The Carpi or Carpiani were a tribe that resided in the eastern parts of modern Romania in the historical region of Moldavia from no later than c. AD 140 and until at least AD 318.
154-517: The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians ( / k ɑːr ˈ p eɪ θ i ən z / ) are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe . Roughly 1,500 km (930 mi) long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at 2,500 km (1,600 mi) and the Scandinavian Mountains at 1,700 km (1,100 mi). The range stretches from
308-468: A hillfort ), where they were surrounded and besieged by Philip's forces. The remaining Carpi forces, which had scattered, rallied and launched an attempt to relieve the siege. The besieged staged a mass sortie to distract the Romans' attention from the approach of the relief-force. But the latter were intercepted and routed by Philip's equites Maurorum ( Berber light cavalry from N. Africa). The breakout itself
462-619: A Central European Danube Confederation to counter these countries against Germany and Russia. There were also plans to add Bavaria and Württemberg to an enlarged Austria. There were also various resistance movements around Otto von Habsburg that pursued this goal. The group around the Austrian priest Heinrich Maier also planned in this direction, which also successfully helped the Allies to wage war by, among other things, forwarding production sites and plans for V-2 rockets , Tiger tanks and aircraft to
616-539: A Geographical Term ) most Central European states were unable to preserve their political independence and became Soviet satellites . Besides Austria, Switzerland and Yugoslavia, only the marginal European states of Cyprus , Finland , Malta and Sweden preserved their political sovereignty to a certain degree, being left out of any military alliances in Europe. The opening of the Iron Curtain between Austria and Hungary at
770-639: A buffer zone between these regions. In the early nineteenth century, the terms "Middle" or "Central" Europe (known as "Mitteleuropa" in German and "Europe centrale" in French) were introduced in geographical scholarship in both German and French languages. At first, these terms were linked to the regions spanning from the Pyrenees to the Danube, which, according to German authors, could be united under German authority. However, after
924-521: A century (268-379). These not only broke the transdanubian tribes on the battlefield, but also pursued a policy of large-scale resettlement of defeated tribespeople in the Danubian provinces of the empire. This was motivated by the need to re-populate the Danubian provinces, which had been ravaged by plague and barbarian invasions during the period 250–270. 272: The emperor Aurelian (reigned 270–275) scored
1078-452: A clay hearth placed at the centre of the dwelling. The more numerous sunken-earth huts are usually of oval or round shape. The sedentary people generally cremated their dead, both adults and children, according to Bichir : all the 43 purely "Daco-Carpic" (sedentary) cemeteries used only cremation . The ashes from the cremation were, in the great majority of cases, buried inside urns. Some graves contained grave-goods, but no weapons other than
1232-510: A linguistic group. However, not a single Carpi personal name is preserved in the surviving ancient sources, other than the name "Carpi" itself, which cannot be ascribed with confidence to any linguistic group. According to traditional Romanian historiography, as well as to several non-Romanian scholars, the Carpi were a people of the Dacian tongue and culture Heather, who supports this view, suggests that
1386-502: A major victory over the Carpi, for which he was granted the title Carpicus Maximus by the Senate. He then resettled a large number of Carpi prisoners around Sopiana ( Pécs , Hungary) in the Roman province of Pannonia . This appears to have inaugurated the policy of resettling the Carpi in the empire. 296-305: In 296, the emperor Diocletian (reigned 284–305) went to war against the Carpi,
1540-934: A meaning in Albanian: bjeshkë / bjeshkët 'high mountains, mountain pastures' (cf. also the Albanian oronym Bjeshkët e Namuna , the Accursed Mountains / Albanian Alps ). The name Carpates may ultimately be from the Proto Indo-European root *sker- / *ker- , which meant mountain, rock, or rugged (cf. Albanian kárpë , Germanic root *skerp- , Old Norse harfr "harrow", Gothic skarpo , Middle Low German scharf "potsherd", and Modern High German Scherbe "shard", Lithuanian kar~pas "cut, hack, notch", Latvian cìrpt "to shear, clip"). The archaic Polish word karpa meant 'rugged irregularities, underwater obstacles/rocks, rugged roots, or trunks'. The more common word skarpa means
1694-599: A name that is first recorded in Ptolemy 's Geographia (second century AD). In the Scandinavian Hervarar saga , which relates ancient Germanic legends about battles between Goths and Huns , the name Karpates appears in the predictable Germanic form as Harvaða fjöllum (see Grimm's law ). " Inter Alpes Huniae et Oceanum est Polonia " ("Between the Hunic Alps and the ocean lies Poland") by Gervase of Tilbury ,
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#17328377014941848-405: A result of its close concentration of personnel and frequent movements between provinces, thus probably losing about a third of its strength. Taking advantage of Roman military disarray, the transdanubian barbarians launched repeated massive invasions of imperial territory. The exact number, dates and events of these invasions are uncertain due to the confused and fragmentary nature of the sources. It
2002-430: A saw", Albanian karpë "rock", Romanian (ş)carpă "precipice", Sanskrit kar "cut", and Latin scarpa , cfr. Italian scarpata , English escarpment ). Scholars who support this derivation are divided between those who believe the Carpi gave their name to the mountain range (i.e. the name means "mountains of the Carpi") and those who claim the reverse. In the latter case, Carpiani could mean simply "people of
2156-750: A sedentary culture, labelled "Daco-Carpic" by Bichir, started around 106 and disappeared around 318; A smaller culture displayed characteristics usually associated with nomadic peoples from the Eurasian steppes , labelled "Sarmatian" by Bichir. By 1976, 117 sedentary settlements had been identified, the great majority (89) located West of the Siret (thus inside Dacia's borders as defined by Ptolemy). The inhabitants lived in both surface-dwellings and sunken-floor huts. The single-roomed surface-dwellings were made of wattle and beaten-earth, usually of rectangular or square form, varying from 9 sq m to 30 sq m in size. Each contained
2310-599: A sharp cliff or other vertical terrain, cf..Old English scearp and English sharp . The name may instead come from Indo-European * kwerp 'to turn', akin to Old English hweorfan 'to turn, change' (English warp ) and Greek καρπός karpós 'wrist', perhaps referring to the way the mountain range bends or veers in an L-shape. In late Roman documents, the Eastern Carpathian Mountains were referred to as Montes Sarmatici (meaning Sarmatian Mountains). The Western Carpathians were called Carpates ,
2464-591: A significant trade route, restoring ports and revitalising commercial activity. Before 1870, the industrialization that had started to develop in Northwestern and Central Europe and the United States did not extend in any significant way to the rest of the world. Even in Eastern Europe , industrialization lagged far behind. Russia , for example, remained largely rural and agricultural, and its autocratic rulers kept
2618-401: A single dagger. Mundane goods include knives, keys, and belt-buckles; valuable goods include Sarmatian-style mirrors, silver ear-rings, gold pendants and beads. Pottery found in sedentary sites includes the hand-made "porous" type, grey wheel-made ware, red-fired pottery and imported Roman ware. Bichir describes the first two as continuing Dacian La Tène pottery, and points to the presence of
2772-643: A static spatial one. For example, a fair share of Belarus and Right-bank Ukraine are in Eastern Europe today, but 240 years ago they were in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . Johnson's study on Central Europe received acclaim and positive reviews in the scientific community. However, according to Romanian researcher Maria Bucur , this very ambitious project suffers from the weaknesses imposed by its scope (almost 1600 years of history). The World Factbook defines Central Europe as: Austria,
2926-568: A structural variety as the Alps. The Carpathians, which attain an altitude over 2,500 m (8,200 ft) in only a few places, lack the bold peaks, extensive snowfields, large glaciers , high waterfalls, and numerous large lakes that are common in the Alps. It was believed that no area of the Carpathian range was covered in snow all year round and there were no glaciers, but recent research by Polish scientists discovered one permafrost and glacial area in
