Central Europe is the region of Europe between Eastern and Western Europe, frequently taken to include Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Slovenia. The list of countries that are sometimes included in this region is however much larger, and many times it includes Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Romania. The German term "Mitteleuropa" is sometimes used for states that came into existence after the Habsburg Monarchy dissolved.
Sometimes countries that consider themselves part of Central Europe consider states east from them as Eastern Europe. Thus, it is common in Germany to speak about Poland as being part of Eastern Europe, and in Poland to speak the same way about Ukraine.
Some used to joke that Central Europe is that part of the continent that is considered Eastern by Western Europe and Western by Eastern Europe. Another definition of Central Europe includes those parts of Europe that are Western in culture and history, but that were conquered by the Soviet Union during World War II.
