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History of Ukraine



 
 
The territory of Ukraine
Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
 was a key centre of East Slavic culture in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
, before being divided between a variety of powers. However, the history of Ukraine dates back many thousands of years. The territory has been settled continuously since at least 5000 BC, and is also a candidate site of the origins
Proto-Indo-European Urheimat hypotheses

The Proto-Indo-European Urheimat hypotheses are designed to explain the origins of the Proto-Indo-European language and the people. The identity of the Proto-Indo-Europeans has been a recurring topic in Indo-European studies since the 19th century....
 of the Proto-Indo-European language family.

n settlement in Ukraine has been documented into distant prehistory.






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The territory of Ukraine
Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
 was a key centre of East Slavic culture in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
, before being divided between a variety of powers. However, the history of Ukraine dates back many thousands of years. The territory has been settled continuously since at least 5000 BC, and is also a candidate site of the origins
Proto-Indo-European Urheimat hypotheses

The Proto-Indo-European Urheimat hypotheses are designed to explain the origins of the Proto-Indo-European language and the people. The identity of the Proto-Indo-Europeans has been a recurring topic in Indo-European studies since the 19th century....
 of the Proto-Indo-European language family.

Prehistory

Human settlement in Ukraine has been documented into distant prehistory. The late Neolithic
Neolithic

The Neolithic period was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 Before the Christian Era in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age....
 Trypillian culture
Cucuteni culture

The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture, also known as Cucuteni culture , Trypillian culture or Tripolie culture , is a late Neolithic archaeological culture that flourished between ca....
 flourished from about 4500 BC to 3000 BC. The Copper Age
Copper Age

The Chalcolithic period or Copper Age period [also known as the Eneolithic ], is a phase in the development of human culture in which the use of early metal tools appeared alongside the use of stone tools....
 people of the Trypillian culture were resided in the western part, and the Sredny Stog
Sredny Stog culture

The Sredny Stog culture dates from the 5th millennium BC-3500 BC. It was situated just north of the Sea of Azov between the Dnieper and the Don River, Russia....
 further east, succeeded by the early Bronze Age
Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is, with respect to a given prehistory, the period in that society when the most advanced metalworking included smelting copper and tin from naturally-occurring outcroppings of copper and tin ores, creating a bronze alloy by melting those metals together, and casting them into bronze artifact s....
 Yamna ( "Kurgan
Kurgan hypothesis

The Kurgan hypothesis is one of the proposals about early Indo-European origins, which postulates that the people of an archaeological "Kurgan culture" in the Pontic steppe were the most likely speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language....
") culture of the steppes, and by the Catacomb culture
Catacomb culture

The Catacomb culture, ca. 2800-2200 BC, refers to an early Bronze Age culture occupying essentially what is present-day Ukraine. It was related to the Yamna culture, and would seem more of an areal term to cover several smaller related archaeological cultures....
 in the 3rd millennium BC (see also Ukrainian stone stela).

During the Iron Age
Iron Age

In archaeology, the Iron Age was the stage in the development of any people in which tools and weapons whose main ingredient was iron were prominent....
, these were followed by the Dacians
Dacians

The Dacians were an Indo-European people, the ancient inhabitants of Dacia , present-day Romania and Moldova, parts of Sarmatia and Scythia Minor in southeastern Europe ....
, Cimmerians
Cimmerians

The Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads who, according to Herodotus, originally inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea, in what is now Ukraine and Russia, in the 8th century BC and 7th century BC....
, Scythians, Sarmatians
Sarmatians

The Sarmatians, Sarmat? or Sauromat? were a people of Ancient Iranian peoples origin. Mentioned by Classics authors, they migrated from Central Asia to the Ural Mountains around fifth century B.C....
, among other nomadic peoples. The Scythia
Scythia

The Scythians or Scyths were an Eastern Iranian languages of Equestrianism nomadic pastoralists who dominated the Pontic steppe throughout Classical Antiquity....
n Kingdom existed here from 750 BC to 250 BC. Along with ancient Greek
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 colonies founded from the 6th century BC on the north-eastern shore of the Black Sea
Black Sea

The Black Sea is an inland sea sea bounded by southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Anatolia and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean Sea and Aegean Seas and various straits....
, the colonies of Tyras
Tyras

Tyras, a colony of Miletus, probably founded about 600 BC, situated some 10 m from the mouth of the Tyras River . Of no great importance in early times, in the 2nd century BC it fell under the dominion of native kings whose names appear on its coins, and it was destroyed by the Getae about 50 BC....
, Olbia
Olbia, Ukraine

Pontic Olbia or Olvia is the site of a Greek colony founded by the Miletus on the shores of the Southern Bug estuary , opposite Berezan Island....
, Hermonassa, perpetuated by Roman
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 and Byzantine
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
 cities until the 6th century
6th century

The 6th century is the period from 501 to 600 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era/Common Era. This century marks the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the Dark Ages....
 AD.

In the 3rd century
3rd century

The 3rd century is the period from 201 to 300 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era/Common Era.In this century, the Roman Empire sees a Crisis of the Third Century, marking the beginning of Late Antiquity....
 AD, the Goths
Goths

The Goths were East Germanic tribes who, in the 3rd and 4th centuries, invasion the Roman Empire and later adopted Arian Christianity. In the 5th and 6th centuries, divided as the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, they established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in the Iberian peninsula and Italy....
 arrived in the lands of Ukraine around 250 AD to 375 AD, which they called Oium
Oium

Oium or Aujum was a name for an area in Scythia, where the Goths under their king Filimer settled after leaving Gothiscandza, according to the Getica by Jordanes, written around 551....
, corresponding to the archaeological Chernyakhov culture
Chernyakhov culture

The Chernyakhiv culture was found in Ukraine, Moldova and parts of Belarus. The eponymous site is the village of Cherniakhiv in Ukraine's Kiev Oblast ....
. The Ostrogoths stayed in the area but came under the sway of the Huns
Huns

The Huns were a confederation of Central Asian Eurasian nomads or semi-nomads, who had established an empire in Eurasia. The Huns may have stimulated the Migration Period, a contributing factor in the collapse of the Roman Empire....
 from the 370s. North of the Ostrogothic kingdom was the Kiev culture
Kiev culture

The Kiev culture is an archaeological culture dating from about the third to fifth centuries AD, named after Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is widely considered to be the first identifiable Slavic peoples archaeological culture....
, flourishing from the 2nd to 5th centuries, when it was overrun by the Huns. After they helped defeat the Huns at the battle of Nedao
Battle of Nedao

The Battle of Nedao, named after the Nedava, a tributary of the Sava, was a battle fought in Pannonia in 454. After the death of Attila the Hun, allied forces of the Germanic tribes subject peoples under the leadership of Ardaric, king of the Gepids, defeated the Hunnic forces of Ellac, the son of Attila, who had struggled with his half-broth...
 in 454
454

Events...
, the Ostrogoths were allowed to settle in Pannonia
Pannonia

Pannonia is an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
.

With the power vacuum created with the end of Hunnic and Gothic rule, Slavic tribes, possibly emerging from the remnants of the Kiev culture, began to expand over much of what is now Ukraine during the 5th century, and beyond to the Balkans from the 6th century.

In the 7th century, the territory of modern Ukraine was the core of the state of the Bulgars
Bulgars

The Bulgars were a seminomadic people, probably of Turkic peoples descent, originally from Southern Central Asia, who from the 2nd century onwards dwelled in the steppes north of the Caucasus and around the banks of river Volga ....
 (often referred to as Old Great Bulgaria
Old Great Bulgaria

Old Great Bulgaria or Great Bulgaria was ? term used by Byzantine historians to refer to the territories controlled by the Bulgars ruler Kubrat in the 7th century north of the Caucasus mountains in the steppe between the Dniester and Lower Volga....
) with its capital city of Phanagoria
Phanagoria

Phanagoria was the largest Greek colonies on the Taman peninsula, spreading on two plateaux along the Asian shore of the Cimmerian Bosporus, 25 kilometers northeast of Hermonassa....
. At the end of the 7th century
7th century

The 7th century is the period from 601 to 700 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era/Common Era....
, most Bulgar tribes migrated in several directions and the remains of their state were absorbed by the Khazars
Khazars

The Khazars were a semi-nomadic Turkic people who dominated the Pontic steppe and the North Caucasus from the 7th to the 10th century CE. The name 'Khazar' seems to be tied to a Turkic languages verb form meaning "wandering"....
, a semi-nomadic people
Nomad

Nomadic people, , also known as nomads, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than Settler in one location....
 from Central Asia
Central Asia

Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south....
.

