Quote Originally Posted by Dayuhan View Post
I was thinking of culture, rather than transient political alliance. Hasn't Germany been fundamentally European, hence "Western", at least since 1871?

Granted, these are very loose terms, but their use in discussions of "Westernizing" other countries is equally loose. The context in which the term "Western" was invoked a few posts back appeared to characterize a cultural and economic identity rather than a political alliance. If that interpretation is incorrect I'm sure the author of the post will clarify.
It's been that kind of Western since Charles the Great at least.
The only relevant East-West divide prior to Lenin was the persistence of serfdom (or a similar kind of lower class / caste) in Poland and Russia throughout and after the Enlightening. The Eastern European upper classes and urban population in general were in synch with France, Spain, England, Germany since about Peter the Great.


"Western" isn't a useful description for the pre-Iron Curtain period.