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34-486: Polish Enlightenment, while sharing many common qualities with the classical Enlightenment movements of Western Europe , also differed from them in many important aspects. Much of the thought of the Western Enlightenment evolved under the oppressive absolute monarchies and was dedicated towards fighting for more freedom. Western thinkers desired Montesquieu 's separation and balance of powers to restrict

68-835: A mild, generally humid climate, influenced by the North Atlantic Current . Western Europe is a heatwave hotspot, exhibiting upward trends that are three-to-four times faster compared to the rest of the northern midlatitudes. Western European languages mostly fall within two Indo-European language families: the Romance languages , descended from the Latin of the Roman Empire ; and the Germanic languages , whose ancestor language ( Proto-Germanic ) came from southern Scandinavia . Romance languages are spoken primarily in

102-699: A near-anarchy, resulting from abuse of consensus voting in Sejm ( liberum veto ) that paralyzed the Commonwealth, especially during the times of the Wettin dynasty , reducing Poland from a major European player to the puppet of its neighbours. Thus, while men of the Enlightenment in France and Prussia wrote about the need for more checks and balances on their kings, Polish Enlightenment was geared towards fighting

136-530: A very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow. Although some countries were officially neutral , they were classified according to the nature of their political and economic systems. This division largely defines the popular perception and understanding of Western Europe and its borders with Eastern Europe . The world changed dramatically with the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. West Germany peacefully absorbed East Germany , in

170-735: Is a multilingual thesaurus maintained by the Publications Office of the European Union . In this thesaurus, the countries of Europe are grouped into sub-regions. The following countries are included in the sub-group Western Europe: The Western European and Others Group is one of several unofficial Regional Groups in the United Nations that act as voting blocs and negotiation forums. Regional voting blocs were formed in 1961 to encourage voting to various UN bodies from different regional groups. The European members of

204-758: Is the largest religion in Western Europe. According to a 2018 study by the Pew Research Center , 71.0% of Western Europeans identified as Christians. In 1054, the East–West Schism divided Christianity into Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity . This split Europe in two, with Western Europe primarily under the Catholic Church , and Eastern Europe primarily under the Eastern Orthodox Church . Ever since

238-800: Is the western region of Europe . The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean world, the Roman Empire (both Western and Eastern ), and medieval " Christendom ". Beginning with the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery , roughly from the 15th century, the concept of Europe as "the West " slowly became distinguished from and eventually replaced

272-676: The Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe . Warsaw , Berlin , Prague , Vienna , Budapest , Belgrade , Bucharest and Sofia ; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to

306-880: The German reunification . Comecon and the Warsaw Pact were dissolved, and in 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Several countries which had been part of the Soviet Union regained full independence. In 1948 the Treaty of Brussels was signed between Belgium , France , Luxembourg , the Netherlands and the United Kingdom . It was further revisited in 1954 at the Paris Conference , when

340-771: The Reformation in the 16th century, Protestantism has also been a major denomination in Europe, with Eastern Protestant and Eastern Catholic denominations also emerging in Central and Eastern Europe . During the four decades of the Cold War , the definition of East and West was simplified by the existence of the Eastern Bloc . A number of historians and social scientists view the Cold War definition of Western and Eastern Europe as outdated or relegating. During

374-524: The Roman conquest, a large part of Western Europe had adopted the newly developed La Tène culture . As the Roman domain expanded, a cultural and linguistic division appeared between the mainly Greek -speaking eastern provinces, which had formed the highly urbanised Hellenistic civilisation , and the western territories, which in contrast largely adopted the Latin language. This cultural and linguistic division

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408-514: The Soviet Union . With the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain . This term had been used during World War II by German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and, later, Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk in the last days of the war; however, its use was hugely popularised by Winston Churchill, who used it in his famous "Sinews of Peace" address on 5 March 1946 at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri : From Stettin in

