, nasz biedny raj;
Jest takie miejsce, taki kraj.
ps. a wracając do tego czy Polska jest na wschodzie czy zachodzie Europy, otóż i na wschodzie i zachodzie czyli w centrum ponieważ na ó mapkach Rosja nie istnieje co jest totalnym zaprzeczeniem tego jak rozumiemy Europę, bo wg tych mapek to wyjeżdżając z Białorusi czy Ukrainy wjeżdżamy do Azji?
"Na wschód od Konina Azja się zaczyna" :)
No body said about differences between Latin Culture and Bizant Culture. For me this is real line West East.
Geograficznie Polska jest w "centrum", To że polska jest uznawana za kraj wschodnio-europejski , pewnie ma też związek z tym że byliśmy po wschodniej części muru berlińskiego
Wydarzenie które umieściło nas po stronie zachodu to 966. Są na to papiery z 1078 w bibliotece Watykańskiej. Od tej pory, od 966 rozwijała się polska kultura ale pod wpływem zachodu i wnosiła dobra do zachodniej cywilizacji ale te wytworzone w polskiej zachodniej kulturze. Dlatego Polacy patrząc na wiele aspektów na zachodzie czują, że są im bliskie a patrząc na wschód , wszystko jest dla nas obce.
what a shitty map without russia XD it's like 1/3 of Europe or even more
Ah who needs Russia haha
Russia banned itself from europe
@@RobReacts1 everyone needs some sort of enemy ;P
for the Irish, even GB is in Eastern Europe
haha
This is not about the map, but about the cultural circle. Poland has always been Roman - Latin and never Byzantine, deeply strange to the Poles. Thanks to this, Poland survived. I am an atheist - but I can appreciate it. So Poland is the W E S T. Like it or not liked.
The Poles fought alongside the Allies in the West - because they wanted to.
They fought alongside the Soviet army because they had to.
Poland is central Europe because it is located between West and East domination trying to build its own world regardless of what opinion the people around the world have. 😊
It's all about the Iron curtain that divided Europe for almost 50 years. Not so easy to erradicate from peoples minds. Geograficly it's as simple as this: Ural mountains are just about 60 degrees E, Lisboa 9 degrees W. So the average is like 25 degrees east, which is somwhere between Łódź and Warsaw, right in the middle of Poland :)
How you mean it is not easy to erase from the mind. Was Germany publicly talked about 35 years after World War II as a fascist country? I think not. And you talk about countries where they had an involuntary socialist system as communist countries without embarrassment. Something is wrong here.
That map is strange why they put Turkey in Europe (European part of Turkey is about 3% of its territory and its capital city is in the Asia part) and totally exclude Russia (European part of Russia is about 25% of its territory and its capital is in the Europe part). They even greyed part of Russia between Poland and Lithuania.
Because noone would have a doubt that russia is eastern if not Asian. Therefore, why bother?
@@karfrancouzsky9725no to Hiszpanię i Portugalię też powinni wymazać.
A skoro nie wymazali Turcji (bo część leży w Europie) , to powinni do Francji domalować Gujanę , a do Brytanii Falklandy.😉🤷
@@andrzejrozmus3919 Przekonałeś mnie. Z rosją czy bez, ta ankieta dalej jest tak samo bez sensu; z więcej niż jednego powodu.
Nikt nie chce być wschodnim krajem, bo nikt nie chce mieć nic wspólnego z Rosją i być z nią identyfikowany😁
Wydarzenie, które umieściło nas w kulturze zachodu to 966 rok. Są na to papiery z 1078 roku w bibliotece Watykańskiej.
In 1996, political scientist Samuel Huntington distinguished 9 cultural circles. The European cultural (civilizational) circle includes Western and Central Europe. According to this division, European civilization ends at the Dnieper River. The war in Ukraine shows exactly where European civilization ends and where it begins. The division into Eastern and Western Europe is an invention from the times of the Iron Curtain. all our history we were in central Europe and suddenly from 1945 we were in eastern Europe. It's quite understandable why this division arose - us and them. It is still in the minds of Western Europe that they are worse, more savage and less European. Forgetting that the history of European countries is about 1000 years old and does not start with the division in 1945 ;)
Rob, skoro na zachodzie są przekonani, że Polska jest wschodem, to potrafisz mi wymienić elementy polskiej kultury, sztuki, tradycji, zwyczaju i religii, które są podobne lub takie same jak na wschodzie?