3080-549: Is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern , Southern , Western and Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in this region also share historical and cultural similarities. Whilst the region is variously defined, it often includes Austria , Croatia , the Czech Republic , Germany , Hungary , Liechtenstein , Lithuania , Poland , Slovakia , Slovenia , Switzerland and Transylvania as part of Romania . From
3234-438: Is a list of recorded incursions in which Carpi participation is specifically attested to by the sources: 238: The Carpi launched their first recorded major incursion into Roman territory south of the Danube, during the brief joint rule of the adolescent Gordian III and the senators Balbinus and Pupienus Maximus . This was apparently provoked by the refusal of the governor of Moesia Inferior , Tullius Menophilus, to grant
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#17328377014943388-558: Is a list of the highest national peaks of the Carpathians, their heights, geologic divisions, and locations. Excluding mountains located in two countries (on the border). In the Romanian part of the main chain of the Carpathians, mountain passes include Prislop Pass , Tihuța Pass , Bicaz Canyon , Ghimeș Pass , Buzău Pass , Predeal Pass (crossed by the railway from Brașov to Bucharest ), Turnu Roșu Pass (1,115 ft., running through
3542-499: Is a part of Europe composed of Austria, Belgium , the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg , Netherlands , Poland, Romania and Switzerland, and northern marginal regions of Italy and Yugoslavia (northern states – Croatia and Slovenia ), as well as northeastern France. The German Ständige Ausschuss für geographische Namen (Standing Committee on Geographical Names), which develops and recommends rules for
3696-530: Is alternatively placed in Southeastern Europe. Additionally, Hungary and Slovenia are sometimes included in the region. Lithuania is alternatively placed in Northeastern Europe. Carpi (people) The ethnic affiliation of the Carpi remains disputed, as there is no direct evidence in the surviving ancient literary sources. A strong body of modern scholarly opinion considers that
3850-563: Is an ambiguous German concept. It is sometimes used in English to refer to an area somewhat larger than most conceptions of 'Central Europe'. According to Fritz Fischer Mitteleuropa was a scheme in the era of the Reich of 1871–1918 by which the old imperial elites had allegedly sought to build a system of German economic, military and political domination from the northern seas to the Near East and from
4004-616: Is considered a Paleo-Balkan name, with evidence provided by the Albanian kárpë / kárpa , pl. kárpa / kárpat ('rock, stiff'), and the Messapic karpa ' tuff (rock), limestone ' (preserved as càrpë 'tuff' in Bitonto dialect and càrparu 'limestone' in Salentino ). This connection is further supported by the fact that also the oronym Beskydy , a series of mountain ranges in the Carpathians, has
4158-450: Is dependent on frequent historical, political and administrative changes of national or regional borders. According to modern geopolitical division, Carpathians can be grouped as: Serbian, Romanian, Ukrainian, Polish, Slovakian, Czech and Austrian. Within each nation, specific classifications of the Carpathians have been developing, often reflecting local traditions, and thus creating terminological diversity, that produces various challenges in
4312-411: Is inconsistent with the rest of the narrative, it may be a confusion with the invasion of 256). Roman forces on the lower Danube were unable to prevent them from marauding at will, probably due to their losses at Abrittus and the impact of the plague. Eventually, the barbarians were intercepted on their way home by Aemilianus , commander of the army of Pannonia . At first, his men were fearful of engaging
4466-453: Is likely that, when Greco-Roman sources refer to conflicts with the Costoboci, Carpi or Goths, they are referring to coalitions of different groups under the currently hegemonic tribe. Given the Carpi's repeated raids South of the Danube and clashes with the Romans during the 3rd century, it is likely by ca. 230, the Carpi had extended their hegemony over eastern Wallachia, previously dominated by
4620-590: Is no general agreement either on what geographic area constitutes Central Europe, nor on how to further subdivide it geographically. At times, the term "Central Europe" denotes a geographic definition as the Danube region in the heart of the continent, including the language and culture areas which are today included in the states of Bulgaria , Croatia , the Czech Republic , Hungary , Moldova , Poland , Romania , Serbia , Slovakia , Slovenia and usually also Austria and Germany. The terminology EU11 countries refer
4774-563: Is possible that there were invasions every year and that parts of the Danubian provinces were occupied by marauding bands of barbarians year-round, during the period 251–270. From Zosimus, the following major events may be discerned: 252-253: The Carpi joined Goths and two Sarmatian tribes (the Urugundi and the Borani ) in an invasion of Roman territory, ravaging Moesia and Thrace . (Zosimus states that they then crossed into Asia Minor , but as this
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4928-682: Is recorded as claiming the Carpicus title for a sixth time, at some time during his reign. 318: The emperor Constantine I the Great (reigned 312–337) is recorded as holding the Carpicus Maximus title in an inscription of that year. This most likely represents a victory over the Carpi in 316–317, when Constantine is documented as resident in the Balkans for the first time since his appointment as Caesar in 306. Each of these acclamations probably implied
5082-494: Is that Roman emperors did not use the long-established imperial victory-title ( cognomen ex virtute ) Dacicus Maximus (literally: "the greatest Dacian") for victories over the Carpi, but instead adopted the separate title Carpicus Maximus . This was introduced by Philip the Arab in 247, the first Roman emperor to defeat the Carpi in person. Such titles were usually ethnographic, not geographical (i.e. Dacicus meant "victorious over
5236-493: Is the highest peak, is 2,655 m (8,711 ft) above sea level. The Carpathians cover an area of 190,000 km (73,000 sq mi). After the Alps , they form the next-most extensive mountain system in Europe. Although commonly referred to as a mountain chain, the Carpathians do not form an uninterrupted chain of mountains. Rather, they consist of several orographically and geologically distinctive groups, presenting as great
5390-570: Is traditionally called the Eastern Beskids . Romania comprises roughly 50% of the Carpathian chain where the rest of the highest peaks, above 2500m (in the Southern Carpathians ) are found. The geological border between the Western and Eastern Carpathians runs approximately along the line (south to north) between the towns of Michalovce , Bardejov , Nowy Sącz and Tarnów . In older systems
5544-406: Is widely used in German education and media without negative meaning, especially since the end of communism. Many people from the new states of Germany do not identify themselves as being part of Western Europe and therefore prefer the term "Mitteleuropa". During World War II, Central Europe was largely occupied by Nazi Germany. Many areas were a battle area and were devastated. The mass murder of
5698-659: The Carolingian Renaissance , limited to the territories that practised Western Christianity at the time. "European" as a cultural term did not include much of the territories where the Orthodox Church represented the dominant religion until the 19th century. Following the Christianization of various Central European countries, elements of cultural unity emerged within the region, specifically Catholicism and Latin . Eastern Europe remained Eastern Orthodox , and
5852-705: The Christianization of Lithuania . It also resulted in the Union of Krewo , signifying a personal union between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland. The union commenced an enduring political alliance between the two entities and laid the foundations for the later establishment of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569. Between the 15th and early 16th centuries, the Kingdom of Croatia, which
