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[–] avgwhtguy1 ago  (edited ago)

this east-west thing seems like a useless concept in regards to culture. Can anyone tell me the important difference (in culture, not location)?

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[–] TheRealMaestro [S] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

The East here refers to the Eastern Orthodox Church: the division between Western civilisation and Orthodox was made popular by Huntington in his Clash of Civilizations. Because of the heavy Byzantine and Turkic influences upon the Orthodox nations, and their relative isolation from most defining trends in Western history in the past 600 years, many believe it ought to be considered entirely separate from the West. Personally I maintain my reservations, though many here, including the subverse owner, like the scheme, and the maps which I had provided also feature it.

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[–] Oswy 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

It's nothing to do with "Turkic influence", which doesn't apply in Russia's case. It's simply the Orthodox Graeco-Slavonic world. You can add parts of the Caucasus and Levant, to taste. "isolated" isn't the best word either. Contact was constant, they just did their own thing. The West is Roman Catholicism, Germano-Latin civilisation, with Gothic architecture, feudalism and castles. Some modern Western places like Ireland and Gaelic Scotland were excluded in the beginning, and later brought into the same system, usually kicking and screaming.

I share your reservations, and would point out that there are other important divisions between north and south - with the territory of viticulture versus beer being quite significant, for instance. The VERY important January isobars roughly approximate the West East thing, though.