A mnie nurtuje inne pytanie. Czy Wielka Brytania to jeszcze Europa ???? Sami siebie odróżniacie od Kontynentu. Wiec może to już nie Europa ??? 😂😅😊
Well we are still a part of Europe as a continent... just not the EU. (which I didnt vote for)
@@RobReacts1 The case of the EU is not relevant here. You have always stood out from the continent. Continental stores were and probably are popular, where you can buy e.g. Polish products. I'm just passing a shop in Southampton where they sell continental and european food 🤣
Eastern for many people mean ,,basically russia"
Skoro ludzie kwalifikują Polskę do wschodu przez 44 lata narzuconego komunizmu. To dlaczego nie kwalifikują Polski do zachodu przez 25 lat bycia w NATO i 20 lat w Unii Europejskiej? Przecież kraj nasz jest totalnie pod zachodnią kontrola od lat z ustalonymi zachodnimi wszystkimi normami od marchewki po wodę nasze życie jest określone według takich samych norm jak zachód więc dlaczego nikt nie nazywa nas zachodem?
Ponieważ mieszkańcy krajów zachodnich pogardzają członkami paktu warszawskiego, uważając się za lepszych.
@@marcin7054 bo nie powinno być paktu warszawskiego, nie powinno być komunizmu, wojny, rozbiorów.
the thing is they don't use a good map as also parts of russia is in Europe, second thing is culture, in "Geography Now" said that pretty well, don't remember how they phrased it but it was a good summary, third thing is history Poland always was bridge between south/north and west/east; and countless wars with everyone proves it as they needed this land a to cross in these directions
Map of Europe looks like this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe#/media/File:Europe_polar_stereographic_Caucasus_Urals_boundary.svg
Poland is a bit of both. Our language is more Eastern, but out alphabet is Western. Then our religion is mostly Western, but then we share many folklore elements and stories with Eastern countries, like Baba Yaga or Rusalka. Culturally we adopted many things from both, Turks and Tatars from the East and Germany and France from the West
All European languages are eastern - Indo-european.
To co napisałeś to rasistowskie nazwanie Słowian ludem wschodu, tu nie Rohan i śródziemie a odrębna grupa kulturowa, historycznie rozciągająca się pomiędzy Berlinem i Moskwą.
Fun fact caucus mountains tells you the size and shape of Europe.The border between Europe and Asia...
10:54 - no, not at all. Center of Europe is disputed, but it's 100% somewhere in either Ukraine, Belarus or Lithuania, depending if you include islands and or land mass.So, like half of their "eastern" countries lay on the actually western side of continent.
Poland is central Europe with western culture. That is why Poland doesn't like to be called estern
They forgot to put Georgia on the map of Europe...
Wszystkiego dobrego w Nowym Roku dla Ciebie, Twojej żony i bliskich!🥳🎇🎆🧨🕛🍾🥂
Zdrowia💪, szczęścia😄, pomyślności👍, dużo miłości💗, worku z pieniędzmi💰
Dalszego rozwijania kanałów! 💻🎦💷📈🔝✈️🗺️🧳⛱️😎
Pozdrawiam z Europy Centralnej (ewentualnie środkowo-wschodniej) 🇵🇱🤗👋🙋. Choć wiem, że dla wielu (głównie obcokrajowców) Polska to Wschód. Ja raczej się o takie określenie nie obrażam - rozumiem skąd się to bierze i już trochę przywykłam. Jedynie pomyślałabym sobie, że osoba, która stosuje takie określenie (bez żadnego zawahania) niespecjalnie zgłębiła temat i posługuje się stereotypami. Uważam, że podział na Wschód i Zachód zależy często od tego jakie ktoś ma wyrobione wyobrażenie na temat danego kraju. Często osoby z tak zwanego Zachodu są zdziwione po przyjeździe do Polski, bo ją słabo znają w gruncie rzeczy. Nie zawsze cudzoziemcy dobrze pamiętają nawet gdzie Polska właściwie leży wypowiadając się o niej. O znajomości polskiej historii nie wspominając (a dodam, że to obszerny temat i niełatwy). Dodam, że sama zgłębiam temat 'polskości' całe życie i jeszcze nie doszłam do ostatecznych wniosków😄😅🤔, bo ten kraj mnie nadal potrafi zaskoczyć - chociażby ostatnie wybory, które mogą trochę namieszać w kraju - ale nie brnijmy ściśle w politykę 😁😆. Polska zawsze bywała nieco problematyczna. Polacy bronili od wieków Europy przed Rosją uważaną za Wschód tocząc rozliczne walki, ostatecznie komunizm zwalczając Solidarnością i ostrzegając dużo wcześniej resztę świata przed ponownym imperializmem Rosji w stosunku do Ukrainy. Polacy są wpatrzeni w Zachód, ale nie do końca bezproblemowo odnajdują się w UE. Rosja nie kojarzy się nam najlepiej. Polska nawet będąc katolicką (co wiąże ją silnie z rzymską kulturą uważaną za kolebkę Zachodu) uchodzi za nieco zacofaną przez samo swoje mocne przywiązanie do sfery religijności w zestawieniu z często bardziej ateistycznym Zachodem. Napewno komunizm odciął Polskę od reszty Europy - wciąż za to płacimy cenę. Upowszechniła się narracja wyrzucająca kraje byłego bloku sowieckiego do jednego mianownika. Ale w czasie II wojny światowej Niemcy (dogadując się z ZSSR) chciały przyłączyć
zachodnią Polskę do siebie, a Niemcy nikt nie nazywa Wschodem. Niemniej jednak Rosja potrafiła się rozciągać na dalekie regiony. Jeden Niemiec w filmie na temat przymusowych przesiedleń powojennych opowiadał, że mieszkając przed wojna na terenie Niemiec (dziś polskie ziemie) po wojnie dostał nakaz eksmisji do NRD (będąca pod sowieckimi wpływami) czyli kazali mu jechać na zachód Niemiec a tam dalej była... Rosja :-)
Pa Pa
Unpopular opinion I don't have a problem with being eastern country. We avoidbthat because we don't want to be compared to poorer countries on the east. But culturally and mentally we're often very close to them. We just have a problem with embracing it.
