Geographical Regions of Europe: The Germanic Core

The three states that make up the Germanic core of central Europe run the gamut of topographic diversity. The territory of eastern Germany, for example, consists almost entirely of the lowland North European Plain, and only its southern reaches extend into the foothills of the Central Uplands. Switzerland and Austria, on the other hand, are dominated by the Alps. In the former the most open and rolling country is the Mittelland plateau, which sweeps in an arc between the Alps and the Jura from Lake Geneva in the southwest to Lake Constance in the northeast. 

In Austria the Danube Valley comprises the most extensive lowland, broadening out in the east to form the Vienna basin. Only western Germany embraces a complete cross section of all of these physiographic regions, including the northern plain, the Central Uplands, the Alpine foreland of Bavaria—a continuation of the Mittelland plateau of Switzerland—and the foothills of the Alps. In addition, in the southwest is a broad, down-faulted valley traversed by the Rhine River and called the Rhine Graben, or Rift Valley.

There is likewise a considerable diversity of climate within central Europe, for the mild, almost snowless winters of the maritime west become colder and snowier both the farther east one goes and also the higher one climbs. Thus eastern Germany, because it is farther east, and Switzerland and Austria, because of their greater elevations, experience more severe winters than most of western Germany. Summers are warmer in the more continental east and tend to be cooler in the higher south. Within the region as a whole, the warmest areas are the lowlands of the Rhine Graben and the Vienna basin, both of which essentially mark the northern limits of the commercial cultivation of such warm-summer crops as grapes and corn.

Vegetation and soil types vary markedly within the region. The warmer lowlands support a native cover of broadleaf deciduous forest, and the cooler uplands are dominated by conifers. The latter are also found in the poorer, sandier soils of the northern plain. Thus all of the central European countries have a considerable production of commercial timber. Agriculture is most favored in the loess belt on the northern edge of the central uplands and in the alluvial soils of the Rhine Graben and Vienna basin.

As in both western Continental Europe and Britain large deposits of coal are found where the plain abuts the higher ground of adjacent upland areas. The Ruhr in northwestern Germany has one of the world's major deposits of bituminous coal, while eastern Germany has the world's largest production of lignite, or brown coal. There are also small deposits of oil and natural gas in the northern plain and in the Vienna basin. Hydroelectric power is the chief source of energy in Switzerland, Austria, and southern Germany.

Agriculture is intensive throughout the region, but only Austria comes close to being self-sufficient in food production. Industry and commerce make a far greater contribution to the total economy of the region, while in both Switzerland and Austria tourism ranks as a major source of income.

The region's largest urban agglomeration is that of the Ruhr, with Essen at its core. Also with a conurbation population of more than 2 million is the city of Berlin. Urbanized areas of 1 to 2 million include Hamburg, Vienna, and Munich.