Editing Western Europe (section)

==Historical divisions==
{{original research|date=September 2020|section}}

===Classical antiquity and medieval origins===
[[File:Expansion of christianity.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[East–West Schism|Schism of 1054 (East–West Schism)]] in [[Christianity]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rbedrosian.com/Maps/ahgh66b.htm |title=Atlas of the Historical Geography of the Holy Land |publisher=Rbedrosian.com |access-date=23 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130610034842/http://rbedrosian.com/Maps/ahgh66b.htm |archive-date=10 June 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://home.comcast.net/~DiazStudents/MiddleAgesChurchMap1.jpg |title=home.comcast.net |access-date=23 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130213233630/http://home.comcast.net/~DiazStudents/MiddleAgesChurchMap1.jpg |archive-date=13 February 2013 }}</ref>]]

Prior to the [[Ancient Rome|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 [[Koine Greek|Greek]]-speaking eastern provinces, which had formed the highly urbanised [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic civilisation]], and the western territories, which in contrast largely adopted the [[Latin]] language. This cultural and linguistic division was eventually reinforced by the later political east–west division of the [[Roman Empire]]. The [[Western Roman Empire]] and the [[Byzantine Empire|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 [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|Western Roman Empire collapsed]], starting the [[Early Middle Ages]]. By contrast, 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 [[East-West Schism|Great Schism]] between [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]] and [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]], enhanced the cultural and religious distinctiveness between Eastern and Western Europe.

After the [[Decline of the Byzantine Empire|conquest of the Byzantine Empire]], center of 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 [[Protestantism|Protestant]] became more important in Europe than that with Eastern Orthodoxy.

In [[East Asia]], Western Europe was historically known as {{lang|zh|taixi}} in China and {{lang|ja|taisei}} in Japan, which literally translates as the "[[Far West (Taixi)|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".<ref>{{cite book|first=Matteo|last=Ricci|others=Translated by Timothy Billings|title=On Friendship: One Hundred Maxims for a Chinese Prince|year=1610|orig-year=2009|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0-231-14924-2|pages=19, 71, 87}}</ref> The term was still in use in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

===Religion===
[[Christianity]] 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.<ref>{{citation|title=Being Christian in Western Europe|work=Pew Research Center |year=2018|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2018/05/29/being-christian-in-western-europe/ |access-date=29 May 2018 |publisher=Pew Research Center}}</ref>

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 the [[Reformation]] in the 16th century, [[Protestantism]] has also been a major denomination in Europe, with [[Eastern Protestant Christianity|Eastern Protestant]] and [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholic]] denominations also emerging in [[Central and Eastern Europe]].

===Cold War ===
[[File:Europe-blocs-49-89x4.svg|thumb|Political spheres of influence in Europe during the [[Cold War]]; neutral countries (shaded grey or light blue) considered informally Western-oriented but not formally aligned to the West]]
During the four [[Decade|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.<ref name="cotf.edu">"One very common, but now outdated, definition of Eastern Europe was the Soviet-dominated communist countries of Europe."http://www.cotf.edu/earthinfo/balkans/BKdef.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171210020555/http://www.cotf.edu/earthinfo/balkans/BKdef.html |date=10 December 2017 }}</ref><ref name="review">"Too much writing on the region has – consciously or unconsciously – clung to an outdated image of 'Eastern Europe', desperately trying to patch together political and social developments from Budapest to Bukhara or Tallinn to Tashkent without acknowledging that this Cold War frame of reference is coming apart at the seams. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20171031132532/http://www.ce-review.org/99/1/hanley1.html Central Europe Review: Re-Viewing Central Europe By Sean Hanley, Kazi Stastna and Andrew Stroehlein, 1999]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Berglund |first1=Sten |last2=Ekman |first2=Joakim |last3=Aarebrot |first3=Frank H. |title=The handbook of political change in Eastern Europe |page=2 |year=2004 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HeRzzwzdfPkC&q=Eastern+Europe+term+outdated&pg=PA2 |access-date=5 October 2011 |quote=The term 'Eastern Europe' is ambiguous and in many ways outdated. |isbn=978-1-78195-432-4 }}</ref>

During the final stages of [[World War II]], the future of Europe was decided between the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] in the 1945 [[Yalta Conference]], between the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]], [[Winston Churchill]], the [[President of the United States|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 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 [[Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda|Propaganda Minister]] [[Joseph Goebbels]] and, later, Count [[Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk|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 (Missouri)|Westminster College]] in [[Fulton, Missouri]]:

{{blockquote|From [[Szczecin|Stettin]] in the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] to [[Trieste]] in the [[Adriatic Sea|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 a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.}}

Although some countries were officially [[Neutral country|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]] on the east side. On the western side is the Atlantic ocean.

The world changed dramatically with the fall of the [[Iron Curtain]] in 1989. [[West Germany]] peacefully absorbed [[East Germany]], in the [[German reunification]]. [[Comecon]] and the [[Warsaw Pact]] were dissolved, and in 1991, the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|Soviet Union]] ceased to exist. Several countries which had been part of the Soviet Union regained full independence.

===Western European Union===
[[File:Western European Union (1995-2011).svg|thumb|upright=1.15|Member states of the [[Western European Union]] (1995–2011)]]
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 [[London and Paris Conferences#Paris|Paris Conference]], when 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.