![]() ![]() ![]() When Europe was divided between east and west, ‘Central Europe fell from use as a term’. Rady’s masterful overview seeks to change this by looking at 2,000 years of history, from ancient Roman times to the present. One problem lies in defining what and where Central Europe is, since it is often characterised by what it is not. ![]() Conflicts arising in the region have changed the world, from the Thirty Years’ War, which ‘engulfed almost the entire continent, with sideshows in Africa, the Caribbean and even distant Taiwan’, to the two world wars (both of which started in Central Europe), to say nothing of the present invasion of Ukraine, which is already the ‘most destructive war waged in Europe for more than 70 years’. Take a step back, and Central Europe takes centre stage. For others, it is an exotic world of ‘small nations’ east of Germany, where one has to wait for the end of the sentence to learn the operative verb: a place of ‘baffling’ languages ‘written with an abundance of consonants, odd diacritical marks and, in places, even a different alphabet’. ![]() For some modern writers the region is best typified by similarities, or differences, over postboxes, popular preferences for spirits over wine or ‘the heavy smell of boiled cabbage, state beer and a soapy whiff of overripe watermelons’. It is easy to overlook the importance of Central Europe, writes Martyn Rady at the start of this fascinating book. ![]()
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