I think east comes from berlin wall, but to me looking on map is more central, how can you ask question about europe and not include russia thats is europe :D but when you dont count central poland is more in east then west
Jesteśmy w centrum Europy 😜
Moim zdaniem jeśli Rosja chciała wprowadzać komunizm to tylko w tych wszystkich krajach które podlegały dawniej kulturze Bizancjum i Religi prawosławnej, czyli tam gdzie była taka sama kultura i religia, czyli Grecja, Rosja, Ukraina, Białoruś i pozostała część Bałkan. Wtedy Polskę by ominął komunizm. Bo de facto przez komunizm próbowali narzucić nam obcą kulturę w której czuliśmy się źle i była dla nas szokiem
The border should be placed on the Vistula (Wisła) river. :)
I think that all is because of the iron curtain 🤷🏻♀️ Poland wants not to be indentify with Eastern Europe anymore because of Russia and comunism influence in the past. Now Poland is a part of UE so we need to be treated with respect.
For most people in Eastern Europe it is more about distinguishing ourself from eastern block. So technically we are Eastern European, but because Western Europe is not able to recognise the effort many eastern European countries put into breaking from eastern block it became important to us to comment on it.
We don't want to be part of eastern block anymore, many Eastern European fought and died for independence and we want to be recognised as independent states. :) ....I guess :D
I wschodnią i zachodnia, ani wschodnia ani zachodnia. Centralna Europa- tak to lepiej nazwać ( I uniknie się nadeptywania na metaforyczne odciski, przy okazji 😅😉) Jak bardzo by irytujący nie był fakt, że Rosja wpakowała się nam przed Ural, nie da się ukryć, że jest.
A little about the history of Poland - in the years 1795-1918 the Third Polish Partition took place. During it, we were separated by Prussia (western Poland), Austria (southern Poland) and Russia (eastern Poland). Therefore, for 123 years, one part of the country was constantly influenced by Western culture, and another part by Eastern culture.
When you look at today's maps of our country showing political views, attitudes towards LGBT+ people, etc., you can see a "border" running in the middle.
Of course, nothing is black and white, and with younger generations this boundary is disappearing.
U know-how Rob, i ThinkPad the border between East and West is Wisła (Vistula river)
BTW Happy New Year
Hi Rob, due to political reasons, there is now a term like Central Europe. There is West - a proper good, and East the bad. But there is a Central as it is Poland. It is a political term only, as the Western countries do not want to be called as out boundaries.
W Polsce nie istnieje w ogóle dialog na ten temat (przynajmniej ja się nie spotkałem). Gdy się nad tym zastanowić, taki podział nie ma sensu, tak samo jak podział np. na polityczną lewicę i prawicę. I tu i tu brakuje definicji i ram granicznych charakteryzacji.
The east west split of Europe is generally thought of from the geopolitical perspective. Poland was definitely part of the communist eastern bloc controlled by the USSR and agreed upon on the Warsaw pack treaty.
The east west device started from King Charles, then we had the mongol invasion, great geographic discoveries, colonialism, imperialism, Soviet era and EU. All things concidred Finland is west Czechia is east and Greece is rather west. Nobody knows what future brings. Perhaps the most wealthy region will be a new one called Central europe.
Watched recent videos on Polish cities such as Warsaw, Gdansk, Krakow, Wroclaw, Poznan, Lodz, Bydgoszcz, Torun etc., unless I'm blind, they all look pretty western to me.
Oh yes. TLDR in action. LPG rights as a factor that defines west and east.