The Khazars founded the Khazar kingdom
Khazars

The Khazars were a semi-nomadic Turkic people who dominated the Pontic steppe and the North Caucasus from the 7th to the 10th century CE. The name 'Khazar' seems to be tied to a Turkic languages verb form meaning "wandering"....
 in the southeastern part of today's Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, near the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the List of lakes by area or a full-fledged sea. It has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometers and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometers ....
 and the Caucasus. The kingdom included western Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan, also Kazakstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a large Eurasian country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the List of countries by area as well as the world's largest landlocked country, it has a territory of 2,727,300 km? ....
, and parts of eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan , is the largest and most populous country in the South Caucasus, located partially in Eastern Europe and partially in Western Asia....
, southern Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, and Crimea
Crimea

Crimea or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is an autonomous republic of Ukraine located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name....
.

Kievan Rus’


As Hrushesky states the city of Kyiv was established during the time when area around the mid- and low-Dnipro was the part of the Khasar's state. He referred that information to the local legends as no written chronicles from that period has left. The main reasons for that might be tha fact that during the Christianization of the Kyivan Rus and later occupation of Ukraine
Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
 all earlier religious and historical publications of that land were destroyed. In the 882
882

Events...
, Kiev was conquered from the Khazars
Khazars

The Khazars were a semi-nomadic Turkic people who dominated the Pontic steppe and the North Caucasus from the 7th to the 10th century CE. The name 'Khazar' seems to be tied to a Turkic languages verb form meaning "wandering"....
 by the Varangian noble Oleg who started the long period of rule of the Rurikid princes. During this time, several Slavic tribes were native to Ukraine, including the Polans
Polans (eastern)

The Polans were a tribe of Early East Slavs between the 6th and the 9th century, which inhabited both sides of the Dnieper river from Liubech to Rodnia and also down the lower streams of the rivers Ros' River, Sula River, Stuhna, Teteriv River, Irpin' River, Desna and Pripyat River....
, the Drevlyans
Drevlyans

The Drevlians were a tribe of Early East Slavs between the 6th and the 10th century, which inhabited the territories of Polesia, Right-bank Ukraine west of Polans , down the stream of the rivers Teteriv River, Uzh, Ubort, and Stviga....
, the Severians
Severians

The Severians or Severyans or Siverians were a tribe or tribal union of Early East Slavs occupying areas to the east of the middle Dnieper river around the rivers Desna , Seym River and Sula River on the territory of the archaeological Romny culture....
, the Ulichs
Ulichs

The Ulichs were a tribe of Early East Slavs who between the eighth and the tenth century inhabited the territories along the Lower Dnieper, Bug River and the Black Sea littoral....
, the Tiverians, and the Dulebes
Dulebes

The Dulebs , or Dulebi were one of the tribe unions of Early East Slavs between the 6th and the 10th centuries. Dulebi were among the twelve East Slavic tribes mentioned in the Primary Chronicle....
. Situated on lucrative trade routes, Kiev among the Polanians quickly prospered as the center of the powerful Slavic state of Kievan Rus.

In the 11th century
11th century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century is the period from 1001 to 1100 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era/Common Era....
, Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus'

Kievan Rus' , also written as Kyivan Rus', was a medieval state which existed from approximately 880 to the middle of the 12th century. Founded by the Scandinavian traders called "Rus' " and centered in the city of Kiev , Rus' polity is considered an early predecessor of three modern East Slavs nations: Belarusians, Russians, and Ukrai...
 was, geographically, the largest state in Europe, becoming known in the rest of Europe as Ruthenia
Ruthenia

Ruthenia is a geographic and culturo-ethnic name applied to the parts of Eastern Europe populated by Eastern Slavic peoples, as well as to the past Russian states that existed in these territories....
 (the Latin name for Rus', especially for western principalities of Rus' after the Mongol invasion. The name "Ukraine", meaning "border-land", first appears in recorded history on maps of the period. The meaning of this term seems to have been synonymous with the land of Rus' propria--the principalities of Kiev
Kiev

Kiev, also known as Kyiv , is the Capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River....
, Chernihiv
Chernihiv

Chernihiv, , is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast....
 and Pereyaslav. The term, "Greater Rus'" was used to apply to all the lands ruled by Kiev, including those that were not just Slavic, but also Finno-Ugric
Finno-Ugric

Finno-Ugric can refer to:* Finno-Ugric languages* Finno-Ugric peoplesExcess long comment to prevent listing on...
 in the north-east portions of the state. Local regional subdivisions of Rus' appeared in the Slavic heartland, including, "Belarus'" (White Ruthenia), "Chorna Rus'" (Black Ruthenia) and "Cherven' Rus'" (Red Ruthenia) in north-western and western Ukraine.
Kievska Rus 9th Century
Kievska Rus 11th Century
Although Christianity had made inroads into territory of Ukraine before the first ecumenical council, the Council of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea

The First Council of Nicea was convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperors Constantine I in 325 CE. The Council was historically significant as the first effort to attain consensus decision-making in the church through an legislature representing all of Christendom....
 (325
325

Events...
) (particularly along the Black Sea coast) and, in Western Ukraine during the time of empire of Great Moravia
Great Moravia

Great Moravia was a Slavic people state that existed in Central Europe from the 9th century to the early 10th century. There is some controversy as to the actual location of its core territory....
, the formal governmental acceptance of Christianity in Rus' occurred at in 988
988

Events...
. The major cause of the Christianization of Kievan Rus' was the Grand-Duke, Vladimir the Great (Volodymyr). His Christian interest was midwifed by his grandmother, Princess Olga. Later, an enduring part of the East-Slavic legal tradition was set down by the Kievan ruler, Yaroslav I
Yaroslav I the Wise

Yaroslav I the Wise was thrice Grand Prince of Novgorod and Kiev, uniting the two principalities for a time under his rule. During his lengthy reign, Kievan Rus' reached a zenith of its cultural flowering and military power....
, who promulgated the Russkaya Pravda
Russkaya Pravda

Ruskaya Pravda was the legal code of Kievan Rus and the subsequent Rus' principalities during the times of feudal division. While it shares a number of features with contemporary Germanic codifications , it is also distinguished by many peculiarities, such as the absence of capital punishment....
 (Truth of Rus') which endured through the Lithuanian period of Rus'.

Conflict among the various principalities of Rus', in spite of the efforts of Grand Prince Vladimir Monomakh, led to decline, beginning in the 12th century
12th century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era/Common Era....
. In Rus' propria, the Kiev region, the nascent Rus' principalities of Halych and Volynia
Halych-Volhynia

The Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia , or Galicia-Vladimir, was a principality in post-Kievan Rus in the late 12th century and existed until the middle of the 14th century....
 extended their rule. In the north, the name of Moscow appeared in the historical record in the principality of Suzdal
Suzdal

Suzdal is a types of inhabited localities in Russia in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, situated north-east of Moscow, from the city of Vladimir, on the Kamenka River....
, which gave rise to the nation of Russia. In the north-west, the principality of Polotsk increasingly asserted the autonomy of Belarus'. Kiev was sacked by Vladimir principality (1169) in the power struggle between princes and later by Cumans
Cumans

Cumans were a nomadic Turkic peoples people who inhabited a shifting area north of the Black Sea known as Cumania along the Volga River. They eventually settled to the west of the Black Sea, influencing the politics of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Moldavia, and Wallachia....
 and Mongol
Mongol Empire

The Mongol Empire was the List of largest empires#Contiguous Empires empire and the largest bar none. It emerged from the unification of Mongols and Turkic peoples tribes in modern day Mongolia, and grew through Mongol invasions, after Genghis Khan had been proclaimed ruler of all Mongols in 1206....
 raiders in the 12th
12th century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era/Common Era....
 and 13th
13th century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 through 1300 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era/Common Era....
 centuries, respectively. Subsequently, all principalities of present-day Ukraine acknowledged dependence upon the Mongols (1239-1240). In 1240 the Mongols sacked Kiev. The Mongol overlordship was very cruel, and people often fled to other countries.