6006-592: The Cold War the countries that make up Central Europe have historically been, and in some cases continue to be, divided into either Eastern or Western Europe. After World War II, Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain into two parts, the capitalist Western Bloc and the socialist Eastern Bloc , although Austria, Switzerland and Yugoslavia (encompassing the territories of present-day Croatia, Slovenia and various other Balkans nations) declared neutrality. The Berlin Wall
6160-651: The Czechoslovak , Hungarian and Polish presidents was hailed at the time as a major breakthrough in Central European cooperation, but the Visegrád Group became a vehicle for coordinating Central Europe's road to the European Union, while development of closer ties within the region languished. American professor Peter J. Katzenstein described Central Europe as a way station in a Europeanization process that marks
6314-595: The Danube near Orșova in Romania. The total length of the Carpathians is over 1,500 km (930 mi). The mountain chain's width varies between 12 and 500 km (7 and 311 mi). The highest altitudes of the Carpathians occur where they are widest. The system attains its greatest breadth in the Transylvanian plateau and in the southern Tatra Mountains group – the highest range, in which Gerlachovský štít in Slovakia
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6468-758: The Duchy of Carniola (part of present-day Slovenia), the various German Principalities and the Old Swiss Confederacy were within the Holy Roman Empire . By the end of the 18th century, the Habsburg monarchy , a prominent power within the Holy Roman Empire, came to reign over the territories of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina , Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia, alongside parts of Serbia , Germany, Italy , Poland and Switzerland. Since
6622-820: The Eastern Bloc countries, as its every result proved the dissimilarity of Central Europe, which was inconsistent with the Stalinist doctrine. On the other hand, the topic became popular in Western Europe and the United States, much of the research being carried out by immigrants from Central Europe. Following the Fall of Communism , publicists and historians in Central Europe, especially the anti-communist opposition, returned to their research. According to Karl A. Sinnhuber ( Central Europe: Mitteleuropa: Europe Centrale: An Analysis of
6776-588: The Frankfurt Parliament , which was established in the wake of the March Revolution of 1848, there were multiple competing ideas for the integration of German-speaking areas, including the mitteleuropäische Lösung (Central European Solution) propagated by Austria, which sought to merge the smaller German-speaking states with the multi-ethnic Habsburg Empire, but was opposed by Prussia and others. An imperialistic idea of Mitteleuropa also became popular in
6930-481: The Free Dacians into Roman Dacia is also uncertain. Supporters of a Dacian ethnicity for the Carpi have tended to assume that they participated in campaigns where Roman emperors claimed the title Dacicus Maximus , in addition to those resulting in a Carpicus Maximus acclamation. But all incursions in which the Carpi are specifically reported by ancient sources were into Moesia Inferior, not Dacia. The following
7084-598: The German Empire established in 1871, which experienced intensive economic growth. The term was used when the Union of German Railway Administrations established the Mitteleuropäische Eisenbahn-Zeit (Central European Railway Time) time zone , which was applied by the railways from 1 June 1891 and was later widely adopted in civilian life, thus the time zone name shortened to the present-day Central European Time . The German term denoting Central Europe
7238-669: The Isthmus of Corinth . The barbarians were eventually routed by Gallienus' lieutenant Aureolus , who brought large numbers of prisoners to Rome. 259-260: "The Scythians, including every people of their country" (i.e. including the Carpi) launched a massive invasion over the Danube, taking advantage of the military and political chaos in the empire. It appears that the barbarians divided into two armies. One invaded Greece and, despite its new walls, succeeded in storming and sacking Athens . The other group crossed Illyricum into Italy, and appeared before
7392-672: The March and Oder separates the Carpathians from the Silesian and Moravian chains, which belong to the middle wing of the great Central Mountain System of Europe. Unlike the other wings of the system, the Carpathians, which form the watershed between the northern seas and the Black Sea , are surrounded on all sides by plains. The Pannonian plain is to the southwest, the Lower Danubian Plain to
7546-608: The Netherlands ) as its main aim. Another time, the term Central Europe became connected to the German plans of political, economic, and cultural domination. The "bible" of the concept was Friedrich Naumann 's book Mitteleuropa in which he called for an economic federation to be established after World War I. Naumann's proposed a federation with Germany and the Habsburg empire as its centre, eventually uniting all external European nations through economic prosperity. The concept failed after
7700-423: The Pan-European Picnic on 19 August 1989 then set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, at the end of which there was no longer an East Germany and the Eastern Bloc had disintegrated. It was the largest escape movement from East Germany since the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. After the picnic, which was based on an idea by Otto von Habsburg to test the reaction of the USSR and Mikhail Gorbachev to an opening of
7854-454: The Poieneşti site (the only one fully investigated by 1976), 6 adults and 17 children were buried (compared with 62 cremated). Of these, 2 adults and 7 children were found to have artificially elongated crania . This custom, achieved by tightly binding an infant's skull during its early growth phase, is associated with steppe nomads. Bichir identifies the adults as nomads and the children as the progeny of mixed nomad-sedentary marriages. From
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#17328377014948008-447: The Samogitians , Aukštaitians and Curonians . The Holy Roman Empire was founded at the turn of the 9th century, following the coronation of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III . At its inception, it incorporated present-day Germany and nearby regions, including parts of what is now Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Switzerland. Three decades later, Great Moravia , centred in present-day Czech Republic and Slovakia, became one of
8162-546: The Western Carpathians . After the Roman emperor Trajan 's conquest of Dacia, he brought back to Rome over 165 tons of gold and 330 tons of silver. The ecology of the Carpathians varies with altitude, ranging from lowland forests to alpine meadows. Foothill forests are primarily of broadleaf deciduous trees, including oak, hornbeam, and linden. European beech is characteristic of the montane forest zone. Higher-elevation subalpine forests are characterized by Norway spruce ( Picea abies ). Krummholz and alpine meadows occur above
8316-412: The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire around 1800, there was a consolidation of power among the Habsburgs and Hohenzollerns as the two major states in the area. They had much in common and occasionally cooperated in various channels, but more often competed. One approach in the various attempts at cooperation, was the conception of a set of supposed common features and interests, and this idea led to
8470-402: The 11th and 15th centuries, not only did Christianization influence the cultures within Central Europe, but well-defined social features were also implemented in the region based on Western characteristics. The keyword of Western social development after the turn of the millennium was the spread of Magdeburg rights in some cities and towns of Western Europe. These began to spread in the middle of
8624-533: The 13th century in Central European countries, bringing about self-governments of towns and counties. In 1335, the Kings of Poland , Bohemia and Hungary and Croatia met in the castle of Visegrád and agreed to cooperate closely in the field of politics and commerce, inspiring the post- Cold War Visegrád Group . In 1386, Jogaila , the Grand Duke of Lithuania , converted to Christianity (specifically Catholicism) and subsequently became King of Poland through marriage to Queen Jadwiga of Poland . This initiated
8778-406: The 140's onwards, they are not mentioned in Roman accounts of several campaigns in the Dacian region in the second century. For example, in Rome's vast and protracted conflict with the trans-danubian tribes, known as the Marcomannic Wars (166-80), during which Dacia province suffered at least two major invasions (167, 170), only their neighbours the Costoboci are mentioned specifically. Silence on
