It can be said that Western Culture as a term started with Renaissance. Therefore the center of it was Italy, then Germany became the centre of Western Culture in many aspects, followed by France and England.
But at what point USA took the lead? Europe lost it is dominance definetely with the World War II, but where was the center of Western Culture in early 20th century?
I also would like to dedicate this thread to sub divisions of Western Culture in today. As one part of it became absolute faggotry as it can be seen in pic related, while the other one remained rather more linked with the values of the past.
>>1204770
Western culture started with Athens
>>1204775
Yes. Meanwhile rest of Europe wasn't even referred as Europe as they were seen as vile barbarians. The Western Culture as can be understood as today started with Renaissance. Which had an influence on landmass from Iberia to Scandinavia and Russia.
>>1204770
>But at what point USA took the lead?
After ww2 with the mass propaganda effort against the soviets and the sheer gap in pop culture production caused by language and population advantages. Mass media + largest media market meant that the US could simply outproduce culturally Europe, and we all know that in the culture war quantity >>>>> quality.
>>1204786
Western culture started with athens....
It then spread to Europe, you can argue the etymology of terms but the intellectual consensus we would call "western" began with athens and then found its refining Rome.
>>1204775
>>1206722
Always with this shit meme. The greeks were the first *geographically* european member of the western cultural family, sure, but they didn't start the culture, they had lots and lots of persian and egyptian influence, and they didn't spread it to Europe either, the romans did.
It doesn't really make any sense to claim that western (aka european) culture started before Europe constituted a proper cultural group.
Besides, why the fuck even Athens? It wasn't the first greek city to spawn relevant philosophers. Just because of Socrates & disciples? Fuck that.
>>1204770
>Therefore the center of it was Italy, then Germany became the center of Western Culture in many aspects, followed by France and England.
You mean Italy then Portugal,then Spain and the Netherlands.
>>1204770
It's not that simple. It's not like the Renaissance Italians went: "Oh hey, we're the Italians, would you like to try some Renaissance?" The Renaissance is just a collective term for the time period; most people living in the actual Italian Renaissance didn't know they were even in a renaissance. How could they? How could someone from France even begin to imagine, "Hmm...I bet 500 years from now, we're going to be grouped with the Italians and it's going to be called the Renaissance."
>at what point USA took the lead
Never
>but where was the center of Western Culture in early 20th century?
Why does there have to be a "center"? It's not that simple. Lots of cultures doing their own shit under the European umbrella, but there was no center
>>1204770
For a while the USA was seen as pretty culturally distinct from Europe, maybe not as distant as say, China or the Middle East, but definetely as having different values and characteristics. But hey, in the 1910s average French, British and Germans pretty much saw each other as different species, hence all the horrors of both wars and it wasn't until their national armies were demolished and they had to rely on the US economy and army to stand up again while looking at the huge ass red threat eastwards that they started talking about the "free world".
