"Eastern Europe was unstable because of its economic backwardness" Do you agree?

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“Eastern Europe was unstable because of its economic backwardness” Do you agree?

During this period Eastern Europe was dominated by Austria-Hungary. The Hasburg Empire stretched across central and eastern Europe, invoking 50 million people under its rule. This under any other sense would have given Austria-Hungary a powerful standing in the world. However, the truth of the matter was that whilst other great Powers prospered, Austria-Hungary struggled to survive. It was this struggle which made the region unstable. The instability can be broken up into three sub topics, these are; economic backwardness, nationalism and neighbouring states.

In some ways the economic backwardness of the region did have a part to play in the instability of the region. It is the regions productivity which highlights its first problems. The iron production of Austria-Hungary is 2.1 million, this falls short of other countries, such as France who produced double that with production reaching 4.1 million tonnes. It was in coal production too that Austria-Hungary fell short as it only produced 1.17 million tonnes of coal; this was short compared to Germany, who produced 3.85 million tonnes of coal.

The main economic problem for this region was the regionalism of the economies and the fact that the two economies of Austria and Hungary were dualist, i.e. against each other. The Austrian economy at the time was a industrial economy, with the Hungarian side being a agricultural one. This made the inefficient and backward economy of Hungary become a burden upon the more efficient and wealthier economy of Austria. This caused tension as it meant Austrians began to ask why they were being laid with the burden of supporting an economy which wasn’t theirs and in which money could be saved by cutting the support. Also, the regionalism of the economies within Austria-Hungary caused instability too. This was shown as the Czechs, enjoyed having the rich industrial region of Bohemia. However, they were unable to keep the profits which were gained from this region and they were shared out among the region. This was not only unfair but it had the negative effect on the region as it made the Czech minority call out for independence, thus, causing a rise in instability. This apparent regionalism and the fact that not all the regions were equal in wealth meant that regions which were not as wealthy, such as the Hungarian one, were carried by the wealthier ones, such as Austria. This caused minorities to call out for independence, causing unrest.

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However, economic backwardness, in my opinion, is the third main reason why Eastern Europe was unstable. The main cause of Eastern Europe becoming unstable was nationalism. Nationalism is the belief that humankind is divided up into nations and that all nation have the right to self-government and to determine their own destiny as nation states. The nationalism problem originally began in Austria-Hungary due to the fact that there were many different nationalities living within Austria-Hungary; this gave the scenario of different people with different aims and wants.

These nationalities didn’t necessarily get on well with each other too. The ...

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