8932-422: The 17th-century historian Constantin Cantacuzino translated the name of the mountains in an Italian-Romanian glossary to "Rumanian Mountains". The name "Carpates" is highly associated with the old Dacian tribes called " Carpes " or " Carpi " who lived in an area to the east of the Carpathians, from the east, northeast of the Black Sea to the Transylvanian Plain in the present day Romania and Moldova. Karpates
9086-506: The Adriatic had not been approved by the Western Allied chiefs of staff. As a result of the military situation at the end of the war, Stalin's plans prevailed and much of Central Europe came under Russian control. Following World War II , parts of Central Europe became part of the Eastern Bloc . The boundary between the two blocks was called the Iron Curtain . Austria, Switzerland and Yugoslavia remained neutral. The post-World War II period brought blocking of research on Central Europe in
9240-420: The Balkan theatre to subordinates with inadequate forces, as they were fully occupied, the former in the East fighting the Persians, the latter on the Rhine trying to stem a massive Germanic incursion. The whole of Greece was placed on invasion alert: the Athenians rebuilt their city walls for the first time since they were demolished by the republican general Sulla in 87 BC and the Peloponnesians re-fortified
9394-431: The Carpathians are high. In modern times, the range is called Karpaty in Czech , Polish and Slovak and Карпати [kɐrˈpatɪ] in Ukrainian , Карпати / Karpati in Serbo-Croatian , Carpați [karˈpatsʲ] in Romanian , Карпаты in Rusyn , Karpaten [kaʁˈpaːtn̩] in German and Kárpátok [ˈkaːrpaːtok] in Hungarian . Although
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#17328377014949548-432: The Carpathians within the borders of Ukraine is commonly known as the Ukrainian Carpathians . Classification of eastern sections of the Carpathians is particularly complex, since it was influenced by several overlapping traditions. Terms like Wooded Carpathians , Poloniny Mountains or Eastern Beskids are often used in varying scopes by authors belonging to different traditions. Central Europe Central Europe
9702-426: The Carpathians". But the similarity between the two names may be coincidence, and they may derive from different roots. For example, it has been suggested that the name may derive from the Slavic root-word krepu meaning "strong" or "brave". Romanian scholar Vasile Pârvan considered that the following peoples recorded in ancient sources correspond to Ptolemy's Karpiani : If so, their locations could imply that
9856-407: The Carpi are no longer mentioned in known documents after 318, it is possible that the Carpi were largely removed from the Carpathian region by c. 318 or, if any remained, it is possible that they mingled with other peoples resident or immigrating into Moldavia, such as the Sarmatians or Goths. The Greco-Romans called this people the Carpi or Carpiani . Probably the earliest mention of them, under
10010-411: The Carpi are not mentioned specifically by Zosimus and the other chroniclers and their role is thus uncertain. The late third century saw the military recovery of the empire under the iron rule of the so-called " Illyrian emperors ", a tightly knit group of career soldiers with shared origins in the Danubian provinces and regiments. Their successors, often their descendants, dominated the empire for over
10164-482: The Carpi between the river Hierasus ( Siret ) and the river Porata ( Prut ) However, it is not possible to reliably define the territories of these groups due to the imprecision of the ancient geographical sources. Also, it is likely that in many areas, ethnic groups overlapped and the ethnic map was a patchwork of dispersed sub-groups. The Sarmatians and Bastarnae are attested, in both literature and archaeology, all over Wallachia , Moldavia and Bessarabia . It
10318-433: The Carpi had very gradually migrated westwards in the period 400 BC - AD 140, a view championed by Kahrstedt. These names' common element carp- appears frequently in Dacian and Thracian placenames and personal names. But there is no consensus that these groups are in fact Carpi. Bichir suggests that they were Thraco-Dacian tribes distantly related to the Carpi. The Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World places
10472-429: The Carpi in just two years (302-303 inclusive). These victories are attested by the 4 additional Carpicus titles claimed by Diocletian and his three imperial colleagues (known as the Tetrarchs . (It was apparently their practice to claim victory-titles collectively, thus all four claimed Carpicus titles for the victories achieved by Galerius). 305-311: After acceding as Augustus (full emperor) in 305, Galerius
10626-407: The Carpi name was adopted as the collective name of the Free Dacian tribes when they achieved a degree of political unification in the early 3rd century. However, a significant number of scholars dispute that the Carpi were ethnic Dacians , and have identified them variously as Sarmatians, Daco-Thracians, Celts, or even proto-Slavs . This is because the region between the rivers Siret and Dniester
10780-399: The Carpi threat to the empire's borders. Multiple crushing defeats were inflicted on the Carpi in 273, 297, 298-308 and in 317. After each, massive numbers of Carpi were forcibly transferred by the Roman military to the Roman province of Pannonia (modern western Hungary ) as part of the emperors' policy of repopulating the devastated Danubian provinces with surrendered barbarian tribes. Since
10934-411: The Carpi were a tribe of the Dacian nation. Other scholars have linked the Carpi to a variety of ethnic groups, including Sarmatians , Thracians , Slavs , Germanic peoples , Balts and Celts . About a century after their earliest mention by Ptolemy , during which time their relations with Rome appear to have been peaceful, the Carpi emerged in c. 238 as among Rome's most persistent enemies. In
11088-449: The Carpi's demand for an annual subsidy to keep the peace, as was already paid to the Goths and other tribes on the lower Danube. This lends support to the possibility that, until this time, the Carpi had been long-term allies of the Romans and were aggrieved that they were in effect penalised for their loyalty. However, the governor succeeded in driving out the Carpi in 239. 245–247: During
11242-582: The Carpi's territory, according to Bichir. This is based on the large number of coin-hoards found in Moldavia (90), and about 100 isolated coins. However, the circulation of Roman coins seems to have virtually ceased after 218, as no coin-hoards and only 7 isolated coins have been found from after Caracalla , who ruled AD 211–218. Nomadic-culture graves are predominantly of the inhumation type, found, by 1976, in 38 places in Moldavia . These are predominantly found on
11396-503: The Central European area is subject to debates. Very often, the definition depends on the nationality and historical perspective of its author. The concept of "Central Europe" appeared in the 19th century. It was understood as a contact zone between the Southern and Northern areas, and later the Eastern and Western areas of Europe. Thinkers portrayed "Central Europe" either as a separate region, or
11550-507: The Central, Eastern and Baltic European member states which accessed in 2004 and after: in 2004 Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, and Slovakia; in 2007 Bulgaria, Romania; and in 2013 Croatia. The choice of states that make up Central Europe is an ongoing source of controversy. Although views on which countries belong to Central Europe are vastly varied, according to many sources (see section Definitions )
11704-632: The Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland. The German Encyclopaedia Meyers Grosses Taschenlexikon ( Meyers Big Pocket Encyclopedia ), 1999, defines Central Europe as the central part of Europe with no precise borders to the East and West. The term is mostly used to denominate the territory between the Schelde to Vistula and from the Danube to the Moravian Gate . According to Meyers Enzyklopädisches Lexikon , Central Europe
11858-453: The Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland. The Columbia Encyclopedia includes: Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland. While it does not have a single article defining Central Europe, Encyclopædia Britannica includes the following countries in Central Europe in one or more of its articles: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,