442-997: The St. Alexander's Church in Warsaw, the Temple of the Sibyl in Puławy , rebuilding the Łańcut Castle . The leading figure in the Congress Kingdom was Antoni Corrazzi. Corazzi has created a complex of Bank Square in Warsaw, the edifices of the Treasury, Revenue and the Commission of Government, the building of the Staszic Palace , Mostowski Palace and designed the Grand Theatre. Western Europe Western Europe

476-758: The Stanislavian style , followed by an almost complete inhibition and a period known as the Congress Kingdom classicism . The most famous buildings of the Stanislavian period include the Royal Castle in Warsaw, rebuilt by Dominik Merlini and Jan Christian Kamsetzer, Palace on the Water , Królikarnia and the palace in Jabłonna . From the period of the Congress Kingdom are Koniecpolski Palace and

510-740: The Western European Union was established. It was declared defunct in 2011 after the Treaty of Lisbon , and the Treaty of Brussels was terminated. When the Western European Union was dissolved, it had 10 member countries. Additionally, it had 6 associate member countries, 7 associate partner countries and 5 observer countries. The United Nations geoscheme is a system devised by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) which divides

544-706: The " Far West ". The term Far West became synonymous with Western Europe in China during the Ming dynasty . The Italian Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci was one of the first writers in China to use the Far West as an Asian counterpart to the European concept of the Far East . In Ricci's writings, Ricci referred to himself as "Matteo of the Far West". The term was still in use in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Christianity

578-606: The CIA classification a little more liberally and including "South-Western Europe", would give the following calculation of Western Europe's population. The Hague is the seat of government The climate of Western Europe varies from Mediterranean in the coasts of Italy , Portugal and Spain to alpine in the Pyrenees and the Alps . The Mediterranean climate of the south is dry and warm. The western and northwestern parts have

612-732: The Commonwealth's neighbours, ending in the partitions of Poland , the cultural impact of that period persevered Polish culture for many years. The ideas of the Polish Enlightenment also had a significant impact abroad. From the Bar Confederation (1768) through the period of the Great Sejm and until the aftermath of the Constitution of May 3, 1791, Poland experienced a large output of political, particularly constitutional, writing. Important institutions of

646-775: The Eastern Orthodox Church, by the Muslim Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, and the gradual fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire (which had replaced the Carolingian Empire ), the division between Roman Catholic and Protestant became more important in Europe than that with Eastern Orthodoxy. In East Asia , Western Europe was historically known as taixi in China and taisei in Japan, which literally translates as

680-661: The Eastern Roman Empire, mostly known as the Greek or Byzantine Empire , survived and even thrived for another 1000 years. The rise of the Carolingian Empire in the west, and in particular the Great Schism between Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism , enhanced the cultural and religious distinctiveness between Eastern and Western Europe. After the conquest of the Byzantine Empire , center of

714-674: The Enlightenment included the National Theatre founded in 1765 in Warsaw by King Stanisław August Poniatowski ; and in the field of advanced learning: the Commission of National Education established by the Sejm in 1773; the Society for Elementary Books ; as well as the Corps of Cadets (Knight's military school) among others. In expanding the field of knowledge, there was the Society of Friends of Science set up in 1800 soon after

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748-713: The Partitions. Popular newspapers included Monitor and Zabawy Przyjemne i Pożyteczne (Games Pleasant and Useful). The center of the neoclassical architecture in Poland was Warsaw under the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski . Classicism came to Poland in the 18th century. The best known architects and artists, who worked in Poland were Dominik Merlini , Jan Chrystian Kamsetzer , Szymon Bogumił Zug , Stanisław Zawadzki , Efraim Szreger , Antonio Corazzi , Jakub Kubicki , Christian Piotr Aigner, Wawrzyniec Gucewicz and Bertel Thorvaldsen . The first stage, called

