History of Ukraine

Categories: History of Europe | History of Ukraine

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Early prehistory

The first identifiable groups to populate what is now Ukraine were the Neolithic people of the Trypillian culture, followed by the Iranians (Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians), and Goths, among other nomadic peoples who arrived throughout the first millennium BC. During this period, the plains of Scythia were the road for the migration of peoples from Asia into Europe.

Around 600 B.C., the ancient Greeks founded on the north-eastern shore of the Black Sea the colonies of Tyras, Olbia, Hermonassa, perpetuated by Roman and Byzantine cities until the sixth century A.D.

In the 3rd century AD, the Goths arrived in Ukraine, which they called Oium and formed the Chernyakhov culture before moving on and defeating the Roman empire.

Slavic tribes occupied central and eastern plains of Scythia as early as the sixth century. Around this time the Antes civilization which may have been a largely Slavic nation, occupied much of Ukraine.

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Kievan Rus’

Main article: Kievan Rus’

In the 9th century, Kiev was conquered from the Khazars by the Varangian (Swedish Viking) Oleg. The Khazars were a Turkic semi-nomadic people from Central Asia who adopted Judaism. They founded the independent Khazar kingdom in the 7th century C.E. in the south-eastern part of today's Europe, near the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus. In addition to western Kazakhstan, the Khazar kingdom also included territory in what is now eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, southern Russia, and Crimea.

During this time, several Slavic tribes were native to Ukraine, including the Polanians, the Derevlianians, the Severians, the Ulychians, and Tivertsians, and Dulebians. Situated on lucrative trade routes, Kiev among the Polanians quickly prospered as the center of the powerful Slavic/Scandinavian state of Kievan Rus.

In the 11th century, Kievan Rus' was, geographically, the largest state in Europe. During this time, Ukraine became known in the rest of Europe as Ruthenia (the Latin name for Rus', especially after the separation of Russia from Rus' propria). In addition, the name "Ukraine" first appears in recorded history on maps of the period. The meaning of term seems to have been synonymous with the land of Rus' propria--the principalities of Kiev, Chernihiv 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 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.

Although Christianity had made inroads into Ukraine before the first ecumenical council, the Council of Nicea (particularly along the Black Sea coast) and, in Western Ukraine during the time of empire of Great Moravia, the formal governmental acceptance of Christianity in Rus' occurred at the Baptism of Kiev in 988. The major cause of the Christianization of Ukraine was the Grand-Duke, Volodymyr the Great. His Christian interest was midwifed by his grandmother, Princess Olga. Later, an enduring part of the Ukrainian legal tradition was set down by the Kievan ruler, Yaroslav, who promulgated the Russkaya Pravda (Ruthenian Truth) 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. In Rus' propria, the Kiev region, the nascent Ruthenian/Ukrainian principalities of Halych and Volynia extended their rule. In the north, the name of Moscow appeared in the historical record in the principality of Suzdal, which gave rise to the nation of Russia. In the north-west, the principality of Polotsk increasing asserted the autonomy of Belarus'. Kiev was sacked by Russians (1169), Polovtzians and Mongol raiders in the 12th and 13th centuries. Subsequently, all principalities of Ukraine acknowledged dependence upon the Mongols (1239-1240). The Mongol overlordship was very cruel, and people often fled to other countries. Ukrainian settlements appeared in Poland and Hungary.

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Halych-Volynia

Main article: Halych-Volynia

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

Previously, Volodymyr the Great had established the cities of Halych and Volodymyr-Volynski as regional capitals for the western Ukrainian heartland. In the thirteenth century, the city of L'viv eventually became the national capital. This new, more exclusively Ukrainian state was based upon the Dulibian, Tivertsian and Bilyy Khorvaty (White Croatian) tribes. The state was ruled by the descendants of Yaroslav Mudry and Volodymyr 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 Ukrainian principality of Chernihiv to the east. The nation reached its peak with the extension of rule to neighboring Wallachia/Bessarabia, 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 Dukes" or "Princes."

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Loss of independence

During the 14th century, Poland and Lithuania 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) and Hungary (Zakarpattya).

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 Kyiv (Rus'), and the rulers of Lithuania then adopted the title of ruler of Rus'. Poland took control of the region of Halychyna. Following the union between Poland and Lithuania, Poles, Germans, Armenians and Jews immigrated to the country.