12012-402: The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania and Yugoslavia. The main proposed regional definitions, gathered by Polish historian Jerzy Kłoczowski , include: Former University of Vienna professor Lonnie R. Johnson points out criteria to distinguish Central Europe from Western, Northern, Eastern and Southern Europe: He also thinks that Central Europe is a dynamic historical concept, not
12166-638: The Dacians", not "victorious in Dacia") The emperors Aurelian and Constantine I claimed both the Dacicus and Carpicus titles. The existence of a separate victory-title for the Carpi may imply that the Romans did not consider the Carpi to be ethnic-Dacians . The same argument may also apply against a Sarmatian or Germanic identity for the Carpi, as Sarmaticus and Germanicus were also established titles in Philip's time. However,
12320-562: The Franco-Prussian war of 1870, the French began to exclude France from this area, and later the Germans also adopted this perspective by the end of World War I. The concept of "Central" or "Middle Europe", understood as a region with German influence, lost a significant part of its popularity after WWI and was completely dismissed after WWII. Two defeats of Germany in the world wars, combined with
12474-540: The German defeat in World War I . The revival of the idea may be observed during the Hitler era . The interwar period (1918–1938) brought a new geopolitical system, as well as economic and political problems, and the concept of Central Europe took on a different character. The centre of interest was moved to its eastern part – particularly to the countries that had (re)appeared on the map of Europe. Central Europe ceased to be
12628-465: The Germans have not played an exclusively negative role in the region. Most Central European Jews embraced the enlightened German humanistic culture of the 19th century. Jews of turn of the 20th century Central Europe became representatives of what many consider to be Central European culture at its best, though the Nazi conceptualisation of "Mitteleuropa" sought to destroy this culture. The term "Mitteleuropa"
12782-646: The Jews depopulated many of their centuries-old settlement areas or settled other people there and their culture was wiped out. Both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin diametrically opposed the centuries-old Habsburg principles of "live and let live" with regard to ethnic groups, peoples, minorities, religions, cultures and languages and tried to assert their own ideologies and power interests in Central Europe. There were various Allied plans for state order in Central Europe for post-war. While Stalin tried to get as many states under his control as possible, Winston Churchill preferred
12936-714: The Low Countries through the steppes of Russia to the Caucasus. Later on, professor Fritz Epstein argued the threat of a Slavic "Drang nach Westen" (Western expansion) had been a major factor in the emergence of a Mitteleuropa ideology before the Reich of 1871 ever came into being. In Germany the connotation was also sometimes linked to the pre-war German provinces east of the Oder-Neisse line . The term "Mitteleuropa" conjures up negative historical associations among some people, although
13090-555: The Rhine army into Italy. Further major "Scythian" invasions took place in 265-266 and possibly the largest of all, 267-268 , which was a seaborne invasion which penetrated the Aegean Sea , landed in Macedonia and proceeded to ravage Thrace. However, it was eventually stopped by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus , who destroyed the barbarian host at Naissus (268). Unlike previous invasions,
13244-587: The Rhine, Danube and in the East; at least 11 generals launched military coups; the empire was split into three autonomous pieces; and Valerian himself was captured by the Persians and died after several years in their captivity, the first Roman emperor to suffer such a humiliation. 256-257: The Carpi, with the same allies as in 253, burst into Moesia, ravaged Thrace and lay siege unsuccessfully to Thessalonica in Macedonia . Valerian and Gallienus were obliged to leave
13398-614: The Roman empire's inhabitants. The impact on the barbarian regions would have resulted in many weakened tribes and empty regions that may have induced the stronger tribes to expand. A well-known example is the Goths . These were probably recorded by the Roman historian Tacitus , under the name Gotones , as inhabiting the area East of the Vistula river in central Poland in AD 100. By 250, the Goths had moved South into western Ukraine and were frequently raiding
13552-500: The Romans' first major conflict with this people since its defeat by Aurelian 23 years earlier. The war ended in 297 with a crushing Roman victory. A panegyric of 297 hails "the recent disasters [suffered by] the Carpi" ( proxima illa ruina Carporum ). Diocletian claimed the title Carpicus Maximus for the first time. In 298, Diocletian handed the lower Danube command to his Caesar (deputy emperor), Galerius . In an intensive series of campaigns, Galerius inflicted four more defeats on
13706-524: The Roxolani. There is no dispute among scholars that some Decebalic-era Dacian settlements in Moldavia (mostly west of the Siret, with a few on the east bank (including Piroboridava , identified with Poiana-Tecuci ), were abandoned by 106, most likely, according to Bichir, as a result of the Roman conquest of Dacia . From this time, Bichir identifies two distinct cultures in Moldavia, existing side by side. One,
13860-462: The Roxolani. In addition, an apparently separate force of Goths and Bastarnae also entered Moesia Inferior, led by Kniva's two top lieutenants. Jordanes claims that the barbarians totaled 300,000 men, but Byzantine chroniclers often grossly inflate barbarian numbers, typically by a factor of ten (e.g. Zosimus' claim that 60,000 Alamanni fell at the Battle of Strasbourg in 357, against the 6,000 recorded by
14014-600: The Soviet sphere of influence in the late 1940s–1980s. For the most part, this geographical framework lost its attraction after the end of the Cold War. A number of Post-Communist countries rather re-branded themselves in the 1990s as "Central European.", while avoiding the stained wording of "Middle Europe," which they associated with German influence in the region. This reinvented concept of "Central Europe" excluded Germany, Austria and Switzerland, reducing its coverage chiefly to Poland,
14168-666: The Sîntana-de-Mureş "variant" of the Chernyakhov culture common to much of the North-Pontic region of south eastern Europe in the period 200–400. There is no direct evidence in surviving Roman imperial era sources, literary or epigraphic, regarding the language of the Carpi. In the near-total absence of inscriptions in the barbaricum , the only valid (though not infallible) indicator of the linguistic affiliation of barbarian peoples are personal names, which can sometimes be ascribed to
14322-587: The Tatra Mountains. The Carpathians at their highest altitude are only as high as the middle region of the Alps, with which they share a common appearance, climate, and flora . The Carpathians are separated from the Alps by the Danube . The two ranges meet at only one point: the Leitha Mountains at Bratislava. The river also separates them from the Balkan Mountains at Orșova in Romania. The valley of
14476-509: The USA. Otto von Habsburg tried to relieve Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and northern Yugoslavia (particularly the territories of present-day Croatia and Slovenia) from Nazi German, and Soviet, influence and control. There were various considerations to prevent German and Soviet power in Europe after the war. Churchill's idea of reaching the area around Vienna before the Russians via an operation from
14630-478: The area of German aspiration to lead or dominate and became a territory of various integration movements aiming at resolving political, economic, and national problems of "new" states, being a way to face German and Soviet pressures. However, the conflict of interests was too big and neither Little Entente nor Intermarium ( Międzymorze ) ideas succeeded. Hungarian historian Ádám Magda wrote in her study Versailles System and Central Europe (2006): "Today we know that
14784-527: The bane of Central Europe was the Little Entente , military alliance of Czechoslovakia , Romania and Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), created in 1921 not for Central Europe's cooperation nor to fight German expansion, but in a wrong perceived notion that a completely powerless Hungary must be kept down". The events preceding World War II in Europe —including the so-called Western betrayal / Munich Agreement were very much enabled by
