How exactly can having “too much history” affect a country or societys present-day scenario?
Obviously, at a highly simplistic level, all countries have histories dependent on their date of foundation. Using such an interpretation countries which have maintained their historical structure the longest – Egypt, Greece, China – can be said to have the most history. However, this is of course not the point. I will answer your question with an obvious example – that of Serbia. Serbia has had one hell of a history. Invasion and occupation by the Ottomans, subjugation by the Austro-Hungarian empire, leading directly to the trauma of World-War I, and then violence of World II. And of course the whitewashing of its identity under Tito and the subsequent rise of militant nationalism under Milosevic. It is not that Serbia has had too much history. It is that Serbia has had too much of the WRONG KIND of history. It is the history of oppression and violence – exactly the kind of history that stays in the collective memory. The kind of history that creates a victim complex that can (and in
