Central Europe: The Death of a Civilization and the Life of an Idea

by Luka Ivan Jukic

Overview

What is 'Central Europe'? Where do its borders lie? Does it even exist? Attempts to define it usually yield more questions than answers. But perhaps the wrong questions are being asked.

Luka Ivan Jukic disentangles the enigma of Central Europe through its birth, death and rebirth. Today, Poland, Croatia and even Ukraine proudly align themselves with it, and so with Western civilization. But the term originally described an unrecognizably different world—one formed in the eighteenth century by the unique inheritance of the Habsburg dynasty across Germany and a sprawling Danubian realm; by the rise of standard High German; and by its intermediate position between an 'advanced West' and 'backwards East'.

Two devastating world wars shattered this extraordinary civilization, reducing it to a Cold War frontier. Its unexpected reincarnation in the 1980s, as an ideological antidote to the Soviet East, spawned myths and polemics, but little clarity. Yet 'Central Europe' seems to feature in every contemporary crisis, from Russian aggression to European disunity. Why is it still such a powerful political idea?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781911723981
Publisher:	Hurst
Publication date:	09/15/2025
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Luka Ivan Jukic is a journalist and historian based in London. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, the Financial Times, New Lines Magazine, Engelsberg Ideas, Foreign Policy, History Today, and other publications.

Editorial Reviews

"An elegant, erudite and thoughtful book. Luka Ivan Juki? brings to life a part of Europe that is too often pushed into the margins - but can be best understood as its heart. This is a region that can defy easy categorisation, but Jukic captures that complexity with rare sensitivity and insight." — Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History, University of Oxford

"A fantastic journey into a territory that is both absent and present, that is ephemeral but for which whole peoples are ready to die for." — Peter Pomerantsev, author of How to Win an Information War: The Propagandist Who Outwitted Hitler

"Language matters, as in naming a space we identify, claim or reject it. From its cracking opening with a literary duel in a Lisbon hotel onwards, Luka Ivan Jukic's book captivates the reader with its epic story of the life, death and possible rebirth of the idea of Central Europe." — Brendan Simms, Professor of the History of European International Relations, University of Cambridge

"A masterful and bold account of the German and Habsburg Empires and of the Central European states which succeeded them, told with scholarly rigor and narrative élan."— Martyn Rady, author of The Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe

"With a keen eye for both big and small key events, Luka Ivan Jukic meticulously unravels the history of Central Europe, as a territory, an idea and an ideal. To understand contemporary antisemitism and the war in Ukraine, this is essential reading." — Pauline Terreehorst, author of Secrets of a Suitcase

"Jukic writes fluently and peppers his book with colorful anecdotes. His decision to weave the different peoples" respective stories into a single chronological narrative makes sense, especially for times such as 1848, when a wave of revolutions promised to transform Central Europe (as would happen in 1989)." — Peter Conradi, The Sunday Times

"Luka Ivan Jukic combines the skills of historian and journalist to provide a concise overview of the political development of the empires and countries associated with the region. If you want to understand how and why Germany, Austria, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia and Croatia acquired their current forms and locations, this is a good place to start." — TLS

From the Publisher