14938-415: The barbarians, because of their aura of invincibility after Abrittus, but Aemilianus' leadership steadied them. At an unknown location near the Danube, the Romans launched a surprise attack and scored a complete victory. They chased the barbarians over the river and deep into their homelands, recovering vast quantities of plunder and liberating thousands of Roman civilians who had been abducted. Possibly among
15092-540: The barbarians. Kniva's horde stormed the city of Philippopolis (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) and spent the winter of 250/251 in the province. In the meantime, Decius rebuilt his field army in Moesia Inferior . In 251, as the barbarian army headed home towards the Danube, laden with a vast quantity of plunder, they were intercepted by the emperor at Abrittus in Moesia Inferior. In a hard-fought battle, Kniva's main force
15246-661: The border runs more in the east, along the line (north to south) along the rivers San and Osława (Poland), the town of Snina (Slovakia) and river Tur'ia (Ukraine). Biologists shift the border even further to the east. The border between the eastern and southern Carpathians is formed by the Predeal Pass, south of Brașov and the Prahova Valley . In geopolitical terms, Carpathian Mountains are often grouped and labeled according to national or regional borders, but such division has turned out to be relative, since it was, and still
15400-684: The border, tens of thousands of media-informed East Germans set off for Hungary. The leadership of the GDR in East Berlin did not dare to completely block the borders of their own country and the USSR did not respond at all. This broke the bracket of the Eastern Bloc and Central Europe subsequently became free from communism. According to American professor Ronald Tiersky , the 1991 summit held in Visegrád attended by
15554-406: The contemporary and more reliable Ammianus Marcellinus ). Thus 30,000 is a more plausible, but still formidable, estimate for Kniva's invasion, divided into two divisions. The Carpi contingent numbered 3,000 men, according to Jordanes. Facing the invasion were the Roman emperor "Trajan" Decius , an experienced general and Philip's commander on the Danube front, who had succeeded his patron after
15708-508: The desired effect of sustaining peace on the Danube. Hard on the heels of military catastrophe, the Roman army was crippled by the outbreak of a devastating smallpox pandemic, the so-called Plague of Cyprian (251 - c. 270). The effects of the Cyprianic pandemic are described by Zosimus as even worse than the earlier Antonine outbreak, which probably killed 15-30% of the empire's inhabitants. The Roman army would have suffered heavy casualties as
15862-487: The division of Germany, an almost complete disappearance of German-speaking communities in these countries, and the Communist-led isolation of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and Yugoslavia from the Western world, turned the concept of "Central/Middle Europe" into an anachronism. On the other side, the non-German areas of Central Europe were almost universally regarded as "Eastern European" primarily associated with
16016-575: The early 16th century until the early 18th century, parts of present-day Croatia and Hungary were under Ottoman rule. During the 17th century, the empire also occupied southern parts of present-day Slovakia. During the Early Modern period, the territories of Poland and Lithuania were part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . Meanwhile, the Archduchy of Austria , the Kingdom of Bohemia (Czech Republic),
16170-644: The east. However, the region encompassed a wide spectrum of additional tribes and communities. From the late 6th century to the early 9th century, the area roughly corresponding to the Carpathian Basin was part of the Avar Khaganate, the realm of the Pannonian Avars . While the Avars dominated the east of what is now Austria, its north and south were under Germanic and Slavic influence, respectively. Meanwhile,
16324-544: The emperor by unobservedly crossing the Haemus ( Balkan ) mountains into Thracia , which was largely undefended. The emperor, who was left several days' march behind, was obliged to rush his army into Thracia by forced marches. At Beroe (Stara Zagora, Bulgaria), Kniva launched a surprise attack on the emperor's exhausted army, inflicting a major defeat. Decius was obliged to withdraw the remnants of his shattered force to Moesia Inferior and to leave Thracia to be pillaged at will by
16478-515: The empire in conjunction with local tribes. It was in this context of upheaval that, in the middle of the third century, the Carpi emerged as a major barbarian threat to Rome's lower Danubian provinces. They were described by Jordanes as "a race of men very eager to make war, and often hostile to the Romans". A series of major Carpi incursions into the empire are recorded, either alone or in alliance with their neighbouring Sarmatian or Germanic tribes (including Roxolani , Bastarnae, Goths). However,
16632-518: The far eastern Czech Republic (3%) and Austria (1%) in the northwest through Slovakia (21%), Poland (10%), Ukraine (10%), Romania (50%) to Serbia (5%) in the south. The highest range within the Carpathians is known as the Tatra Mountains in Poland and Slovakia, where the highest peaks exceed 2,600 m (8,500 ft). The second-highest range is the Southern Carpathians in Romania, where
16786-817: The fields of comparative classification and international systematization. The section of the Carpathians within the borders of Romania is commonly known as the Romanian Carpathians . In local use, Romanians sometimes denote as "Eastern Carpathians" only the Romanian part of the Eastern Carpathians, which lies on their territory (i.e., from the Ukrainian border or from the Prislop Pass to the south), which they subdivide into three simplified geographical groups (northern, central, southern), instead of Outer and Inner Eastern Carpathians. These groups are: The section of
16940-633: The first West Slavic states to be founded in Central Europe. In the late 9th Century, the Hungarian tribes , originating in the Ural Mountains and Western Siberia , settled in the Carpathian Basin and established the Principality of Hungary . The earliest recorded concept of Europe as a cultural sphere (instead of simply a geographic term) was formed by Alcuin of York in the late 8th century during
17094-412: The first discussions of a Mitteleuropa in the mid-nineteenth century, as espoused by Friedrich List and Karl Ludwig Bruck . These were mostly based on economic issues. Mitteleuropa may refer to a historical concept or a contemporary German definition of Central Europe. As a historical concept, the German term Mitteleuropa (or alternatively its literal translation into English, Middle Europe )
17248-513: The form of a fold and thrust belt with generally north vergence in the western segment, northeast to east vergence in the eastern portion and southeast vergence in the southern portion. Currently, the area is the most seismically active in Central Europe. The external, generally northern, portion of the orogenic belt is a Tertiary accretionary wedge of a so-called Flysch belt (the Carpathian Flysch Belt ) created by rocks scraped off
17402-577: The highest concentration in Romania, as well as over one-third of all European plant species. The mountains and their foothills also have many thermal and mineral waters , with Romania having one-third of the European total. Romania is likewise home to the second-largest area of virgin forests in Europe after Russia, totaling 250,000 hectares (65%), most of them in the Carpathians, with the Southern Carpathians constituting Europe's largest unfragmented forest area. Deforestation rates due to illegal logging in
17556-417: The highest peaks range between 2,500 m (8,200 ft) and 2,550 m (8,370 ft). The divisions of the Carpathians usually involve three major sections: The term Outer Carpathians is frequently used to describe the northern rim of the Western and Eastern Carpathians. The Carpathians provide habitat for the largest European populations of brown bears , wolves , chamois , and lynxes , with
17710-444: The latter was murdered by mutinous troops in 249, and Caius Trebonianus Gallus , who had been appointed governor of Moesia Superior in the previous year by Decius. It appears that, for the purpose of dealing with the threat, Gallus was given command of forces in the frontier forts along the Danube, while the emperor commanded a mobile force of crack units. After losing two encounters with the Romans in Moesia Inferior, Kniva surprised
17864-475: The latter was the C. Valerius Serapio (probably a Greek) who dedicated an undated altar found at Apulum ( Alba Iulia ) in Roman Dacia , as thanksgiving for his rescue from the Carpi ( liberatus a Carpis ) Aemilianus was hailed as emperor by his victorious troops and marched on Rome, where Gallus' forces killed their leader rather than fight against the Danubian army. However, only three months later, Aemilianus