GDP is one factor.
Safety, cleanlines would be another interesting questions to ask people across Europe. Do Britons, the French, Germans (all western, sure, sure) feel superior to what they see in PL ,Cz etc if they ever happen to be in the “Eastern” part of Europe?
On the side note: recently I arrived to Euston from Paris on the Eurostar train and I saw pavement dwellers next to this prime London’s railway station. In poor Poland you can’t see people sleeping on sidewalks near Warszawa Wschodnia station. There is probably a lot for Warsaw to go to achive London’s level of richness and social security.
Those who believe that Poland is located in Eastern Europe probably do not take Russia into account, as if it didn't exist. However, a significant part of Russia is also situated in Europe. The Ural Mountains serve as the eastern boundary of Europe, separating it from Asia. Therefore, considering the Ural Mountains as the boundary and the borders of European countries extending farthest to the west, Poland is located in the central part of Europe. Certainly, if we're talking about the geographic center of Europe and not a center that many countries would like to see, meaning an economic center.
Western more democratic, as Germany 1939. I guess you don't know this but big part of Russia is in Europe, in East Europe, what make Poland Central. So west Europe call us East, only because they education system is low, and they don't know Europe map, they think Poland is last country in Europe.
I made it clear that they hadn't included Russia on the map
According to the latest measurements (from 2000), geographical center of Europe is located in Polotsk/Belarus 55°30′0″N 28°48′0″E. According to the oldest measurements (from 1775), geographical center of Europe was in Suchowola/NE Poland.
At college ICentral Europe
In my college, I was taught that Poland is in Central Europe.
Presenting a map of Europe without including Russia significantly distorted the results. In mainstream scientific, geographical, political, historical, and sociological publications, Russia is recognized as a European country, at least up to the Ural Mountains.
If that is accepted, grouping Poland with Russia is illogical on multiple levels.
Geographical
The geographical center of Europe may vary depending on how the extremes of Europe are defined, but in each scenario, Poland is, in fact, west of Europe's center.
Political
Politically, Poland is a member of both the European Union and NATO. It is also highly developed according to the Human Development Index.
Historical/Cultural
The cultural landscape of Europe has been profoundly shaped by historical divisions, notably the split of the Roman Empire into the Western Roman Empire, associated with Catholic and Protestant Christianity, and the Eastern Roman Empire, linked to Orthodox Christianity. This division was not merely religious but encompassed a broader cultural package including statehood models, legal systems, dynastic ties, art, architecture, literature, and scripts (Latin versus Cyrillic). Poland, throughout its history, has been an integral part of these Western cultural movements, embracing movements like the Gothic, Renaissance, Enlightenment, Reformation, and Counter-Reformation, which were conspicuously absent in Orthodox countries.
While not all Poles or Germans may be willing to acknowledge it, Polish culture has been deeply influenced by its connections with the Germanic world since its inception.
The formation of the early Polish state under the Piast dynasty in the 10th century occurred alongside the Holy Roman Empire, a central European power predominantly German-speaking. The interactions between early Polish rulers and the German states ranged from alliances to conflicts. The Polish nobility frequently invited German settlers, artists, and craftsmen, and adopted Western laws and feudal systems from the Holy Roman Empire, including German Magdeburg rights for town privileges.
Significant figures like Nicolaus Copernicus, a German/Polish-speaking subject of the Polish king, highlight this intertwined history. Moreover, the Duchy of Prussia, originally a vassal state to the Polish crown and with a significant Polish population, emerged as a major Germanic power in the 18th century able to annex a great part of Poland and unite Germany.
The involvement of Polish King Sobieski in the defense of Vienna against the Ottoman Empire further cements Poland's role in Western history. This act was not just a military campaign but a defense of Western Christianity itself. Additionally, Southern Poland's integration into the Habsburg Empire and the Duchy of Warsaw's alliance with Napoleon, with Polish troops fighting alongside in key battles, further demonstrate Poland's active participation in Western European affairs.
During the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth era, the elective monarchy system often involved German nobility, including the election of several Saxons to the Polish throne. This interplay of dynastic politics further illustrates the deep-rooted connections between Poland and the Germanic world.
Moreover, the unique social structure of Poland, with a relatively large noble class (10% of society), fostered a unique form of noble democracy. This system, while not a democracy in the modern sense, was remarkably progressive for its time, especially compared to the absolutist regimes in Russia or even France. The enactment of the modern constitution in Poland, a pioneering event in Europe, is a testament to this progressive spirit.
Central Europe
Given the strong attachment to Cold War divisions, a more nuanced categorization of European regions, such as Western, Central, Eastern, Northern, and Southern, is often preferred, as it tends to be less controversial. Countries in Central Europe share several common features: they predominantly originate from a Roman Catholic tradition, were mostly part of the Holy Roman Empire or the Habsburg Monarchy, and due to their inland location, they never established any significant overseas colonies.