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Under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Main article: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Image:Pol-lith commonwealth map.jpg
Outline of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with its major subdivisions as of 1619 superimposed on present-day national borders

After the Union of Lublin in 1569 and the formation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth the gentry of Ukraine voted for membership in the Polish part of the Commonwealth. The period immediately following the creation of the Commonwealth, saw a huge revitalization in colonization efforts. Many new cities and villages were founded. New schools spread the ideas of the Renaissance; Polish peasants who arrived in great numbers were quickly Ruthenized; during this time, most of Ukrainian nobles became Polonized. Social tensions also grew. Ruthenian/Ukrainian peasants (and some from other nations) who fled efforts to force them into servitude came to be known as Cossacks and earned a reputation for their fierce martial spirit.

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The Cossack era

See also: History of Cossacks

The 1648 Ukrainian Cossack (Kozak) rebellion and war of independence (Khmelnytsky Uprising), which started an era known as the Ruin (in Polish history, The Deluge), undermined the foundations and stability of the Commonwealth. The nascent Cossack state, the Zaporozhian Host, usually viewed as forerunner of Ukraine, found itself in a three-sided military and diplomatic rivalry with the Ottoman Turks, who controlled the Tatars to the south, the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania, and the rising Muscovite Russia to the East. The reconstituted Ukrainian state sought a treaty of protection with Russia in 1654. This agreement was known as the Treaty of Pereyaslav. Commonwealth authorities then sought compromise with the Ukrainian Cossack state by signing the Treaty of Hadiach in 1658, but the agreement was later superseded by 1667 Polish-Russian Treaty of Andrusovo, which divided Ukrainian territory between the Commonwealth and Russia. Under Russia, the Cossacks initially retained official autonomy in the Hetmanate. For a time, they also maintained a semi-independent republic in Zaporozhia, and a colony on the Russian frontier in Sloboda Ukraine.

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Transition to Russian and Austrian rule

See also: Partitions of Poland

Tsarist rule over central Ukraine gradually replaced 'protection' over the subsequent decades. Through the Partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793 and 1795 Ukraine fell under the control of the Austrians in the extreme west (see: Galicia) and of the Russians elsewhere. Ottoman Empire control receded from south-central Ukraine, while the rule of Hungary 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 and re-establish a Ukrainian nation-state. The Russians in particular imposed strict limits on attempts to elevate Ukrainian language and culture, even banning its use and study. However, many Ukrainians accepted their fate in the Russian Empire and some were to achieve a great success there. Many Russian writers, composers, painters and architects of the 19th century where of Ukrainian descent. Probably, the most notable was Nikolai Gogol, one of the greatest writers in the Russian literature.

The fate of the Ukrainians was much different under the Austrian Empire where Ukrainians found themselves in the pawn position of the Russian-Austrian power struggle. Some historians argue that it was due to the Austrian attempt to separate the Ruthenians from Russians that caused many to change their name to Ukrainians, often referring to the massacre of Talergof. Moreover unlike in Russia most of the elite that ruled Galicia where either of Austrian or Polish descent and the Ruthenians being almost exclusively kept in peasantry.

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The 20th century

Image:Flag SSR-Ukraine.png
When World War I and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia shattered the Habsburg and Russian empires, Ukrainians where caught in the middle. Between 1917 and 1918, several separate Ukrainian republics manifested independence, including the Central Rada, the Hetmanate, the Directorate, and the Ukrainian People's Republic of Symon Petliura. However, with the failure of the Kiev Operation and the end of Polish-Soviet War, after the Peace of Riga in March 1921, the western part of the traditional territory had been incorporated into Poland, and the larger, central and eastern part became part of the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian SSR.

The Ukrainian national idea persevered during the inter-war years, and Ukrainian culture even enjoyed a revival due to Bolshevik concessions in the early Soviet years. Moreover large territory with traditionally mixed population in the east and south became part of the Ukrainian republic. By the late 1920s, however, the Soviet reaction was severe, particularly under Stalin.

