If you call a Czech, Polish or a Slovak an East European, they would get mad and emphasize that they are central Europeans. However, if you look at some maps, you would see that Austria in part of central Europe alongside Visegrad, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. In some ways, this makes sense, due to the shared history of the Hapsburgs, the HRE, Austria-Hungary etc. In addition, Austria has a long history and cultural exchanges with countries such as Hungary and the Czech republic (also with the Balkans too) and it seems Austria didn’t interact with countries such as UK, France and Netherlands as much. Do most Austrians identify themselves with being Western Europeans (like French and Dutch) or Central Europeans (map of regions of Europe, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central\_Europe#/media/File:Grossgliederung\_Europas-en.svg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Europe#/media/File:Grossgliederung_Europas-en.svg) there can be some variations e.g. UK and the Baltics are sometimes considered Northern European).

5 comments

  1. If you call an Austrian Eastern European he will laugh at your poor education.

    Its not only about geography, its also about history. Austria was on the western side of the Iron Curtain, that is way more important than a few hundred kms on a map.

    However, there is a common saying in Austria (no idea if thats common elsewhere): “The Balkans starts in Vienna”, which is indicative for our connections eastwards.

  2. I would argue it depends on the context and framing.

    Central Europe is much less common as classification, and thus much less tangible as a concept, than the classic Western / Eastern Europe dichotomy.

    First of all, in recent memory, Western/Eastern Europe was pretty memorably and easily defined by the iron curtain. As far as seperating terms standing for abstract concepts, and also a continent, goes, one couldn‘t do better than a literal fence or wall with mines and milltary patrols.

    So, the terms are quite easy to grasp: Look at a map of Europe from 1945-1991. if the coubtry is left of the big red line, it‘s WE, if it‘s right, it‘s EE.

    Also, Western Europe and Eastern Europe have transcended their pure geological or political meaning and are now often short-hand for richer/developed Europe and poorer/underdeveloped Europe. There is a reason why some people emphasize that they are from *Central* Europe, not *Eastern* Europe.

    It‘s quite like the terms first/second/third world originally descrived geopolitical alignments and alliances, but are now used differently.

    Also, to be frank, the possible usefulness of the term is limited. While we‘ve already established that Western / Eastern Europe covers the historical context of the iron curtain, can be used as short-hand and (geological) Western/Eastern European nations often also politically organize themselves according to this duality – think of the founding members of the EU, for example.

    Central Europe only has the Visegrad countries as overarching organization, and neither Germany nor Austria, nor Switzerland are in it.

    For historical context, the HRE or the AH monarchy is descriptive enough when talking about common developments in Central Europe. England, France, Italy and Spain lack a overarching historical term, so for their shared history, Western Europe is useful. But for the shared history of Central Europe, there existed actual overarching institutions of which these modern countries were a part or which directly played a role- like the HRE, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the AH-Empire.

    Moreover, internationally, CE is just not really known. What countries are actually in CE isn‘t totally clear, so that‘s not great. And I doubt someone in the US or in Central Africa or South-Eastern Asia cares that deeply about what to call this region of the world, if WE and EE are available as terms and better understood – which is perfectly fine. Except maybe Germany, CE hasn‘t really many countries about which one would need to talk frequently throughout the world.

    In the end, there really is nothing to tie a Central European identity to. No deeper integration with (most) of these countries than the rest of Europe, no need for a new term for their shared history. And using the term internationally might be cumbersome – so why not stick to WE / EE in the first place and avoid a possible longwinded explaination.

    And since there is no broad and general use for the term, and since Western Europe is not only more commonly used and widely understood as concept, but also carries with it a better connotation, I‘d reckon most Austrians would consider themselves to be, and in a conversation with someone not from CE quite certainly refef to themselves as, Western Europeans.

    So, when talking about in a specific Central European context, maybe Austrians identify as CE. Otherwise and especially in a general context and unprompted, probably Not.

  3. A bit picturesque maybe, but let’s quote the Austrian anthem:

    “liegst dem Erdteil du inmitten, einem starken Herzen gleich”

    I don’t know if there is an official translation so I’ll try myself:

    you lie in the center of this continent, like a strong heart

  5. I was growing up when there was a clear eastern/Western divide. So my first quick answer still is “western”

    In fact central Europe is the true answer

    All this historical things like HRE and stuff rarely come into play. If at all. If you ask people older than 40 for sure they’d consider Austria being western Europe. I guess many of the younger folks might answer central.

    So it’s not a matter of geography or century old history, it’s just a matter of the “good old” times when everyone knew that east was evil and west was good, when the iron curtain separated good from evil.

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