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Colonial Dreams, Ambiguous Outcomes: German Settlers In The Balkans And The Volga River Basin, Timothy Olin

Journal of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences

This article surveys the phenomenon of German colonization in Eastern Europe from a comparative perspective. On examination of the origins and outcomes of German settlement in the northern Balkans and southern Russia, a number of shared characteristics and circumstances appear. From beginnings in multinational empires to dissolution under the combined pressure of nationalism and communism, the German settler communities represent an interesting case study in the shift from an imperial to a national perspective in Eastern Europe. The Germans were successful in fulfilling the goals of the Russian and Habsburg imperial governments; they increased agricultural production and helped integrate the …