The patterns of unity and division that define Europe as a historical region have been discussed in some seminal works but this complex set of questions merits a more sustained debate. For a whole range of reasons, it has become more topical in recent years. The disappearance of the Cold War international regime reinforced visions of European unity, but it also brought older historical divisions back into focus. The enlargement of the European Union has posed new problems of integration across cultural and political borders rooted in historical experiences. At the same time, the core countries of the union have confronted issues that reveal the enduring importance of identities and divergences that antedate the project of integration.

In this regard, considerations based on present circumstances can link up with those suggested by new scholarly approaches. The progress of historical sociology has, among other things, led to more active interest in the identities, structures and boundaries of historical formations, geocultural as well as geopolitical, and more specifically in historical regions of varying dimensions. Such perspectives can throw light on multiple aspects of European history.

The main emphasis is on the multiple but interrelated divisions that have shaped the course of European history and crystallized in different patterns during successive phases. But the question of European unity will be discussed extensively in the first section of the book, and later chapters will include references to the perceptions and interpretations of unity that develop in different parts of a divided Europe. Within the broad spectrum of dividing lines, the primary focus will be on regional ones, and more precisely on the level that some historians call meso-regional, in contrast to both macro-regional constructs (such as Europe or even Eurasia as a whole) and the micro-regions that can be distinguished at the sub-national level. This topic has in the past few years attracted growing attention among historians, and it has proved interesting not only in its own right, but also as a way of bringing together a variety of other perspectives; but at the same time, the need for more precise conceptual demarcation has been highlighted. Finally, the book will lay particular stress on one region and the debates that have developed around it. Whether it should be identified as Central or East Central Europe is a question that will be considered, but apart from this disagreement on the label and the boundaries that it indicates, this part of Europe has not only been the topic of the most intensive discussion of regional identity, but also the source of some particularly seminal reflections on the general theme of the book: the unity and the divisions of European history.