A History of Central Eastern Europe

The Macedonians reached the Adriatic Sea during the 5 th c and they were followed by
the Bulgars, Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. By the 7 th c a tribal union called Slavinia had
formed which included Macedonia, parts of Serbia and Bulgaria (all Slavic) as well as
part of (non- Slavic) Greece. Today’s Serbian, genetically, is a descendant of a Balkan
people that adopted Slavic culture and language rather than a Slavic descendant.
The ANTES are the last of the 3 groups to appear in written history and the only
one that did not cross the Carpathians. Little is known and this is, in part, due to the
annihilation of the ruling class when BOZ, KING OF THE ANTES and seventy lesser
chieftains were crucified by the Ostrogoths in 374 C.E. The remnants of the Eastern
Slavs formed a defensive federation but were unable to stop the attack and final
destruction by the Avars around 550 C.E. After this time those identified as Russian,
Ukranian and Belarussian are, genetically, a mixture of Slavic and other peoples.
In the 7 th c then there were the Western Slavs in the Carpathian basin and the
Southern Slavs eastward from the Adriatic Sea. Continuing west, the Avars attacked the
Western Slavs (the Czech and Slovak tribes) eight years later. The Czech and Slovak
tribes were again attacked by the Avars almost a century later. The Avar attack was
along a front stretching far enough to include the lands of the Southern Slavs. The Slavs
enlisted the aid of the Frankish armies and, upon the Avar defeat, the Frankish KING
SAMO established the Kingdom of Samo from 625-658. The Avars would continue to
threaten Europe until they were defeated by CHARLEMAGNE at the start of the 9 th century.
The Huns arrival in the Carpathian basin around 400 C.E. separated the Western
and Southern Slavs geographically – they were already separated culturally as each
group had their own characteristics, traits, rituals and language. In fact it may have been
this very difference that allowed for the very complete and permanent split. Recent
rehabilitation of the understanding that the Huns remained in the Danubian Plain also
lends credence to the early separation into separate groups.
While the Huns and Avars attacked from the east, the Western and Southern
Slavs were pressed by the Teutonic tribes from the west. The Drang nach Osten is the
name given to the reverse migration of Teutonic tribes once they had reached the
western limits of continental Europe. This pressure from both directions was the major
impetus behind the formation of the first Slavic governments, the earliest being the
previously mentioned Slavinia. By the 9 th c the Slavs also realized that their survival as
an independent people depended upon their co-operation with Byzantium.
The 9 th century was by no means the first contact made with Christian
Byzantium, but it was the first to be made in friendship. The Serbs and Croats had long
invaded Byzantium territories. The Serbs absorbed much of the Greek culture which lay
to the south while the Croats, moving north and west, became more Westernized. As
the rift in the Catholic Church of Saint Peter widened into a full-blown schism, so did the
rift between the Serbs and Croats widen to the point that these former kinsmen became
enemies, a situation remaining unchanged down to the present day.
Meanwhile the Czech, Moravian and Slovak people were being introduced to
missionary Byzantine Catholicism headed by the efforts of the Greek brothers
CONSTANTINE (c827 – 869) and METHODIUS (c817 – 885). They arrived in 862 C.E. at the
request of the head of the Great Moravian Empire. Following the mid-7 th century
disintegration of the Kingdom of Samo, the centralizing principle of government was
continued with the formation in 825 of the Principate of Nitra (in present-day Slovakia)
ruled by PRIBINA (died 861). The neighboring Moravian Duchy was founded in 830 and
gave rise to the MOJMÍROVCI dynasty. In 833 DUKE MOJMÍR I (died 846) forced PRIBINA
from his lands and incorporated the Nitrian lands into his own, forming the Moravian
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