Important date –
1453, after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks, Moscow became the Third Rome
Even though Moscow considered herself as belonging to Europe, later events set Russia off on a very different historical path.
i.e., various theological, philosophical, and intellectual currents, often referred to as scholasticism, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Counter-Reformation, and Reason & Enlightenment – which greatly impacted Europe drawing their Christianity from Rome, but only touched the ruling elite of Russia, as orthodoxy and autocracy went hand-in-hand until the Bolshevik revolution.
Question – could the fall of Constantinople perhaps be the origin of many east-west dichotomies/conflicts?