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In this posthumously published essay, Traian Stoiano­vich traces reasons for the crisis of modernity in the Balkans, from the Late Antiquity to the modern era. Stoianovich approaches the subject from the perspectives of both a micro historian and a transnational and global historian, always in dialogue with other disciplines. He looks at how the development of premodern Bal­kan nations and their medieval states was impacted by imperial conquests (Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman). He points out at both ruptures and continuities while analysing Balkan societies during the Ottoman era. The question of socioeconomic backwardness is given due consideration. Contrary to popular perceptions, the ideas of Enlightenment reached the Balkans and had an impact on the region, which tried to copy outside models. Following the Protestant Reformation and especially the French Revolution, two models of modernity emerged in Europe: Europe I of liber­ties (privileges) and Europe II of liberty. Stoianovich argues that among Orthodox Christians in the Balkans advocates of moderni­ty tended to favour Europe II.