782-458: The abuses stemming from too many checks and balances. The differences did not end there. Townsfolk and bourgeoisie dominated Western Enlightenment movement, while in the Commonwealth most of the reformers came from szlachta (nobility). Commonwealth szlachta (forming 10% of its population) considered the idea of equality to be one of the foundations of its culture, and reformers fought to expand it towards other social classes. Religious tolerance

816-604: The countries of the world into regional and subregional groups, based on the M49 coding classification . The partition is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories. In the UN geoscheme, the following countries are classified as Western Europe: The CIA classifies seven countries as belonging to "Western Europe": The CIA also classifies three countries as belonging to "Southwestern Europe": EuroVoc

850-618: The dominant use of "Christendom" as the preferred endonym within the area. By the Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution , the concepts of " Eastern Europe " and "Western Europe" were more regularly used. The distinctiveness of Western Europe became most apparent during the Cold War , when Europe was divided for 40 years by the Iron Curtain into the Western Bloc and Eastern Bloc , each characterised by distinct political and economical systems. Prior to

884-672: The final stages of World War II , the future of Europe was decided between the Allies in the 1945 Yalta Conference , between the British Prime Minister , Winston Churchill , the U.S. President , Franklin D. Roosevelt , and the Premier of the Soviet Union , Joseph Stalin . Post-war Europe was divided into two major spheres: the Western Bloc , influenced by the United States , and the Eastern Bloc , influenced by

918-402: The group are: In addition, Australia , Canada , Israel and New Zealand are members of the group, with the United States as observer. Using the CIA classification strictly would give the following calculation of Western Europe's population. All figures based on the projections for 2018 by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs . Using

952-546: The highest gross domestic product in Europe and the largest financial surplus of any country, Luxembourg has the world's highest GDP per capita, and Germany has the highest net national wealth of any European state. Switzerland and Luxembourg have the highest average wage in the world, in nominal and PPP , respectively. Norway ranks highest in the world on the Social Progress Index . Jan Chrystian Kamsetzer Johann Christian Kammsetzer or Jan Chrystian Kamsetzer ( Dresden , 1753 – 25 November 1795, Warsaw )

986-407: The nearly unlimited power of their monarchs . Polish Enlightenment, however, developed in a very different background. The Polish political system was almost the opposite of the absolute monarchy: Polish kings were elected and their position was very weak, with most of the powers in the hands of the parliament ( Sejm ). Polish reforms desired the elimination of laws that transformed their system into

1020-408: The protection of regional and minority languages are recognised political goals in Western Europe today. The Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the Council of Europe's European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages set up a legal framework for language rights in Europe. Western Europe is one of the richest regions of the world. Germany has

1054-430: The southern and central part of Western Europe, Germanic languages in the northern part (the British Isles and the Low Countries ), as well as a large part of Northern and Central Europe . Other Western European languages include the Celtic group (that is, Irish , Scottish Gaelic , Manx , Welsh , Cornish and Breton ) and Basque , the only currently living European language isolate . Multilingualism and

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1088-406: Was a Dresden -born architect who was active primarily in Poland . There is a record of Kammsetzer having attended the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts in 1771. From 1773 he worked for Poland's King Stanisław August Poniatowski . Together with Johann Christian Schuch and Domenico Merlini , he redesigned the King's Łazienki Park in Warsaw . He also worked for other Polish nobility, e.g., for

1122-443: Was an ideal of the szlachta. Ideas of that period led eventually to the Constitution of May 3, 1791 and other reforms (like the creation of the Commission of National Education , first ministry of education in the world) which attempted to transform the Commonwealth into a modern constitutional monarchy . Although attempts of political reform were thwarted by the civil war ( Targowica Confederation ) and military intervention of

1156-424: Was eventually reinforced by the later political east–west division of the Roman Empire . The Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire controlled the two divergent regions between the 3rd and the 5th centuries. The division between these two was enhanced during late antiquity and the Middle Ages by a number of events. The Western Roman Empire collapsed , starting the Early Middle Ages . By contrast,

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