The teue is that poland is no in east nor in weas, in geographical we are in the center of continent, even central point of continent are in poland.
But if we take cultural aspect poland are more to west then east...
Western and Estern was a demarcation of Cold War and implies that countries on the East are less developed and less democratic and Poland fell on the East sort of against their will. Polish people are called the western branch of Slavic languages and we use latin alphabet (with some changes) and we adhere to Western bound Christianity which is Roman Catholic Church and it was like that since thr official baptism of 966. Both Poland and Czechia became Catholic countries in IX centry. Central means being between influences, cause we still share a lot with the East , we have the divisin inside of our damn coutry . Meaning Polish West is different from Polish East - those parts were occupied by different invaders and were like thar for over 120 years. Calling ourselvs Central also means for Poles being their own thing - not too Eastern and not too Western. Also w don't only say East/West because we always say Nordic/Scandinavian coutries that we know are in the North and we know that some coutries are definely in the South /Mediterranean basin. Plus also we have thr Balkan countries that are pretty eatern but also pretty southern - culturally and according to weather. All in all I think is more nuanced than people think.
Calling Poland or Czechia Eastern European is like calling Mexico Southern American
Latin American fanboys exist, XD
there is a reason we dont say that poland is "western", a lot of ppl here hate "east" and want to ged rid of the label becouse of all what you said, but we dont say "western" from very similar reasons, a lot of ppl here dispise how west is run and their decisions, and is used as coutionary tale. So we dont want to be any of those, so... poland IS Central, also, an full map of europe (european continent ends at Ural mountains) Poland is literaly in the center
for me if you look at the architecture alone its central europe I feel like home in czechia, slovakia or hungary, cannot say this about german france or every thing east of poland
There is no point in commenting on a video whose creator has no idea what Europe looks like geographically. No one particularly cares about belonging to Western Europe if you clearly do not belong to it (geographically) - but omitting the terms: Northern, Southern or Central Europe is debatable or even discriminatory, among others, for Poles - I am Polish - it is especially painful that despite Catholic faith and recognizing the authority of the Pope, and after World War II (against the will of Poles) we were placed on the eastern side of the Iron Curtain. Poland does not belong to Western Europe, but it is not part of Eastern Europe, nor Northern or Southern Europe, it is simply Central Europe - geographically, without messages causing any associations - on which they had no influence.
Not including Russia in this material distorts the whole. The European part of Russia covers an area comparable to Western Europe.
I have little interest in geographically naming the place occupied by present-day Poland! West Europe? Central Europe? Eastern Europe?
For me, as a Pole, it is important that my homeland preserves the Christian civilization that founded Europe.
Best wishes.
Niewiele mnie interesuje geograficzne nazywanie miejsca, które zajmuje obecna Polska! Zachodnia Europa? Centralna Europa? Wschodnia Europa?
Dla mnie, Polaka, ważne jest to, aby moja Ojczyzna zachowała cywilizację chrześcijańską, która ufundowała Europę.
Serdecznie pozdrawiam.
Calling Central Europe would define Poland as a main country! It was before for 1 thousand years, They are afraid of this to remember!
Tired of those stereotypes made by people that cannot draw few lines across continent. You stay western and east will keep laughing at your pronounce
The proper question would be: Are you in Western Central or East Europe? Why Central was not included? It is a political trick and hustle in statistics. Don't you think?
Prussian partition is western and Russian partition is eastern. Warsaw was in both so this is central.
Greece joing to 3 seas 😊
At first as you said, there is no Russia included on the European map. So the geographical view where is the middle/border is completly diffrent. Second, lets think diffrent way. North and South. If you say "North european countries" then you think about Scandinavia (as they even select them in this material). When you say "South european countries" then you think about Italy, Greece etc. U can't say that the France, Germany or Poland are North or South. They are CENTER! Conclusion? Guess so ;)
This video was made by a person who clearly has no idea how big the continent is :)
I think the line is pretty accurate however it would be interesting to redo the voting with inclusion of Central Europe, also on the side note I highly recommend tldr news channel, very good source of information
As a Pole (living in the Netherlands now) I can say that Poland and other central European countries like Slovakia, Czech Republic, Lithuania, etc are perfect example of being western and eastern at the same time. We are eastern if you compare us to countries like Germany, UK... because we are poorer, less advanced, less democratic, conservative, etc. But for people from Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Moldova... we are western because for them we are rich, democratic... So maybe in the past it was good to say that some countries are eastern or western but today it's not valid. For me Poland is western country now but with the history of being eastern and that's why we are little bit behind western countries.
