Why Western and Eastern Europe are different in their levels of development
You may be surprised, but the fundamental answer is the Black Death.
At the turn of the fourteenth century, Europe had a feudal order, which based on a hierarchical relationship between the king and the lords, and peasants were at the very bottom. Actually, peasants were called “serfs” because of their servile status, and the fruits of all of their work went towards lords and kings who amassed enormous wealth and power.
However, when Black Death erupted in the middle 14th century, it disrupted the very foundations of the feudal order. The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe’s population. It took 200 years for the world population to recover to its previous level.
Before the eruption of the plague (1346), few differences between Western and Eastern Europe existed in terms of political, economic and social institutions.
Nevertheless, by the beginning of the 17th century, Western Europe was years ahead of its Eastern counterpart. In the West, there were no feudal order and serfdom, whereas in the East most of the populations were in the possession of landlords.
As a consequence, the West advanced faster and the foundation for the free market economy was laid. On the other hand, Eastern European countries were stagnating and it took centuries before they were able to diminish the gap with the West.
But how did the Black Death cause such a divergence?
After the plague, as a result of decreased population and labor force, people both in the Western and Eastern Europe demanded greater freedoms and higher wages. Whereas in the West residents were able to at least partially free themselves from their servile status, landlords in the East did their best to keep the labor market extractive.
For instance, in 1381 the Peasants’ Revolt under the leadership of W. Tyler broke out in England who opposed the government’s attempt to enforce more obligations on them towards their lord through the Statute of Laborers. Though the rebels were defeated, the English authorities refused to adopt the Statute of Laborers. This led to the emergence of a free labor market in England. Similar things then happened in other Western European countries.
In essence, because eastern landlords had slightly more power and rights and peasants were less organized than in the West, the East fell behind in economic growth.
This is an example of how a critical juncture or a unique confluence of factors lead to considerable divergence in the level of the development of the countries.
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