Five years after the fall of Kiev, Papal envoy Giovanni di Plano Carpini
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine

Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, or John of Plano Carpini or John of Pian de Carpine or Joannes de Plano was one of the first Europeans to enter the court of the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire....
 wrote:

"They destroyed cities and castles and killed men and Kiev, which is the greatest Russian city they besieged; and when they had besieged it a long while they took it and killed the people of the city. So when we went through that country we found countless human skulls and bones from the dead scattered over the field. Indeed it had been a very great and populous city and now is reduced almost to nothing. In fact there are hardly two hundred houses there now and the people are held in the strictest servitude."


Galicia-Volhynia


A successor state to Kievan Rus' on part of the territory of today's Ukraine was the principality of Galicia-Volhynia.

Previously, Vladimir the Great had established the cities of Halych
Halych

Halych is a historic city on the Dniester River in western Ukraine. The town gave its name to the historic province and kingdom of Galicia , of which it was the capital until the early 14th century, when the seat of the local princes was moved to Lviv....
 and Ladomir
Volodymyr-Volynskyi

Volodymyr-Volynskyi or Vladimir-Volynsky is a historic city located in the what is now Volyn Oblast , in north-western Ukraine. Serving as the Capital city of the Volodymyr-Volynskyi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast....
 (later Volodimer) as regional capitals for the western Ukrainian heartland. This new, more exclusively a Ukrainian predecessor state was based upon the Dulebe, Tiverian and White Croat tribes. The state was ruled by the descendants of Yaroslav the Wise and Vladimir Monomakh. For a brief period, the country was ruled by a Hungarian nobleman. Battles with the neighboring states of Poland and Lithuania also occurred, as well as internecine warfare with the independent Ruthenian principality of Chernigov to the east. The nation reached its peak with the extension of rule to neighboring Wallachia
Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a Historical regions of Romania and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians....
/Bessarabia
Bessarabia

Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic entity in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
, all the way to the shores of the Black Sea.

During this period (around 1200-1400) each principality was independent of the other for a period of time. The state of Halych-Volynia eventually became a vassal to the Mongolian Empire, but efforts to gain European support for opposition to the Mongols continued. This period marked the first "King of Rus'"; previously, the rulers of Rus' were termed, "Grand Duke
Grand Duke

The title grand duke is used in Western Europe and particularly in Germanic languages countries for provincial sovereigns. Grand duke is of a protocolary rank below Monarch but higher than a sovereign duke....
s" or "Princes."

14th Century


During the 14th century
14th century

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was the century which lasted from 1301 to 1400....
, Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
 and Lithuania
Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest....
 fought wars against the Mongol invaders, and eventually most of Ukraine passed to the rule of Poland and Lithuania. More particularly, the lands of Volynia in the north and north-west passed to the rule of Lithuanian princes, while the south-west passed to the control of Poland (Galicia
Galicia (Central Europe)

Galicia is a historical region in East Central Europe, currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, named after Ukra?ni?n city of Halych.The nucleus of historic Galicia is formed of three regions of western Ukraine: Lvivska oblast, Ternopilska oblast and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast....
) and Hungary (Zakarpattya
Carpathian Ruthenia

Carpathian Ruthenia, List of acronyms and initialisms: A#AK Transcarpathian Ruthenia, Rusinko, Subcarpathian Rus, Subcarpathia is a small region in Central Europe, now mostly in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast , easternmost Slovakia , Poland's Lemkivshchyna and Romanian Maramures....
).

Most of Ukraine bordered parts of Lithuania, and some say that the name, "Ukraine" comes from the local word for "border," although the name "Ukraine" was also used centuries earlier. Lithuania took control of the state of Volynia in northern and north-western Ukraine, including the region around Kiev (Rus'), and the rulers of Lithuania then adopted the title of ruler of Rus'. Poland took control of the region of Galicia. Following the union between Poland and Lithuania
Polish-Lithuanian Union

The term Polish?Lithuanian Union sometimes called as United Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania refers to a series of acts and alliances between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that lasted for prolonged periods of time and led to the creation of the Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth?the "Republic of the Two Nations"?in...
, Poles
Poles

The Polish people, or Poles , are a West Slavs ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in Poland. Poles are sometimes defined as people who share a common Polish culture and are of Polish descent....
, Germans, Armenians
Armenians

The Armenians are a nation and ethnic group originating in the Caucasus and in the Armenian Highlands. A large concentration of them has remained there, especially in Armenia, but many of them are also scattered elsewhere throughout the world ....
 and Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
s migrated to the region.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth


After the Union of Lublin
Union of Lublin

The Union of Lublin replaced the personal union of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with a real union and an elective monarchy, since Sigismund II Augustus, the last of the Jagiellons, remained childless after three marriages....
 in 1569 and the formation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth was one of the largest and most populous countries in 16th and 17th-century Europe, formed by a Union of Lublin of Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569....
 Ukraine fell under Polish administration, becoming part of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom
Crown of the Polish Kingdom

The Crown of the Polish Kingdom , or simply the Crown , is the name for the territory under direct Poland administration in the times of the Poland until the end of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth ....
. The period immediately following the creation of the Commonwealth saw a huge revitalisation in colonisation efforts. Many new cities and villages were founded. New schools spread the ideas of the Renaissance
Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe....
; Polish peasants who arrived in great numbers were quickly ruthenised; during this time, most of Ukrainian nobles became polonised and converted to Catholicism
Catholicism

Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its Theology and doctrines, its Catholic liturgy, Ethics, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
, and while most Ruthenian-speaking peasants remained within the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
, social tension rose. Ruthenian peasants (Ukrainians and some from other nations) who fled efforts to force them into serfdom
Serfdom

Serfdom is the socio-economic status of unfree peasants under feudalism, and specifically relates to Manorialism. It was a condition of Debt bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe....
 came to be known as Cossacks and earned a reputation for their fierce martial spirit. Some Cossacks were hired by the Commonwealth (became 'register Cossacks') as soldiers to protect the south-eastern borders of Poland from Tatars
Tatars

Tatars , sometimes spelled Tartars, refers to a Turkic people ethnic group mainly inhabiting Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, and Poland....
 or took part in campaigns abroad (like Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny in the battle of Khotyn
Khotyn

Khotyn is a city in Chernivtsi Oblast of western Ukraine, and is the Capital of the Khotynskyi Raion within the oblast, and is located south-west of Kamianets-Podilskyi....
 1621). Cossack units were also active in wars between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Muscovy.