Nie masz racji. Patrzysz tylko przez pryzmat 44 lat narzuconego nam komunizmu, obcej nam kultury i systemu który zniszczył w Polsce wiele. Bo to my uczyliśmy przed wojna przez setki lat Europę demokracji i tolerancji i byliśmy jedną z pierwszych demokracji w Europie. Jako pierwsi napisaliśmy i wprowadziliśmy konstytucję. Byliśmy jednym z pierwszych państw które przyznało prawa kobietom do głosowania. Nastąpiło to wraz z rokiem odzyskania niepodległości. Gdyby Polska odzyskała niepodległość wcześniej to bylibyśmy pierwszym krajem. Musisz patrzeć na cały ponad tysiącletni dorobek i podział Europy. Europa w 9 wieku podzieliła się na rzymska, katolicką, łacińską cywilizację, z łaciną, alfabetem łacińskim, kosciołem rzymsko- katolickim, prawem rzymskim, stylem budownictwa włoskim, skandynawskim itd. oraz na Europę grecką, prawosławną, z cyrylicą, prawem greckim itd. Polska należy do pierwszej cywilizacji, łacińskiej przez 1050 lat. A Grecja, Ukraina, Białoruś, Rosja, przez ponad tysiąc lat są w jednej kulturze, Religi itd. Dodatkowo między krajami wschodu czyli Grecją, Ukrainą, Białorusią, Rosją, Finlandią, a Polską jest godzina różnicy w czasie bo leżą one we wschodnioeuropejskiej strefie czasowej. Polska leży w takiej samej strefie czasowej co kraje zachodnie.
Are you s****d, or what? Learn some history.
ending europe after belarus is making people stupid.. if they new where continent end really, they would vote diffrent
It does not make sense to divide Europe only into East and West. Let's take the USA as a ridiculous example. Is Kansas an eastern or western state? :)
It doesn't make sense because it's in the middle, like Poland, Czechia or Slovakia, right?
We're getting closer to Western Europe, I'd say.. But still not there yet
Based just on this video, and solely on geographical location, Poland is Eastern, but then I would also say that Finland is as well. But when including all of Europe, Poland is in central Europe.
However, as someone who lives far from Europe, Poland is generally perceived as being “Eastern”.
Yes perception from foreigners would definitely make Poland eastern
@michellewatson4843 Are you Smart? If so, in the evening i will write you some facts and ask a question ok?
@michellewatson4843
Poland.
1. Location. If sth is in the center, is like sun. Pl is only in EU surrounded by 12 neighbors. 7 on land, 5 across the Baltic. In Pl is geographical center of EU determined by scientific methods.
2. Time zone in PL same as in ES, FR, BE, NL, DE, DK, SE. Between PL and Belarus or Greec or Ukraine or Finland diference is 1h. Between PL and Ru is 2h.
3. Religion. Baptism in 966 in Roman Ritę, Roman Catholicism for 1050 years.
4. Law. Roman law from begining, currently Roman-Napoleonic law.
5. Language. West Slavic older then East Slavic. Lechitic dialect with strong Latin influences. Latin alphabet from begining. We never had cyrillic alphabet. Latin alongside Polish, official language from 966 to 1772.
6. Location of cities. Polish kings located all cities in PL under german law.
7. Borders. For thousands of years Lechites(Poles) lived in the prestent borders plus eastern Germany. In 992 Dagome iudex was created describing PL borders. The original copy from 1078 containing over 80 pages is in Vatican library. Borders described in dokument are identical to the prestent day PL borders.
8. Genetics. PL society is monolith. 95% population consist of 4 types of genes. 60% western Slavic with the oldest Slavic genotype which other slavs dont have, 20% germanic, 10% northern peoples especially Estonians, 5% nordic.
9. Construction style. At the request of Polish kings and later nobility buildings were built in Polish, Italian, Dutch and Scandinavian style for 1000 years.
10. Alliances over 1000 years: Vatican, Denmark, Lithuania, Sweden, France, Italy, Turkey, USA, UK, NATO, EU.
11. Kings, queens, Princessa, princes, castles.
12. First constitution in Europe in Poland.
13. Polish National airlines LOT founded in 1922 and 1928, exist to this day. One of the oldest in world(5place).
Compare it with the eastern European countries of Byzantinebculture (Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus) and answer my question whether Poland is similar to them in at least one of the things listed?