To satisfy the state's need for increased food supplies and finance industrialization, Stalin instituted a program of collectivization of agriculture, which profoundly affected Ukraine, often referred to as the "breadbasket of the USSR". In the late 1920s and early '30s the state compounded 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 of the peasantry against the authorities ensued. Some slaughtered their livestock rather than turn it over to the collectives. Wealthier peasants were labeled "kulaks", enemies of the state. Tens of thousands were executed or deported to labour camps.

Forced collectivization 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. At least four million starved to death in a famine, called the Holodomor in Ukrainian.

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. Some historians consider the famine of 1932–33 to be the unavoidable consequence of Stalin's program of industrialization and collectivization. Others maintain that the famine was an avoidable, deliberate act of genocide.

After German and Soviet troops divided Poland in 1939, (see: Polish September Campaign) some western Poland regions were incorporated into Ukrainian SSR. In 1940, after the Soviet demands, Romania ceded Bessarabia and the northern Bukovina. Ukrainian SSR incorporated Bessarabia's northern and southern districts and the northern Bukovina and ceded the western part of Moldavian ASSR to the newly created Moldavian SSR.

When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 (see: Operation Barbarossa), many Ukrainians, particularly in the west, initially regarded the Nazis as "liberators", and some hoped to establish an autonomous Ukrainian state. Their hopes did not come to realization under the Nazi rule and their movement was brutally crushed. However, most Ukrainians utterly resisted the Nazi onslaught from its start and a partisan movement immediately spread over the occupied territory. Also some elements of the Ukrainian nationalist underground formed a Ukrainian Insurgent Army that fought both Soviet and Nazi forces along with being involved in driving out or murdering much of the Polish and Jewish population in the Western regions, especially in Volhynia. After 1944 the surviving Polish Population was expelled. In some western regions of Ukraine, they continued the resistance against Soviet forces well into the 1950s, though many Ukrainian civilians were murdered in this conflict by both sides.

Image:Ukraine massacres.gif
Locations of mass killings carried out by the Nazi Einsatzgruppen in the southern Soviet Union. Over a million Jews were killed.

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 others (mainly Ukrainians) to forced labour in Germany. In their active resistance to the Nazi Germany, the Ukrainians comprised a significant share of the Red Army and its leadership as well as the underground and resistance movements.

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 and Ukrainian collaborators. Jews were also targeted by Ukrainian nationalists in Nazi-backed pogroms, such as the ones in Lviv that killed over six thousand people. The great majority 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 fourth (2.7 million) were ethnic Ukrainians. Moreover Ukraine saw some of the biggest battles of the war starting from the encirclement of Kiev (later acclaimed as a Hero City) where more than 660,000 Soviet troops were taken captive, to the fierce defence of Odessa, to the victorious storming across the Dnieper river.

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Post-war and independence

Over the next decades the Ukrainian republic not only overcame the pre-war levels of industry and productions but was the spearhead of the Soviet power. Many communist leaders such as Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev came from Ukraine. Once again elements where made to bridge the Russo-Ukrainian cultures and many Soviet sportsmen, scientists, writers and poets were Ukrainian. In 1954 to mark the 300 years of unity, the Russian-populated area of Crimea was transferred to the Ukrainian republic.

The town of Pripyat, Ukraine was the site of the Chernobyl accident, which occurred in April 26, 1986 when a nuclear plant exploded. The fallout contaminated large areas of northern Ukraine and even parts of Belarus. This spurred on a local independence movement called the Rukh that helped expedite the break-up the Soviet Union during the late 1980s.

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 (CIS). 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.

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Ukraine after independence

The history of Ukraine after the independence between 1992 and 2004 was marked by the presidencies of Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma.

The "Cassette Scandal" of 2000 was likely to be the turning point 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. Viktor Yanukovych, the incumbent Prime Minister, supported by both Kuchma and by the Russian Federation, wanted closer ties with Russia. The main opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, 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 the eastern Ukraine. A political crisis erupted after the opposition started massive street protests in Kiev and other cities (Orange Revolution), and the Supreme Court of Ukraine ordered the election results null and void. A second runoff found Viktor Yushchenko the winner, 5 days later Viktor Yanukovych resigned from office and his cabinet was dismissed on January 5, 2005.

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See also

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Further reading

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External links

eo:Historio de Ukrainio fr:Histoire de l'Ukraine pl:Historia Ukrainy pt:História da Ucrânia ru:История Украины sv:Ukrainas historia uk:Історія України