Cossack era


The 1648 Ukrainian Cossack
Cossack

The term Cossacks is applied to specific militaristic communities of various ethnicities living in the southern steppe regions of Ukraine and Russia....
 (Kozak) rebellion and war of independence (Khmelnytsky Uprising
Khmelnytsky Uprising

File:Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1648.PNGThe term Khmelnytsky Uprising refers to a rebellion or war of liberation in the lands of present-day Ukraine which continued from 1648–1655....
), which started an era known as the Ruin (in Polish history as The Deluge
The Deluge (Polish history)

In the history of Poland and History of Lithuania, the Deluge commonly refers to a series of wars in the mid-to-late 17th century which left the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in ruins....
), undermined the foundations and stability of the Commonwealth. The nascent Cossack state, the Zaporozhian Host
Zaporozhian Host

The Zaporozhian Cossacks were Cossacks who lived in Zaporizhia , in Central Ukraine. The Zaporozhian Host grew rapidly in the 15th century by serfs fleeing the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth....
, usually viewed as precursor of Ukraine, found itself in a three-sided military and diplomatic rivalry with the Ottoman Turks
Ottoman Turks

The Ottoman Turks were the subdivision of the Ottoman Muslim Millet that dominated the ruling class of the Ottoman Empire. Reliable information about the early history of the Ottomans is scarce....
, who controlled the Tatars to the south, the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania, and the rising Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 to the East. The reconstituted Ukrainian state, having recently fought a bitter war with Poland, sought a treaty of protection with Russia in 1654. This agreement was known as the Treaty of Pereyaslav
Treaty of Pereyaslav

The Treaty of Pereyaslav was concluded in 1654 in the Ukraine city of Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi during the meeting, between the Cossacks of the Zaporizhian Host and Tsar yuskan I of Russia of Tsardom of Russia, following the Khmelnytsky rebellion....
. Commonwealth authorities then sought compromise with the Ukrainian Cossack state by signing the Treaty of Hadiach
Treaty of Hadiach

The Treaty of Hadiach was a treaty signed on September 16, 1658, in Hadiach between representatives of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Cossacks ....
 in 1658, but — after thirteen years of incessant warfare — the agreement was later superseded by 1667 Polish-Russian Treaty of Andrusovo
Treaty of Andrusovo

The Truce of Andrusovo was a thirteen and a half year truce, signed in 1667 between Muscovy and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which were Polish-Muscovite War since 1654 over the territories of modern-day Ukraine and Belarus....
, which divided Ukrainian territory between the Commonwealth and Russia. Under Russia, the Cossacks initially retained official autonomy in the Hetmanate
Cossack Hetmanate

The Hetmanate or officially Viysko Zaporozke was a Cossack state in the central and north-eastern regions of Ukraine during 1649?1775. It came into existence as a result of the Khmelnytsky Uprising and the alliance of the registered Cossacks with the Cossacks of the Zaporozhian Sich and other segments of the Ukrainian populace....
. For a time, they also maintained a semi-independent republic in Zaporozhia, and a colony on the Russian frontier in Sloboda Ukraine
Sloboda Ukraine

Sloboda Ukraine or Slobozhanshchyna was a historical region which developed and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries on the southwestern frontier of the Tsardom of Russia....
.

Russian Empire and Austro-Hungary

Tsarist rule over central Ukraine gradually replaced 'protection' over the subsequent decades. After the Partitions of Poland
Partitions of Poland

The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth....
 in 1772, 1793 and 1795, the extreme west
Galicia (Central Europe)

Galicia is a historical region in East Central Europe, currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, named after Ukra?ni?n city of Halych.The nucleus of historic Galicia is formed of three regions of western Ukraine: Lvivska oblast, Ternopilska oblast and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast....
 of Ukraine fell under the control of the Austrians
Austrians

Austrians are a nation and an ethnic group originating from the Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian Kinship and descent....
, with the rest as part of the Russian Empire. As a result of Russo-Turkish Wars the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
's control receded from south-central Ukraine, while the rule of Hungary
Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
 over the Transcarpathian region continued. Ukrainian writers and intellectuals were inspired by the nationalistic spirit stirring other European peoples existing under other imperial governments and became determined to revive the Ukrainian linguistic and cultural traditions
Culture of Ukraine

The Culture of Ukraine is a result of influence over millennia from the West and East, with an assortment of strong culturally-identified ethnic groups....
 and re-establish a Ukrainian nation-state. Russia however, fearing separatism, imposed strict limits on attempts to elevate Ukrainian language
Ukrainian language

Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic languages of the Slavic languages. It is the official language of Ukraine. In some areas of Russia there are dialects, Balachka or Surzhyk, which are the Ukrainianized versions of the Russian language....
 and culture, even banning its use and study. However, many Ukrainians accepted their fate in the Russian Empire
Russian Empire

File:Russian Emperor Flag.jpgFile:Romanov Flag.svgThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917....
 and some were to achieve a great success there. Many Russian writers, composers, painters and architects of the 19th century
19th century

The 19th century began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar.During the 19th century, the Spanish Empire, Portuguese Empire, Late Imperial China, and Ottoman Empire empires began to crumble, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, and the Mughal Empire empire collapsed....
 were of Ukrainian descent. Probably the most notable was Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Gogol

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainians-born Russian people writer. Although his early works, such as Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, were heavily influenced by his Ukraine upbringing and identity, he wrote in Russian and his works belong to the tradition of Russian literature; often called the "father of modern Russian realism" he...
, one of the greatest writers in the history of Russian literature
Russian literature

This article is about literature from Russia. For the song by Max?mo Park, see Our Earthly Pleasures. Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its ?migr?s, and to the Russian language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union....
.

The fate of the Ukrainians was far different under the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a periodization successor state empire founded on a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire centered on what is today's Austria that officially lasted from 1804 to 1867....
 where they found themselves in the pawn position of the Russian-Austrian power struggle for the Central and Southern Europe. Unlike in Russia, most of the elite that ruled Galicia were of Austrian or Polish descent, with the Ruthenians being almost exclusively kept in peasantry. During the 19th century, Russophilia
Ukrainian Russophiles

Russophiles , also referred to in some contexts as , were participants in a cultural and political movement in Western Ukraine known as Russophilia....
 was a common occurrence among the Slavic population, but the intervention of Austrian authorities, caused the movement to be replaced by Ukrainophilia, which would then cross-over into the Russian Empire. With the start of World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, all those supporting Russia were rounded up and massacred at Talerhof
Talerhof

Talerhof was a concentration camp, created by the Austria-Hungary authorities of Franz Joseph I of Austria in the first days of World War I, in a sandy valley in foothills of the Alps, near Graz, the main city of the province of Styria....
.

First World War, the revolutions and aftermath


When World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
 and the October Revolution in Russia shattered the Austrian
Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a periodization successor state empire founded on a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire centered on what is today's Austria that officially lasted from 1804 to 1867....
 and Russian empires, Ukrainians were caught in the middle. Between 1917 and 1918, several separate Ukrainian republics manifested independence, the Tsentral'na Rada, the Hetmanate
Hetmanate

Ukrainian State or The Hetmanate was a short-lived polity in Ukraine, installed under support of the Central powers by Ukrainian Cossacks and military organizations after disbanding the Central Rada of the Ukrainian National Republic on 28 April 1918....
, the Directorate
Directorate of Ukraine

The Directorate, or Directory was a government of the Ukrainian National Republic formed in 1918 in rebellion against Skoropadsky's Hetmanate....
, the Ukrainian People's Republic
Ukrainian People's Republic

The Ukrainian People's Republic was a republic in part of the territory of modern Ukraine Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura....
, the West Ukrainian People's Republic, and a Bolshevik government
Ukrainian SSR

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or the Ukrainian SSR was one of the founders of the USSR and a republic that made up the former Soviet Union from its formation in 1922 to its abolishment in 1991....
.

As the territory of Ukraine fell into warfare and anarchy, it was also fought over by German
German Army

The German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Traditionally the German military forces have been composed of the Army, the Deutsche Marine, and an Luftwaffe after World War I....
 and Austrian forces
Austro-Hungarian Army

The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austria Hungary Dual Monarchy . It was composed of the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honv?ds?g ....
, the Red Army
Red Army

The Red Army was the armed force first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and, in 1922, became the army of the Soviet Union....
 of Bolshevik Russia, the White Forces of General Denikin, the Polish Army, anarchists led by Nestor Makhno
Nestor Makhno

Nestor Ivanovych Makhno was an anarchist communism guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....
, and neo-haydamak bands such as the Green Army
Green Army

File:Darker green and Black flag.svgThe Green armies, Green Army , or Greens were armed peasant groups which fought against both the Red Army and the White Army in the Russian Civil War....
 of Matviy Hryhoriyiv.

