Flayed by History: The Balkans, Broken Empires, and the Lie That Assimilation Doesn’t Matter
That’s the part modern commentators miss when they wave away Balkan violence as “ancient hatreds.” These weren’t abstract grudges. They were lived systems. For centuries, the region was ruled by empires that never integrated their subjects into a shared civic identity. Catholic Croats looked west to Rome and Vienna. Orthodox Serbs looked east to Constantinople and Moscow. Muslim communities were tied to Ottoman structures. Religion wasn’t just belief; it was citizenship, law, and survival. Identity was not optional. It was inherited like debt.