18018-631: The leadership of the Gothic king Kniva . Kniva's invasion had apparently been provoked by the termination of the Goths' annual Roman subsidy by the emperor Philip. Judging by their actions, the invaders' war aims were limited to pillage: the capture of as many slaves, horses, treasure and other goods as possible to take back to their homelands across the Danube. Kniva's horde apparently included Goths, Taifali and Vandals , as well as some renegade Roman army veterans. Given Zosimus' description of "Scythians", it almost certainly included Sarmatian elements such as
18172-513: The legal development or the social, cultural, economic, and infrastructural developments in these countries. The avant-garde movements of Central Europe contributed to the evolution of modernism, reaching its peak throughout the continent during the 1920s. The Sourcebook of Central European avantgards (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) contains primary documents of the avant-gardes in the territories of Austria, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia from 1910 to 1930. With
18326-604: The mountain range is marked by the Pieniny Klippen Belt , a narrow complicated zone of polyphase compressional deformation, later involved in a supposed strike-slip zone. Internal zones in western and eastern segments contain older Variscan igneous massifs reworked in Mesozoic thick and thin-skinned nappes. During the Middle Miocene this zone was affected by intensive calc-alkaline arc volcanism that developed over
18480-640: The name Καρπιανοί ( Carpiani in Latin) is in the Geographia of the 2nd-century Greek geographer Ptolemy , composed c. AD 140. The name Carpi or Carpiani may derive from the same root as the name of the Carpathian mountain range that they occupied, also first mentioned by Ptolemy under the name Καρπάτης - Karpátēs . The root may be the putative Proto-Indo-European word * ker/sker , meaning "peak" or "cliff" (cf. Lithuanian karpyti "mountain peaks looking like
18634-751: The narrow gorge of the Olt River and crossed by the railway from Sibiu to Bucharest), Vulcan Pass , and the Iron Gate (both crossed by the railway from Timișoara to Craiova ). The area now occupied by the Carpathians was once occupied by smaller ocean basins. The Carpathian mountains were formed during the Alpine orogeny in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic by moving the ALCAPA (Alpine-Carpathian-Pannonian), Tisza and Dacia plates over subducting oceanic crust . The mountains take
18788-403: The peasants in serfdom. The concept of Central Europe was already known at the beginning of the 19th century, but it developed further and became an object of intensive interest towards the 20th century. However, the first concept mixed science, politics, and economy – it was strictly connected with the aspirations of German states to dominate a part of European continent called Mitteleuropa . At
18942-534: The period AD 250–270, the Carpi were an important component of a loose coalition of transdanubian barbarian tribes that also included Germanic and Sarmatian elements. These were responsible for a series of large and devastating invasions of the Balkan regions of the empire which nearly caused its disintegration in the " Crisis of the Third Century ". In the period 270–318, the Roman "military emperors" acted to remove
19096-833: The plains, rarely on the Carpathian foothills (i.e. East of the Siret), either singly or in small groups of 2-13 graves, including men, women and children. The great majority of nomadic-culture graves are flat (non-tumular), in contrast to nomadic barrow-graves found from the Dniester region eastwards. However, some secondary barrow-burials (i.e. using pre-existing barrows) have been found, mostly dating from 200 onwards. The nomadic graves always contain grave-goods, often including weapons, and mirrors engraved with tamgas (ritual or tribal symbols associated with nomadic steppe cultures). Six cemeteries in Bichir's list contain both cremation and inhumation graves. At
19250-412: The ratio of sedentary to nomadic graves, Bichir concludes that the sedentary folk constituted the majority of the population of Moldavia. In the mixed cemeteries documented by Bichir, nomadic graves constitute about 28% of the total. However, in Moldavia as a whole, nomadic graves represent no more than 1% of all graves. After 318, according to Bichir, the "Daco-Carpic" culture was in Moldavia replaced by
19404-448: The region includes some or all of the states listed in the sections below: Depending on the context, Central European countries are sometimes not seen as a specific group, but sorted as either Eastern or Western European countries. In this case Austria, Germany and Switzerland are often placed in Western Europe, while Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia are placed in Eastern Europe. Croatia
19558-404: The remaining legions on the Danube, they proclaimed their commander Gallus emperor. The latter concluded a peace with the Goths, which permitted them to return home with their booty intact and guaranteed resumed subsidies. Although Zosimus denounces the terms as shameful, it was probably the only realistic option open to Gallus in the circumstances. But Gallus' resumption of subsidies did not have
19712-424: The rising nationalism and ethnocentrism that typified that period. The interwar period brought new elements to the concept of Central Europe. Before World War I, it embraced mainly German-speaking states, with non-German speaking territories being an area of intended German penetration and domination – German leadership was to be the 'natural' result of economic dominance. Post-war, the Eastern part of Central Europe
19866-415: The role of the Carpi in the coalition's incursions is not always clear, as the most comprehensive account, that of the 6th-century chronicler Zosimus , is chronologically confused and often denotes the participants under the vague term " Scythians " (meaning inhabitants of the geographical region called Scythia (i.e. roughly modern Ukraine), not ethnic Scythians ). The involvement of the Carpi in attacks by
20020-471: The role of the Carpi in these conflicts may imply that they were Roman allies in this period. Around AD 200 a phase of major population movements started in the European barbaricum (the region outside the borders of the empire). The cause of this dislocation is unknown, but an important factor may have been the Antonine Plague (165-180), a devastating smallpox pandemic, which may have killed 15-30% of
20174-424: The rule of emperor Philip the Arab (244-249), the Carpi crossed the Danube and laid waste Moesia Inferior. After the theatre governors failed to repel the invasion, the emperor took personal command and launched a major counter-attack. After a prolonged struggle, the Carpi were driven back across the Danube. Pursued by the Romans into their homeland, the main body of Carpi took refuge in a major stronghold (presumably
20328-507: The sea bottom and thrust over the North-European plate. The Carpathian accretionary wedge is made of several thin skinned nappes composed of Cretaceous to Paleogene turbidites . Thrusting of the Flysch nappes over the Carpathian foreland caused the formation of the Carpathian foreland basin . The boundary between the Flysch belt and internal zones of the orogenic belt in the western segment of
20482-703: The slaying of at least 5,000 Carpi (as traditionally required for the grant of a Triumph in Rome). For the Carpi, these defeats were accompanied by mass deportations and resettlement inside the empire. According to Ammianus, Diocletian's regime continued to settle Carpi in Pannonia, and, apparently, in Scythia Minor (i.e. the coastal region of modern Romania). Eutropius reports that "enormous numbers" were transferred. Heather interprets these reports as implying hundreds of thousands of deportees. According to Victor , writing in 361,
20636-460: The so-called "Dacian cup", a cup of distinctive design, as evidence of a Dacian base to this culture. However, he admits that the pottery also shows Roman and Sarmatian influence. The sedentary folk appear to have been generally illiterate, as no "Daco-Carpic" inscription was ever found during the very intensive excavations carried out in the region. The sedentary culture did not issue its own coinage. However, Roman coinage circulated "intensely" in
20790-417: The south, with the southern part being in Bulgaria , and the northern – in (Romania), and the Galician plain to the northeast. Important cities and towns in or near the Carpathians are, in approximate descending order of population: This is an (incomplete) list of the peaks of the Carpathians having summits over 2,500 metres (8,200 ft), with their heights, geologic divisions, and locations. This