With the defeat in the Polish-Ukrainian War
Polish-Ukrainian War

The Polish-Ukrainian War of 1918 and 1919 was a conflict between the forces of the Second Polish Republic and West Ukrainian People's Republic for the control over Eastern Galicia after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary....
 and then the failure of the Pilsudski
Józef Pilsudski

]]In 1892 Pilsudski returned from exile. In 1893 he joined the Polish Socialist Party and helped organize its Lithuanian branch. Initially he sided with the Socialists' more radical wing, but despite the socialist movement's ostensible internationalism he remained a Polish nationalist....
's and Petliura
Symon Petlura

Symon Vasylyovych Petliura was a publicist, writer, journalist, Ukraine politician and statesman, a leader of Ukraine's fight for independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917....
's Kiev Operation
Kiev Offensive

The 1920 Kiev Offensive , sometimes considered to have started the Soviet-Polish War, was an attempt by the newly re-emerged Second Polish Republic, led by J?zef Pilsudski, to seize central and eastern Ukraine, torn in the warring among various factions, both domestic and foreign, from Soviet control....
, by the end of the Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War

The Polish-Soviet War was an armed conflict of Russian SFSR and Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic against the Second Polish Republic and the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic, four states in post-World War I Europe....
 after the Peace of Riga
Peace of Riga

The Peace of Riga, also known as the Treaty of Riga; was signed in Riga on 18 March, 1921, between Second Polish Republic on one side and Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic on the other....
 in March 1921, the western part of Galicia
Galicia (Central Europe)

Galicia is a historical region in East Central Europe, currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, named after Ukra?ni?n city of Halych.The nucleus of historic Galicia is formed of three regions of western Ukraine: Lvivska oblast, Ternopilska oblast and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast....
 had been incorporated into Poland
Second Polish Republic

The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland is the Republic of Poland between World War I and World War II....
, and the larger, central and eastern part became part of the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Ukraine between the world wars


Soviet Ukraine

Flag of Ukrainian Ssr
The Ukrainian national idea lived on during the inter-war years and was even spread to a large territory with traditionally mixed population in the east and south that became part of the Ukrainian Soviet republic
Republics of the Soviet Union

The Republics of the Soviet Union were, according to the Article 76 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution, Sovereign Soviet Socialist states that had united with other Soviet Republics to become the Soviet Union....
. The Ukrainian culture even enjoyed a revival due to Bolshevik concessions in the early Soviet years (until early-1930s) known as the policy of Korenization ("indigenisation"). In these years an impressive Ukrainization
Ukrainization

Ukrainization is a policy of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of the Ukrainian language and promoting other elements of Ukrainian culture, in various spheres of public life such as education, publishing, government and religion....
 program was implemented throughout the republic. The rapidly developed Ukrainian language based education system dramatically raised the literacy of the Ukrainophone rural population. Simultaneously, the newly-literate ethnic Ukrainians migrated to the cities, which became rapidly largely Ukrainianised—in both population and in education. Similarly expansive was an increase in Ukrainian language publishing and overall eruption of Ukrainian cultural life. At the same time, the usage of Ukrainian was continuously encouraged in the workplace and in the government affairs as the recruitment of indigenous cadre was implemented as part of the korenisation policies. While initially, the party and government apparatus was mostly Russian-speaking, by the end of 1920s
1920s

The 1920s is sometimes referred to as the "Jazz Age" or the "Roaring Twenties", when speaking about the United States and Canada. In Europe the decade is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Twenties"....
 the ethnic Ukrainians composed over one half of the membership in the Ukrainian communist party, the number strengthened by accession of Borotbists
Borotbists

The Borotba Party was a peasant based left-nationalist political party in Ukraine. It arose in May 1918 after the split in the Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party on the basis of supporting Soviet power in Ukraine....
, a formerly indigenously Ukrainian "independentist" and non-Bolshevik communist party.

Despite the ongoing Soviet-wide antireligious campaign, the Ukrainian national Orthodox churches was created called the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church is one of the three major Orthodox Churches in Ukraine. The others include the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Russophilia Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate ....
 (UAOC) (See History of Christianity in Ukraine
History of Christianity in Ukraine

The History of Christianity in the lands of modern-day Ukraine dates back to the earliest centuries of the Twelve Apostles church. It has remained the dominant religion in the area since its acceptance in 988 by Vladimir the Great , who instated it as the state religion of Kievan Rus', a medieval East Slavs state....
). The Bolshevik government initially saw the national churches as a tool in their goal to suppress the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church ; or The Moscow Patriarchate , also known as the Orthodox Christian Church of Russia, is a body of Christianity who constitute an Autocephaly Eastern Orthodox Church under the jurisdiction of the List of Metropolitans and Patriarchs of Moscow, in full communion with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches....
 always viewed with the great suspicion by the regime for its being the cornerstone of pre-revolutionary Russian Empire
Russian Empire

File:Russian Emperor Flag.jpgFile:Romanov Flag.svgThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917....
 and the initially strong opposition it took towards the regime change. Therefore, the government tolerated the new Ukrainian national church for some time and the UAOC gained a wide following among the Ukrainian peasantry.

Dneproges
The change in the Soviet economic policies towards the fast-pace industrialisation
History of the Soviet Union (1927-1953)

This period of the Soviet Union was dominated by Joseph Stalin, who sought to reshape Soviet society with aggressive economic planning, in particular a sweeping collectivization of agriculture and development of industrial power....
 was marked by the 1928 introduction of Stalin's first piatiletka (a five-year plan). The industrialisation bought about a dramatic economic and social transformation in traditionally agricultural Ukraine. In the first piatiletkas the industrial output of Ukraine quadrupled as the republic underwent a record industrial development. The massive influx of the rural population to the industrial centres increased the urban population from 19 to 34 percent.

However, the industrialisation had a heavy cost for the peasantry, demographically a backbone of the Ukrainian nation. To satisfy the state's need for increased food supplies and finance industrialisation, Stalin instituted a program of collectivisation
Collectivisation in the USSR

Collectivization in the Soviet Union was a policy pursued under Joseph Stalin, between 1928 and 1940, to consolidate individual land and labour into collective farms ....
 of agriculture, which profoundly affected Ukraine, often referred to as the "breadbasket of the USSR". In the late 1920s and early '30s the state combined the peasants' lands and animals into collective farms. Starting in 1929 a policy of enforcement was applied, using regular troops and secret police to confiscate lands and material where necessary.

Many resisted, and a desperate struggle by the peasantry against the authorities ensued. Some slaughtered their livestock rather than turn it over to the collectives. Wealthier peasants were labeled "kulak
Kulak

Kulaks were a category of relatively affluent and well-endowed peasants in the later Russian Empire, Soviet Russia, and early Soviet Union. The word kulak originally referred to independent farmers in the Russian Empire who emerged as a result of the Stolypin reform which began in 1906....
s", enemies of the state. Tens of thousands were executed and about 100,000 families were deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan.

Holodomor Famine Map
Forced collectivisation had a devastating effect on agricultural productivity. Despite this, in 1932 the Soviet government increased Ukraine's production quotas by 44%, ensuring that they could not be met. Soviet law required that the members of a collective farm would receive no grain until government quotas were satisfied. The authorities in many instances exacted such high levels of procurement from collective farms that starvation became widespread. Millions starved to death in a famine, known as the Holodomor
Holodomor

The Holodomor refers to the famine of 1932?1933 in the Ukrainian SSR during which millions of people were starved to death because of the Soviet policies that forced farmers into Collectivization in the Soviet Unions....
 (available data is insufficient for precise calculations therefore estimates vary). The Soviet Union suppressed information about the famine, and as late as the 1980s admitted only that there was some hardship because of kulak sabotage and bad weather. Today, its existence is accepted. Non-Soviets maintain that the famine was an avoidable, deliberate act of genocide.