Taking into account such strong arguments that i already written and those that i will write, it is a great mistake to call Poland the east and both, Greece and Finland the west. Anyone who does this, behaves in the same way as followers of the flat earth theory. The entire balkan peninsula belonged to the Byzantine Empire. Merchants from Byzantium reached Kiev, which was a trade route, bringing religion, culture, writing and settlers from Balkans to Kievan Rus and than meerging Russia also took over everything from Byzantium. Poland didnt take part in this because the Polish state was estabilished over 200 years earlier with the same borders as today, than Russia, and from begining Poland belonged to Rome i.e. the Latin, Roman civilization, as i write in previous message, and not to the Greek, Byzantine civilization. Therefore in Russia and Ukraine there are 40% of the Dinaric genes from the Balkans. The Russian cyrillic alphabet evolved from the Greek cyrillic alphabet. That's why Russia, Ukraine and Belarus have Orthodox Christianity as in Greece. A Russian tsar married a Byzantine princess and declared Russia the heir of Byzantium and adopted the coat of arms of Byzantium for Russia, a two headed eagle around 15th century. Btw the Polish single headed eagle existed as the Polish emblem already in 1000 AD and was minted on Polish coin like today. Additionally Russia remained under the Mongolian culture for at least 200 years. And to this day it is located on the civilization and culture and even uses the rights of the Turan-mongolian civilization. As you can see, the differences between the east and Poland are huge. Plus time zones. From Greece, Finland, Ukraine, Belarus to Poland there is 1h difference. From Russia to Poland there is 2h difference. Additionally Finland remained part of the Russian empire for 108 years and then also was under the influence of communism for many years. Additionally both Finland and Greece are in the eastern European time zone, but both of these countries are called by you western Europe? While Poland is complete opposite of east and the west calling Poland "east"? Where is the logic?
@@AngelikaCiurej I didn’t say it is eastern, just that it was perceived as such. Perception doesn’t always equal reality though, for example, before Rob and Charlie visited Australia, their perception was that is always hot and sunny everywhere, but as they found out, that is definitely is not the reality.
What do these colours mean when dividing countries by their level of democracy? E.g. Poland has a flawed democracy and the UK a full democracy. Does this mean that some countries have worse democracy than others? This is complete nonsense. In the United Kingdom, people are imprisoned for their political views and a Polish writer is not allowed into the country because, in someone's opinion, he has the wrong view of the world. This is full democracy? How does it compare with Poland, where you can walk the streets with banners saying "Fuck the government" or "Fuck off" (in the direction of government politicians).
There is liberal democracy and electoral democracy. There is a lot of measures which define it and I don't remember them well.
First of all, you need to see exactly what the definition of Europe is, in terms of geography. In Western Europe it starts in Spain and in Eastern Europe it ends in the Ural Mountains. The Ural Mountains are the geographical border of Europe from Asia. Now, how do you measure the distance from the Ural Mountains? to the Western part of Spain and divide it in half, the center of Europe passes by the city Suchowola of Plac Kościuszki 21, 16-150 ) in Poland. Now I will answer why Poland is said to be located in Eastern Europe. Because in communist times the Iron Curtain passed through Berlin, dividing it into two parts (eastern and western), so there were only two Eastern Europe - communist and Western - capitalist, and to this day, even though the communist bloc no longer exists, this nomenclature still exists.
W jednym z ostatnich filmów z Albani Charlie mówiła, że myślała że Albania jest koło Rosji i Polski. Ale Albania jest na Bałkanach, na południu. Z Krakowa do Albani jest 1560 km w dół prawie w linii prostej. Dla porównania w linii prostej w górę z Krakowa do Helsinek do Finlandii jest 1360 km czyli o 200 km mniej niż do Albani. Kilka lat temu piosenkarz z Polski, Popek który założył zespół gang Albanii, poleciał do Albanii i mówił ludziom na ulicach, że jest królem Albanii😂 mówił, że ludzie się tak na niego patrzyli, jakby chcieli go pobić i mówili mu, że oni mają swojego króla.
Geographically, Poland is in the center.
A few decades ago, in the Communist Era and the Iron Curtain, politically Poland was east.
But historically- we always were at the point where all the paths crossed- east and west, north and south. Our weapons were inspired by Turks, Arabs, as well as Western Europeans, and the robes of our nobles are also a cultural mix. The nobility spoke Latin, and later French.
South-North:
Romans had a tract- Via Ambra, that led to the Baltic Sea (and further north, to Russia), to buy amber from those territories. "The Baltic Sea- Vistula- Dnieper- Black Sea route with its rivers was one of the most ancient trade routes, the Amber Road, on which amber and other items were traded from Northern Europe to Greece, Asia, Egypt, and elsewhere."
Poland's territories saw and had conflicts and wars with Turks, Mongols, and Arabs as well as Vikings (maybe not wars with Vikings, more like sometimes friends; on Wolin island was a Viking colony, sometimes conflicts- they were basically ancient pirates, after all).