20944-480: The subduction zone of the flysch basins. At the same time, the internal zones of the orogenic belt were affected by large extensional structure of the back-arc Pannonian Basin . The last volcanic activity occurred at Ciomadul about 30,000 years ago. The mountains started to gain their current shape from the latest Miocene onward. The slopes of the Carphartian contain at some locations solifluction deposits. Iron, gold and silver were found in great quantities in
21098-413: The territories now comprising Germany and Switzerland were under the influence of the Merovingian dynasty , and later the Carolingian dynasty . Various Slavic tribes that inhabited eastern Central Europe established settlements during this period, primarily in present-day Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The territory of Lithuania was inhabited by Baltic tribes. Amongst them were
21252-416: The toponym was recorded by Ptolemy in the second century AD, the modern form of the name is a neologism in most languages. For instance, Havasok ("Snowy Mountains") was its medieval Hungarian name. Russian chronicles referred to it as "Hungarian Mountains". Later sources, such as Dimitrie Cantemir and the Italian chronicler Giovanandrea Gromo, referred to the range as "Transylvania's Mountains", while
21406-446: The transformation process of the Visegrád Group countries in different, though comparable ways. According to him, in Germany's contemporary public discourse "Central European identity" refers to the civilizational divide between Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. He argued that there is no precise way to define Central Europe and that the region may even include Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Serbia. The issue of how to name and define
21560-487: The treeline. Wildlife in the Carpathians includes brown bear ( Ursus arctos ), wolf ( Canis lupus ), Eurasian lynx ( Lynx lynx ), European wildcat ( Felis silvestris ), Tatra chamois ( Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica ), European bison ( Bison bonasus ), and golden eagle ( Aquila chrysaetos ). The range with the highest peaks is the Tatras in Slovakia and Poland. A major part of the western and northeastern Outer Eastern Carpathians in Poland, Ukraine, and Slovakia
21714-411: The uniform use of geographical names, proposes two sets of boundaries. The first follows international borders of current countries. The second subdivides and includes some countries based on cultural criteria. In comparison to some other definitions, it is broader, including Luxembourg, Estonia, Latvia, and in the second sense, parts of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Italy, and France. There
21868-406: The victory-title argument is not conclusive, as 3rd-century emperors used three titles simultaneously to indicate victories against the Iranians, Parthicus ("Victorious over the Parthians "), Medicus (" Medes ") and Persicus (" Persians "). Note: *Some of the titles above are attested to in multiple inscriptions. Although the Carpi are recorded as resident in the Dacian region from at least
22022-421: The walls of Rome, forcing the Roman Senate to arm the civilian population to man the ramparts, as Gallienus was fully occupied on the Rhine fighting a coup d'état by one of his generals ( Postumus ). Recognising that there was no possibility of taking the city and sacking it, the Gothic-led host proceeded to ravage the whole of Italy. They were finally driven out by Gallienus' lieutenant Macrianus , who brought
22176-450: Was accelerated by writers and other intellectuals, who recognized the societal paralysis of decaying dictatorships and felt compelled to speak up against Soviet oppression. In the early Middle Ages, Central Europe had a diverse landscape, with various ethnic groups inhabiting the region. Germanic tribes , among them the Franks , Alemans and Bavarians , were predominantly situated in the west, while Slavic tribes were predominantly in
22330-461: Was at the time in personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary, served as a significant maritime gateway of Central Europe, with its ports facilitating key trade routes between Central Europe and the Mediterranean. The Republic of Ragusa emerged as a prominent hub for cultural exchange during this time. Following the Ottoman and Habsburg wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Kingdom of Croatia, under Habsburg rule , began to regain its position as
22484-409: Was contained, forcing the Carpi to sue for peace. This was granted to them on apparently lenient terms by Philip, who was eager to conclude the campaign in time for the forthcoming celebrations of the 1,000th anniversary of the City of Rome's foundation (April 248). Philip was acclaimed Carpicus Maximus . 250-251: The Carpi participated in a massive transdanubian invasion of Moesia and Thrace under
22638-415: Was described in his Otia Imperialia ("Recreation for an Emperor") in 1211. Thirteenth- to fifteenth-century Hungarian documents named the mountains Thorchal , Tarczal , or less frequently Montes Nivium ("Snowy Mountains"). The northwestern Carpathians begin in Slovakia and southern Poland. They surround Transcarpathia and Transylvania in a large semicircle, sweeping towards the southeast, and end on
22792-483: Was dominated by Byzantine cultural influence. After the East–West Schism in 1054, significant parts of Eastern Europe developed cultural unity and resistance to Catholic Western and Central Europe within the framework of the Eastern Orthodox Church , Church Slavonic language and the Cyrillic alphabet . According to historian Jenő Szűcs , at the end of the first millennium Central Europe became influenced by Western European developments. Szűcs argued that between
22946-474: Was in turn assassinated by the same troops, who defected to Valerian (reigned 253–260), the commander of forces on the Rhine , who had marched into Italy to rescue Gallus. Valerian was proclaimed emperor and promptly elevated his son Gallienus (reigned 253–268) as Augustus (co-emperor). This father-and-son team presided over the most chaotic period of the empire's history before the 5th century. The empire suffered multiple and massive barbarian invasions on
23100-452: Was of great ethnic diversity during the Roman imperial era, the Barrington Atlas listing Agathyrsi , Bastarnae , Britolagai , Costoboci , Roxolani , Thrakes , and Tyragetae . Also, some modern authors surmise the existence of ethnic groups formed in loco from mixed origins (but mostly with an indigenous Dacian/Sarmatian base e.g. the Goths ). The evidence to support a Dacian identity: A possible argument against Dacian ethnicity
23254-437: Was one of the most visible symbols of this division. Respectively, countries in Central Europe have historical, cultural and geopolitical ties with these wider regions of Europe. Central Europe began a "strategic awakening" in the late 20th and early 21st century, with initiatives such as the Central European Defence Cooperation , the Central European Initiative , Centrope , and the Visegrád Four Group . This awakening
23408-553: Was placed at the centre of the concept. At that time the scientists took an interest in the idea: the International Historical Congress in Brussels in 1923 was committed to Central Europe, and the 1933 Congress continued the discussions. According to Emmanuel de Martonne , in 1927, Central Europe encompassed Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Switzerland, northern Italy and northern Yugoslavia. The author uses both Human and Physical Geographical features to define Central Europe, but he doesn't take into account
23562-407: Was routed. The emperor then led his men across a bog in order to engage Kniva's reserve force, which guarded the barbarians' booty. But the emperor had underestimated the difficulty of the terrain: the Romans became immobilised in the mire and reportedly every one of them perished, including the emperor himself, massacred at long range by Kniva's archers or drowned. When news of this disaster reached
23716-508: Was so fashionable that other languages started referring to it when indicating territories from Rhine to Vistula , or even Dnieper , and from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans . An example of this vision of Central Europe may be seen in Joseph Partsch 's book of 1903. On 21 January 1904, Mitteleuropäischer Wirtschaftsverein (Central European Economic Association) was established in Berlin with economic integration of Germany and Austria (with eventual extension to Switzerland, Belgium and
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