The times of industrialisation and collectivisation also brought about a wide campaign against "nationalist deviation" which in Ukraine translated into an assault on the national political and cultural elite. The first wave of purges between 1929 and 1934 targeted the revolutionary generation of the party that in Ukraine included many supporters of Ukrainization
Ukrainization

Ukrainization is a policy of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of the Ukrainian language and promoting other elements of Ukrainian culture, in various spheres of public life such as education, publishing, government and religion....
. The next 1936-1938 wave of political purges (see Great Purge
Great Purge

Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin in 1936-1938. Also described as a "Soviet holocaust" by several authors, it involved the purge of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, repression of kulaks, Red Army leadership, and the persecution of unaffiliat...
) eliminated much of the new political generation that replaced those that perished in the first wave and halved the membership of the Ukrainian communist party. The purged Ukrainian political leadership was largely replaced by the cadre send from Russia
Russian SFSR

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , also called the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, the Russian SFSR and the RSFSR for short, was the largest and most populous of the fifteen Republics of the Soviet Union of the Soviet Union and became the Russian Federation after the collapse of the Soviet Union....
 that was also largely "rotated" by Stalin's purges. As the policies of Ukrainisation were halted (1931) and replaced by massive Russification
Russification

Russification is an adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attribute by non-Russian communities. In a narrow sense, Russification is used to denote the influence of the Russian language on Slavic languages, Baltic languages and other languages, spoken in areas currently or formerly controlled by Russia, which led to emerging...
 approximately four-fifths of the Ukrainian cultural elite, intellectuals, writers, artists and clergy, had been "eliminated", executed or imprisoned, in the following decade. Mass arrests of the hierarchy and clergy of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church
Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church is one of the three major Orthodox Churches in Ukraine. The others include the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Russophilia Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate ....
 culminated in the liquidation of the church in 1930.

Galicia and Volhynia under Polish rule


Bukovina under Romanian rule


Transcarpathia under Czechoslovakia and Hungary


Ukraine in World War II


Following the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, in September 1939, German
Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party , which established a Totalitarianism dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945....
 and Soviet
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
 troops divided the territory of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)

The Invasion of Poland in 1939 precipitated World War II. It was carried out by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak invasion of Poland contingent....
, including Galicia
Galicia (Central Europe)

Galicia is a historical region in East Central Europe, currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, named after Ukra?ni?n city of Halych.The nucleus of historic Galicia is formed of three regions of western Ukraine: Lvivska oblast, Ternopilska oblast and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast....
 with its Ukrainian population. Next, after France surrendered
Battle of France

In World War II, the Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the Germany invasion of France and the Low Countries, executed from 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War....
 to Germany, Romania
Romania

Romania is a country located in Southeastern Europe Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian Mountains, bordering on the Black Sea....
 ceded Bessarabia
Bessarabia

Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic entity in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
 and northern Bukovina
Bukovina

Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains. It is currently split between Romania and Ukraine....
 to Soviet demands. The Ukrainian SSR incorporated northern and southern districts of Bessarabia, the northern Bukovina, and additionally the Soviet-occupied Hertsa region, but ceded the western part of the Moldavian ASSR
Moldavian ASSR

The Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic , shortened to Moldavian ASSR or, less frequently, Moldovan ASSR, was an autonomous republic of the Ukrainian SSR between 12 October 1924 and 2 August 1940, encompassing modern Transnistria and a number of territories that are now part of Ukraine....
 to the newly-created Moldavian SSR
Moldavian SSR

The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic , commonly abbreviated to Moldavian SSR or MSSR, was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union....
. All these territorial gains were internationally recognized by the Paris Peace Treaties, 1947
Paris Peace Treaties, 1947

The Paris Peace Conference resulted in the Paris Peace Treaties signed on February 10, 1947. The victorious wartime Allied powers negotiated the details of treaties with Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland....
.

When Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party , which established a Totalitarianism dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945....
 with its allies invaded the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that commenced on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 kilometer front ....
 in 1941, many Ukrainians, particularly in the west where they had experienced only two years of the harsh Soviets rule, initially regarded the Nazis as "liberators", and some hoped to establish an autonomous Ukrainian state. German policies initially gave some encouragement to such hopes through the vague promises of sovereign 'Greater Ukraine' as the Germans were trying to take advantage of anti-Soviet, anti-Polish and anti-Jewish sentiments among some Ukrainians. A pro-Nazi Ukrainian auxiliary police was formed as well as Ukrainian SS division, 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Galicia (1st Ukrainian). However, after the initial period of a limited tolerance, the German policies soon abruptly changed and the Ukrainian national movement was brutally crushed.

Most Ukrainians, however, utterly resisted the Nazi onslaught from its start and a partisan movement
Soviet partisans

The Soviet Partisan were members of a resistance movement which fought a guerrilla war against the Axis forces occupation of the Soviet Union during the Second World War....
 immediately spread over the occupied territory. Also some elements of the Ukrainian nationalist underground formed a Ukrainian Insurgent Army
Ukrainian Insurgent Army

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army was a group of Ukrainian nationalism Partisans who engaged in a series of guerrilla conflicts during the World War II....
 that fought both Soviet and Nazi forces and is responsible for mass slaughter of around 100,000 Polish civilians living in current Western Ukraine (see: Massacres of Poles in Volhynia
Massacres of Poles in Volhynia

The Massacre of Poles in Volhynia was a massive ethnic cleansing operation in Nazi Germany Volhynia and Eastern Galicia that took part during the World War II, between late 1942 and early 1945....
). After 1944, those Poles who survived the massacres, were expelled. In some western regions of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army survived underground and continued the resistance against the Soviet authorities well into the 1950s
1950s

The 1950s decade was the years of 1950 to 1959 inclusive. The Fifties in the developed western world are generally considered social conservative and highly Consumerism in nature....
, though many Ukrainian civilians were murdered in this conflict by both sides.

The Nazi administrators of conquered Soviet territories made little attempt to exploit the population's possible dissatisfaction with Soviet political and economic policies. Instead, the Nazis preserved the collective-farm system, systematically carried out genocidal policies against Jews, and deported many Ukrainians to forced labour in Germany. In their active resistance to Nazi Germany, the Ukrainians comprised a significant share of the Red Army and its leadership as well as the underground and resistance movements.

Cherkaschyna Deportation 1942
Total civilian losses during the War and German occupation in Ukraine are estimated at seven million, including over a million Jews shot and killed by the Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen

Einsatzgruppen were paramilitary groups formed by Heinrich Himmler and operated by the Schutzstaffel before and during World War II. Their principal task, per SS General Erich von dem Bach, at the Nuremberg Trials: "was the annihilation of the Jews, Roma people, and Soviet Union political commissars"....
.

Many of civilians fell victim to atrocities, forced labor, and even massacres of whole villages in reprisal for attacks against Nazi forces. Of the estimated eleven million Soviet troops who fell in battle against the Nazis, about a quarter (2.7 million) were ethnic Ukrainians. Moreover Ukraine saw some of the biggest battles of the war starting with the encirclement of Kiev
Battle of Kiev (1941)

The Battle of Kiev was the German name for the operation that resulted in a very large encirclement of Soviet troops in the vicinity of Kiev during World War II....
 (later acclaimed as a Hero City
Hero City

Hero City is a Soviet Union honorary title awarded for outstanding heroism during the Great Patriotic War of 1941 to 1945. It was awarded to twelve cities of the Soviet Union....
) where more than 660,000 Soviet troops were taken captive, to the fierce defence of Odessa
Odessa

Odessa or Odesa is the Capital of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major port located on the shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 ....
, and on to the victorious storming across the Dnieper river
Dnieper River

The Dnieper River , is one of the major rivers in Europe that flows from Russia, through Belarus and Ukraine, to the Black Sea. Its total length is , of which lie within Russia, within Belarus, and within Ukraine....
.

Post-war


Over the next decades the Ukrainian republic not only surpassed pre-war levels of industry and production but also was the spearhead of Soviet power. Ukraine became the centre of Soviet arms industry
Arms industry

The arms industry is a global industry and business which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology and equipment. Arms producing companies, also referred to as Defence contractor or military industry, produce arms mainly for the armed forces of states....
 and high-tech research. The republic was also turned into a Soviet military outpost in the cold war
Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state of conflict, tension and competition that existed between a number of world powers, including the United States, the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China, France, United Kingdom and those countries' respective allies from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s....
, a territory crowded by military bases packed with the most up-to-date weapons systems.

