The history of Ukraine

Historically and in terms of population, Ukraine is part of the East Slavic core area from which Slavic tribes from the 5th century onwards spread in all directions. Ukraine has a historical starting point in the state of Kyiv (Kyivskaya-Rus ca. 860-1240). Ukraine views the Cossack tradition as a restoration of its historical heritage.  Russia's territorial expansions as a result of the Polish partitions in the period 1772-1795, brought most Ukrainians under Russian rule.

The Ukrainian state tradition is also based on Kyiv-Rus. However, that is the period after the fall of the Kyiv state which has been the subject of various historical interpretations between Ukraine and Russia.

Ukrainian historians claim that a separate Slavic existed ethnic group around Kyiv before the Kyiv Empire. Historians emphasize that this nation represents a continuity to the current Ukrainians, while the Russians are descendants of tribes further north, which played only a marginal role in the state of Kyiv (Wilson 1997).

What is Ukraine and what is genuinely Ukrainian? Ukraine has been dominated by for centuries other powers, Mongols, later Lithuanians, Poles, Austrians and Russians. Ukraine's historic experiences are marked by repression both from the west and from Russia. In a historical perspective has Ukrainian independence only existed for two short periods. One was the formation of the Cossacks from 1648-1654, and the other was from 1918-1922. Ukraine therefore had only a very limited independence tradition to build on when it declared independence in August 1991. Further received Ukraine's territorial boundaries when it was part of another state. Unlike other post-communist states, such as Poland and Lithuania, which have largely had their state borders basis of an ethnic-based nationalism, Ukraine, like Belarus, faced two urgent challenges when the country gained its independence. One was to establish one institutional basis for creating a new Ukrainian state, but it was also important to establish one common understanding of what was the Ukrainian nation (Wilson 1997).

The national Ukrainian mythology is based on two important traditions. One is the Cossack tradition, which plays a major role in Ukrainian state thought. The Cossacks were mainly Orthodox peasants who had fled oppression in Poland, however also peasants who fled from slavery in Russia. They established autonomous communities in the area around the Dnieper and fought both Tatars in the south and Catholic Poles in the west. In 1648 did one of these Cossack communities revolted against Poland under the leadership of Bogdan Khmelnitsky and established a state formation in Kiev. However, they found it difficult to assert themselves against the Polish supremacy and sought military support from Moscow. In 1654 Khmelnitsky concluded a union treaty, The Perejaslav agreement, with Russia where the Cossacks were previously subject to Poland accepted a military alliance with Russia. Ukraine views the Cossacks as the restorers of the historical heritage and Cossack state formation, from 1648 to 1654, is considered the germ of it Ukrainian state. Ukraine's union with Russia in 1654 emphasizes the Russian cultural and political affiliation. The second tradition is the western-oriented tradition based on developments in the western areas of Ukraine, which emphasize Western affiliation and opposition to Russia. The Polish / Lithuanian rule from 1386 led to large sections of the upper class, like Belarus, was "polonized" (Burant 1993). By this is meant that they converted to the Catholic church and used the Polish language as the language of administration. In this western part of Ukraine became it made constant attempts to break the ties between Ukraine and Russia, especially the religious ones. This development led to the establishment of a separate "united" church in 1596, which had orthodox faith content and liturgy, but who recognized the pope as its head. The Polish influence in Ukraine has in this way contributed to the development of a culture that emphasized the differences between Russia and Ukraine and the Cabinet.

Beginning in the 18th century, Ukrainian territories were divided between the Austrian and Russian Empires. In the aftermath of World War I and the overthrow of the Russian monarchy in February 1917, Ukraine set up a provisional government, declaring itself the independent Ukrainian People's Republic in January 1918. The Ukrainian People's Republic fought the Bolshevik Red Army for three years (1918-1921) but lost its fight for independence.

The bulk of Ukrainian territory was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union, or USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), and by 1922 Ukraine became the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (UkrSSR). Then the USSR  sanctioned the requisition of all surplus agricultural products from the rural population, resulting in economic collapse.

Discontent among the farmers forced Lenin to halt the requisitions and bring in the New Economic Policy (NEP) in March of 1921. The NEP was intended to provide greater economic freedom and permit private enterprise, mainly for independent farms and small businesses. Beginning in 1923, the Soviet authorities also pursued a policy of indigenization, which in the Ukrainian SSR took the form of Ukrainization, a policy of national and cultural liberalization that promoted Ukrainian language use in education, mass media and government. The goal for the introduction of both NEP and Ukrainization was to increase support for the Soviet regime in Ukraine. Video: Timothy Snyder: Ukrainian History as World History: 1917-2017

It was only under Catherine II through the three Polish divisions (1772-1795) that the majority of Ukraine came under Russian rule. There was an extensive influx of Russians settlers in the eastern parts of Ukraine and in the Crimea. Russia started in the 1860s and 70s a large-scale "Russification policy" aimed at eradicating the Ukrainian national peculiarity. Partly in response to this, the Habsburg government in Vienna did much to promote it Ukrainian culture in the western part of Ukraine because this was worried about a possible Russian influence in the Habsburg Empire. This has helped to create a divide within Ukraine (Wilson 1997). The presentation above shows that Ukraine has had both an eastern and a western connection in its cultural and political orientation, but traditionally the eastern orientation has been stronger, which is due to both cultural-historical and power-political reasons. Put in the light of the means Russia / Soviet Union has used to eradicate the Ukrainian identity with persistent oppression and Russification of both the political elite and the population, and a provoked one famine in the interwar period, which was a genocide against the Ukrainian people, it is still it Western influence which is seen as crucial for Ukraine's national development and identity. Ukraine sees Russia as the Slavic "big brother" the country feels connected to and is in opposition to. Historically, therefore, Ukraine's relations with Russia have been ambivalent in that it has been marked by both conflict and cooperation for centuries. The political Developments in Ukraine after 1991 can therefore not only be seen in the light of the current situation, but in context of the country's complex history.