East-West:
Let's not forget the Silk Road. If you want to travel east-west the easiest way is through Poland, and central territories at that, because to the south are mountains and to the north: river deltas, swamps and the Baltic Sea. This easiest way leads through Hungary to the Asiatic Steps and all the way to China.
And finally: both World Wars "rolled" through our territories- Russian Soviets wanted to conquer the West, and Germany - the East, and the way was through Poland.
I agree with everything, but when we (Poland) had the war with the Arabs?
@@andHAM8 My fault I didn't use specifics, Poland as a country DIDN'T have wars with Arabs. I was thinking about various contacts such as trades, crusades also contacts through other nations. But specifically thinking of wars I was thinking of crusades, also war with the Ottoman Empire can SOMEWHAT be classified as a conflict with Arabs- not technically, those were Turks, but the Ottoman Empire was vast and did reach Egipt territory as well as Arabian Penisula.
Yes, of course Greece, the cradle of the Western culture, is in eastern Europe. It borders Asian Turkey. Poland is in the same part of the world, Eastern Europe, not this far to the east though.
Westerners, let's face the fact that our culture comes from Eastern Europe. There's no shame in it.
Albania była częścią bloku wschodniego tak samo jak Jugosławia, ale Grecja już nie chociaż prubowali wprowadzić tam komunizm.
First ask 400 thousand people where is the Eastern border of Europe, I bet 99,999% will place it somewhere nearby Moscow. REALLY WRONG, it is Ural mountain chain. The line presented is rather dividing European Union to western and eastern part, EU has nothing in common with the continent of Europe.
Нет никакой европы это не контенент, а лишь передняя часть азии 😂
Dziś rosyjska rakieta wleciała na terytorium Polski naruszając przestrzeń powietrzną Polski i zgodnie z prawem NATO powinno wziąć odwet.
Hi, I have to recommend you song to check out Męskie Granie Orkiestra 2021 - I Ciebie też bardzo
Any reason why you missed European part of Russia? It doesn't make sense without it.
Are you talking about democracy? Poland is the 1st country in Europe that adopted constitution. Well seeing Your British royalty how they are exempt from taxes, keep their title in family, aren't democratically chosen and when I look at all British social projects looks like Great Britain is more eastern European country than Poland. You aren't even part of the European Union. But Who am I to Judge. Just poor guy born in soviet controlled Poland.
maybe Poland is not as rich as "Western" countries but we are still the 21st economy in the world so it is not bad, our country is much safer than most countries in Western Europe that have decided on multicultural societies, in some cities of Western Europe there are white ethnic inhabitants they are attacked and discriminated against by immigrants from Asia and Africa, this is cultural enrichment, and it is also funny that the author of this film measures belonging to Western Europe through the rights of LGBT+ people I prefer to live in "backward" Poland than in "progressive and modern" Western Europe
Witam serdecznie Rob👍
dla mnie polska znajduje sie we wschodniej europie bo za polska to juz azja, dont try to change my mind
Cash❤😮
One of the oldest Democracy on Earth but because of nearly 200 years of oppressions from neighboors Poland is now a lesser country. Same for Czechia. First Slavic Kingdom. They had King, Christian Church and Latin Alphabet in 850 year. University in Prague is second after Cambridge. Still its not enough. Our culture doesnt have enough power to break the fake.
The proper division ought to be Central, eastern, and western. Why no Central???????????????????????? Who doesn't want this? Central is almost the most important!' isn't it?
i dont think ppl can vote on geographical and historical things, like you dont let ppl vote on whats sky or whats night. And we cant keep dividing Europe in 2020s like we are still living in 1970s, like third of Germany generally considered West is east of Iron curtain.
if you wanna neat 2 halves of europe then using Schengen for West and non Schengen for East would make much more sense nowadays. Like Austria, Finland and Greece is Western in many ppls mind yet they are noticeably more East than e.g. Czechia and Slovenia, both considered Eastern by those same ppl.
Like calling them East is the same like calling Belgium South Europe cos it was ruled by Romans and Spaniard in past( just like Czechia, Hungary etc been ruled by Eastern Europeans/ Soviets only for less than 50yrs more than 30yrs ago) or West Virginia Western US cos its West from original border of 13 colonies and original US.
and we, in Czechia, Slovakia, Poland etc, dont wanna be called Central Europe instead of Eastern cos some stigma or bad connotations but simply cos we are and always been Central Europe, its so simple, like try to tell Irish they are in fact British cos theyve been occupied by England/ UK in the past and explain to them they dont like to be called British cos some stigma and then let me watch when they show you what they think about it...
Sorry but I have a problem with one thing in this video. Why religion has to be a factor which decides about the west or the east side?
Really...these are just peoples believs. It doesn't matter if you believe or not to make you eastern or western European