Such an important role resulted in a major influence of the local elite. Many members of the Soviet leadership came from Ukraine, most notably Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Brezhnev

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1982, serving in that position longer than anyone other than Joseph Stalin....
 a Soviet leader from 1964 to 1982, as well as many prominent Soviet sportsmen, scientists and artists. In 1954, the Russian
Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavs ethnic group, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries.The English language term Russians is used to refer to the citizens of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity ; in Russian language, the demonym Russian is translated as Rossiyanin ....
-populated oblast of Crimea
Crimea

Crimea or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is an autonomous republic of Ukraine located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name....
 was transferred from the Russian to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic.

However, the relatively underdeveloped industrial branches such as coal
Coal mining

Coal mining is the extraction or removal of coal from the earth by mining. When coal is used for fuel in power generation it is referred to as steaming or thermal coal....
- and iron ore
Iron ore

Iron ores are Rock and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in colour from dark grey, bright yellow, deep purple, to rusty red....
 mining, metallurgy
Metallurgy

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic Chemical element, their intermetallics, and their mixtures, which are called alloys....
, chemical
Chemical industry

The chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. It is central to modern world economy, converting raw materials into more than 70,000 different products....
 and energy industry
Energy industry

The energy industry is a generic term for all of the industry involved the production and sale of energy, including fuel extraction, manufacturing, oil refinery and distribution....
 dominated the republic’s economy. Once a Cossack
Cossack

The term Cossacks is applied to specific militaristic communities of various ethnicities living in the southern steppe regions of Ukraine and Russia....
 steppe, the southern oblasts of Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast is an administrative divisions of Ukraine of central Ukraine, the most important industrial region of the country. Its capital city is Dnipropetrovsk....
 and Zaporizhzhia were turned into a highly industrialized area with rapidly increasing impact on environment and public health. A pursuit to energy production sufficient for growing industry led to the gigantic nature-remastering: turning the Dnieper River
Dnieper River

The Dnieper River , is one of the major rivers in Europe that flows from Russia, through Belarus and Ukraine, to the Black Sea. Its total length is , of which lie within Russia, within Belarus, and within Ukraine....
 into a regulated system of large reservoirs.

The products of the rapidly developed high-tech industry in Ukraine were largely directed for military consumption, similarly to the much of the Soviet economy
Economy of the Soviet Union

The economy of the Soviet Union was based on a system of state ownership, administrative planning, socialist competition and free labour. The Soviet Union created the modern world's first centrally planned economy....
, and the supply and quality of consumer goods remained low compared even to the neighboring countries of the Eastern bloc
Eastern bloc

During the Cold War, the terms Eastern Bloc, Communist Bloc or Soviet Bloc were used to refer to European annexed or expanded Soviet Socialist Republics of the USSR and Satellite state states, including members of the Soviet-dominated organizations Comecon and the Warsaw Pact....
. A state-regulated system of production and consumption lead to gradual decreasing of life level and growing “shadowisation” of retail infrastructure as well as of corruption.

The town of Pripyat, Ukraine was the site of the Chernobyl disaster
Chernobyl disaster

The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear reactor accident in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. It is considered to be the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history and the only level 7 instance on the International Nuclear Event Scale....
, which occurred in April 26, 1986 when a nuclear plant exploded. The fallout contaminated large areas of northern Ukraine and even parts of Belarus
Belarus

Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north....
. This spurred on a local independence movement called the Rukh
Rukh

Rukh can refer to:* Rukh , the fictional Noghri bodyguard of Grand Admiral Thrawn* People's Movement of Ukraine * Rukh, another name for the Roc , a giant bird...
 that helped expedite the break-up of the Soviet Union during the late 1980s
1980s

The 1980s or the Eighties or the 80s or the years between the 70s and the 90s, was the decade that ran from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 1989....
.

Independence


On January 21, 1990, over 300,000 Ukrainians organized a human chain for Ukrainian independence in memory of the 1919 unification
Act Zluky

The Act Zluky was an agreement signed on January 22, 1919 by the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian National Republic on the Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev in Kiev , Ukraine....
 of the Ukrainian People's Republic
Ukrainian People's Republic

The Ukrainian People's Republic was a republic in part of the territory of modern Ukraine Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura....
 and the West Ukrainian National Republic
West Ukrainian National Republic

The West Ukrainian National Republic was a short-lived republic that existed in late 1918 and early 1919 in eastern Galicia , that claimed parts of Bukovina and Carpathian Ruthenia and included the cities of Lviv, Przemysl, Kolomyia, and Ivano-Frankivs'k....
. Citizens came out to the streets and highways, forming live chains by holding hands in support of war Ukraine declared itself an independent state on August 24, 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and was a founding member of the Commonwealth of Independent States
Commonwealth of Independent States

The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics.The CIS is comparable to a confederation similar to the original European Community....
. On December 1, 1991 Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum formalizing independence from the Soviet Union. The Union formally ceased to exist in December 25, 1991, and with this Ukraine's independence was officially recognized by the international community.

The history of Ukraine between 1991 and 2004 was marked by the presidencies of Leonid Kravchuk
Leonid Kravchuk

Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk is a Ukraine politician, the first President of Ukraine serving from December 5, 1991 until his resignation on July 19, a former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and People's Deputy of Ukraine serving in the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine faction....
 and Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Kuchma

Leonid Danylovych Kuchma was the second President of Ukraine of Ukraine from July 19, 1994, to January 23, 2005. The last five years of his presidency were mired in controversy when tape recordings of him seemingly discussing the possible murder of journalist Georgiy R....
. This was a time of transition for Ukraine. While it had attained nominal independence from Russia, its presidents maintained close ties with their neighbours.

The country adopted its constitution on June 28, 1996.

The Cassette Scandal
Cassette Scandal

The Cassette Scandal , also known as "Tapegate", erupting in 2000, was one of the main political events in Ukraine's post-independence history. It has dramatically affected the country's domestic and foreign policy, changing Ukraine's orientation from the Western world to Russia and damaging the career of Leonid Kuchma....
 of 2000 was one of the turning points in post-independence history of the country.

In 2004, Leonid Kuchma announced that he would not run for re-election. Two major candidates emerged in the 2004 presidential election
Ukrainian presidential election, 2004

The presidential election held in November and December 2004 in Ukraine was mostly a political battle between then Prime Minister of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and former Prime Minister and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko....
. Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych

Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukraine politician, the current leader of the influential Party of Regions and the leader of opposition of Ukraine....
, the incumbent Prime Minister, supported by both Kuchma and by the Russian Federation, wanted closer ties with Russia. The main opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko

Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is the third and current President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005.As an informal leader of the Our Ukraine, he was one of the two main candidates in the October–November 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, 2004....
, called for Ukraine to turn its attention westward and eventually join the EU. In the runoff election, Yanukovych officially won by a narrow margin, but Yushchenko and his supporters cried foul, alleging that vote rigging and intimidation cost him many votes, especially in eastern Ukraine. A political crisis erupted after the opposition started massive street protests in Kiev and other cities (Orange Revolution
Orange Revolution

The Orange Revolution was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate aftermath of the run-off vote of the Ukrainian presidential election, 2004 which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter intimidation and direct electoral fraud....
), and the Supreme Court of Ukraine
Supreme Court of Ukraine

The Supreme Court of Ukraine is the highest judicial body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction in Ukraine.The Court derives its authority from the Constitution of Ukraine, but much of its structure is outlined in legislation....
 ordered the election results null and void. A second runoff found Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko

Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is the third and current President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005.As an informal leader of the Our Ukraine, he was one of the two main candidates in the October–November 2004 Ukrainian presidential election, 2004....
 the winner. 5 days later Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych

Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukraine politician, the current leader of the influential Party of Regions and the leader of opposition of Ukraine....
 resigned from office and his cabinet was dismissed on January 5, 2005.