Carpatho-Ukraine 1938-39

When Vladimir Putin became president of Russia in 2000, the country got a leader who in practice set aside the rules of democracy to secure his own position of power. And perhaps most dangerous of all: President Putin dreams of restoring the geopolitical influence that the strong men in Moscow had when both the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe were ruled from the offices of the Kremlin.

Young Ukrainians in particular want their country to develop further into a Western-type democracy, as other Eastern European nations have achieved. They will no longer be a Russian satellite state.

Let us hope that their battle is crowned with victory.

UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army)  and (OUN) Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists 

Famous doctor and public activist, founder of the first Ukrainian society in Norway, and aone of Lemkivshchyna local leaders of UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) before, Mykola Radejko was born on the 2nd of October 1920 in Yavoriv (Ukraine). In 1937 he joined OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) and was therefore expelled from gymnasium «Ridna shkola». Afterwards he was imprisoned in Peremysl. Having passed exams in the gymnasium he entered Lviv university, but was later also expelled for political believes. He was then again imprisoned and brought to Lviv prison at Zamarstynivska street and later Bryhidky prison. In October 1942 he entered Lviv Medical University.

In 1943 р. he passed an UPA new-comer training in Carpathian mountains and was appointed a regional leader of OUN in Lemkivshchyna. Mykola Radejko was in charge of Ukrainian liberation movement in the Ukrainian Republic. In 1947 he escaped to Warsaw, and later to Gdansk and further fled to Norway. In 1953 he graduated from Medical Faculty of the University of Oslo and founded the Ukrainian society in Norway, He was also an active member of PEN-club. Mykola Radejko invited many Ukrainian scholars and public activists to Norway, wrote a number of articles on Ukrainian topics in leading Norwegian newspapers. He was often called Ukraine's informal Ambassador.

He visited Ukraine in 1991. Then he came to Yavoriv and Lviv, where he met with the head of Lviv regional council Vyacheslav Chornovil. Mykola Radejko passed away in 2005 and was burried in Oslo. In 1999 a book by С.Christensen om Mykola Radejko titled «Frihet for Ukraina. Historien om Mykola Radejko» (J.W. Cappelens Forlag A.S., 1992) was translated into Ukrainian by Olha Senyuk.

The 1930s were a very controversial period in the history of Ukraine, in which different large-scale events took place: industrialization (accelerated construction of enterprises of heavy and light industries); dekulakization (political repressions against millions of prosperous peasants and their families), collectivization (consolidation of individual landholdings and labor into collective farms) and famine (“holodomor”) in Ukraine (1932-1933); Stalinist repression. All this radically changed the socio-economic relations in the country, millions of people died.

At this time in Western Ukraine, which became part of Poland, the policy of Polonization was carried out, which led to the rise of the nationalist movement. According to the census of 1931, 8.9 million people lived in Western Ukraine, including 5.6 million Ukrainians and 2.2 million Poles. In 1938-1939, the autonomous Carpathian Ukraine within Czechoslovakia, as a result of the Munich Agreement and the division of Czechoslovakia, was captured by Hungary.

According to the Nonaggression Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union and the subsequent Polish campaign of the Red Army, Western Ukraine was joined to the Ukrainian SSR in 1939, as well as Northern Bukovina and the southern part of Bessarabia in 1940.

During the Second World War, the entire territory of Ukraine was occupied by German troops. At the beginning of the war, an attempt was made to create a Ukrainian state under the protectorate of Germany, but the occupation authorities reacted negatively to this idea. As a result, some nationalists, in particular Stepan Bandera, were imprisoned in concentration camps, others continued to cooperate with the Nazis.

During the war years, a partisan movement was widely spread on the territory of Ukraine. Guerrilla groups fighting against the Axis countries were formed at the initiative of Soviet activists. The German occupation of Ukraine was notable for its particular cruelty, especially against the Jews. More than 100 thousand people were killed only in Kyiv (Babiy Yar). Soviet power in Ukraine was restored in 1944.

More than 5 million people in Ukraine died in the war, and about 2 million were moved to Germany for forced labor, about 700 cities and towns, as well as 28,000 villages were destroyed. Over 10 million people were left homeless. The economy suffered heavy damage.

October 24, 1945, when the United Nations was established, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR, along with the USSR, became members of the General Assembly. In 1945, Transcarpathia was joined to the Ukrainian SSR.

In 1954, the Crimea was transferred from the the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR mainly to simplify economic relations. Then no one would have thought that the Soviet Union would not last forever and in the future territorial issues could cause conflicts.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the dissident movement arose that was critical of Soviet policy towards Ukraine. Intellectuals played a leading role in dissent, and Soviet authorities imprisoned thousands of dissidents.

April 26, 1986, the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant located near Kyiv in the town of Pripyat caused radioactive contamination of vast territories and further increased distrust of the Communist party leaders, who tried to hide the fact of the accident.

During Perestroika (reformation attempt within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union), the rise of the national movement began. In 1990, the first democratic elections were held to the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR, which adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty of Ukraine.

After the events of August 1991 (the coup in Moscow against Mikhail Gorbachev), August 24, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR proclaimed the independence of Ukraine and the formation of an independent Ukrainian state (Ukraine), which was later confirmed by a nationwide referendum on December 1, 1991.