In March 2006, the Verkhovna Rada
Verkhovna Rada

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada ....
 elections
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2006

The Ukrainian parliamentary election took place on March 26, 2006. Election campaigning officially began on July 7, 2005. Between November 26 and December 31, 2005 party lists of candidates were formed....
 took place and three months later the official government was formed by the "Anti-Crisis Coalition" among the Party of Regions
Party of Regions

The Party of Regions is a Ukraine political party created in March 2001. According to the party?s leadership in 2002, from the creation of the party to the end of 2001 the number of members jumped from 30,000 to 500,000.The party ideologically defends and upholds the Minority rights of Russians in Ukraine and Russian language in Ukraine in U...
, Communist
Communist Party of Ukraine

The Communist Party of Ukraine is a political party in Ukraine, currently led by Petro Symonenko. At the Ukrainian parliamentary election, 1998 on 29 March 1998, the party gained 25% of the vote and 123 seats, becoming the largest party in Parliament....
, and Socialist
Socialist Party of Ukraine

The Socialist Party of Ukraine is a Socialist political party in Ukraine. It is one of the oldest parties, . Initially a party with a quasi-Communist orientation, the SPU has developed into a left-wing party of the European sense....
 parties. The latter party switched from the "Orange Coalition" with Our Ukraine
Our Ukraine

The Our Ukraine?People's Self-Defense Bloc is an electoral alliance active in Ukraine, associated with President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko. Since 2005, the bloc has been dominated by a core consisting of the People's Union "Our Ukraine" party and five smaller partner parties....
, and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. The new coalition nominated Viktor Yanukovych for the post of Prime Minister. Yanukovych once again became Prime Minister, while the leader of the Socialist Party, Oleksander Moroz, managed to secure the position of chairman of parliament, which is believed by many to have been the reason for his leaving the Orange Coalition, where he had not been considered for this position.

On April 2, 2007, President Yushchenko dissolved the Verkhovna Rada because members of his party were defecting to the opposition. His opponents called the move unconstitutional. When they took the matter to the Constitutional Court
Constitutional Court of Ukraine

The Constitutional Court of Ukraine is the sole body of constitutional jurisdiction in Ukraine. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine decides on issues of conformity of laws and other legal acts with the Constitution of Ukraine and provides the official interpretation of the Constitution of Ukraine and the laws of Ukraine....
, Yushchenko dismissed 3 of the court's 18 judges, accusing them of corruption.

Relations between Russia and Ukraine sometimes appear strained. In 2005, a highly-publicized dispute over natural gas prices
Russia-Ukraine gas dispute

File:RUGasPipesMap.jpgThe Russia?Ukraine gas disputes refer to a number of disputes between Russian state-owned gas supplier Gazprom and Ukraine national oil and gas company Naftohaz Ukrainy over natural gas supplies, prices and debts....
 took place, involving Russian state-owned gas supplier Gazprom, and indirectly involving many European countries which depend on natural gas supplied by Russia through the Ukrainian pipeline. A compromise was reached in January 2006.

See also

  • Kievan Rus
  • List of Ukrainian rulers
    List of Ukrainian rulers

    This list encompasses all rulers and leaders of Ukraine and Ukrainian territory. These rulers contributed to the development of the Ukrainian cultural and political identity....
  • Ruthenia
    Ruthenia

    Ruthenia is a geographic and culturo-ethnic name applied to the parts of Eastern Europe populated by Eastern Slavic peoples, as well as to the past Russian states that existed in these territories....
  • Ukrainian language
    Ukrainian language

    Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic languages of the Slavic languages. It is the official language of Ukraine. In some areas of Russia there are dialects, Balachka or Surzhyk, which are the Ukrainianized versions of the Russian language....
  • History of Belarus
    History of Belarus

    This article describes the history of Belarus. The Belarusians is traced at least as far in time as other East Slavs.After an initial period of independent feudal consolidation, Belarusian lands were incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Rus and Samogitia within the Polish?Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire and eventu...
  • History of Lithuania
    History of Lithuania

    This article discusses the history of Lithuania and of the Lithuanian people. Lithuania for the first time in writing sources was mentioned in 1009....
  • History of Poland
    History of Poland

    Settled agricultural people have lived in the area that is now Poland for the last 7500 years, the Slavic peoples people have been in this territory for over 1500 years, and the History of Poland as a state spans well over a millennium....
  • History of Russia
    History of Russia

    The history of Russia begins with that of the East Slavs. The first East Slavic state, Kievan Rus', adopted Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavs cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium....
  • Crimean Khanate
    Crimean Khanate

    The Crimean Khanate or the Khanate of Crimea was a Crimean Tatars state from 1441 to 1783. Its native name was Crimean Yurt . The khanate was by far the longest-lived of the Turkic peoples khanates that succeeded the empire of the Golden Horde....
  • History of the Soviet Union: 1917-1927
    History of the Soviet Union

    The History of the Soviet Union has roots in the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, emerged as the main political force in the capital of the former Russian Empire, though they had to fight a long and bloody Russian Civil War against White movement....
    , 1927-1953
    History of the Soviet Union (1927-1953)

    This period of the Soviet Union was dominated by Joseph Stalin, who sought to reshape Soviet society with aggressive economic planning, in particular a sweeping collectivization of agriculture and development of industrial power....
    , 1953-1985
    History of the Soviet Union (1953-1985)

    The Cold War ensued as the USSR and the United States struggled indirectly for sphere of influence around the world....
    , 1985-1991
    History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991)

    The Soviet Union's collapse into independent nations began early in 1985. After years of Soviet Armed Forces buildup at the expense of domestic development, economic growth was at a standstill....


Further reading

A Ukrainian translation available .
  • Andrew Wilson
    Andrew Wilson (historian)

    Andrew Wilson is a historian and political scientist specializing in Eastern Europe, particularly Ukraine. He is a senior lecturer in Ukrainian studies at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London....
    . The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation. Yale University Press; 2nd edition (2002) ISBN 0-300-09309-8.
  • Anna Reid. Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine. London, Orion Books; 4th impression (1998, preface 2003) ISBN 1-84212-722-5.
  • Paul Robert Magocsi
    Paul Robert Magocsi

    Paul Robert Magocsi is a professor of history and political science at the University of Toronto since 1980, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada since 1996....
    . A History of Ukraine. Toronto: University of Toronto Press (1996) ISBN 0-8020-0830-5.
  • Mykhailo Hrushevsky
    Mykhailo Hrushevsky

    Mykhailo Serhiyovych Hrushevsky...
    . History of Ukraine-Rus’ in 9 volumes. . Available online in Ukrainian as .
  • Mykhailo Hrushevsky
    Mykhailo Hrushevsky

    Mykhailo Serhiyovych Hrushevsky...
    . Illustrated History of Ukraine (1913). Available (in Ukrainian)
  • I. Krypiakevych. (in Ukrainian)
  • Natalia Polons'ka-Vasylenko. History of Ukraine in two volumes. Available , in Ukrainian.
  • at project by the Library of Congress
    Library of Congress

    The Library of Congress is the de facto national library of the United States and the research arm of the United States Congress. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books....
  • Essays on History on Ukraine (in Ukrainian)
    • Volume 1 by Natalia Yakovenko,
    • Volume 2: , (in Ukrainian). Available .
  • (in Ukrainian)
  • "", in Welcome to Ukraine, 2003, 1.
  • Askold Krushelnycky
    Askold Krushelnycky

    Askold Krushelnycky is a journalist. He was born in London; his Ukrainian parents were refugees due to the Second World War. He is currently a foreign correspondent for the The Independent, the The Sunday Times and the Chicago Tribune....
    . An Orange Revolution: A Personal Journey Through Ukrainian History. (2006). ISBN 0-436-20623-4. 320 pages.
  • Yekelchyk, Serhy (2007). Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-530545-6.


External links

  • published in Den
    Den

    Den may refer to:*Den , a part of a house similar to the bedroom: a den is about the size of bedroom. For many houses that have a den, it is often turned into a bedroom because of the size of the family....
    .
  • Yahad In Unum