Changes

==Geography==

==Geography==

The total area of Ukraine is 603,700 sq. km (233,090 sq. mi), making it, after Russia, the second largest country in [[Europe]].  Its coastline is 2,782 Km.

The total area of Ukraine is 603,700 km² (233,090 sq. mi), making it, after Russia, the second largest country in [[Europe]].  Its coastline is 2,782 km.

The land of Ukraine is mostly [[steppe]]s and plateaus.  There are mountains in the west of the country, the [[Carpathian Mountains|Carpathians]], and in the Crimean peninsula in the south.  The main rivers in Ukraine are the [[Dnieper]] and the [[Dniester]].   

The land of Ukraine is mostly [[steppe]]s and plateaus.  There are mountains in the west of the country, the [[Carpathian Mountains|Carpathians]], and in the Crimean peninsula in the south.  The main rivers in Ukraine are the [[Dnieper]] and the [[Dniester]].   

Languages spoken in Ukraine include [[Ukrainian]] (70%), [[Russian language|Russian]] (20%), plus 10% miscellaneous, such as Crimean Tartar and also Surzhyk in the southeast (a blend of Russian vocabulary with Ukrainian grammar and pronunciation).   

Languages spoken in Ukraine include [[Ukrainian]] (70%), [[Russian language|Russian]] (20%), plus 10% miscellaneous, such as Crimean Tartar and also Surzhyk in the southeast (a blend of Russian vocabulary with Ukrainian grammar and pronunciation).   

The religion is predominately [[Eastern Orthodox]].  In 1992 the Ukrainian Orthodox Church split into two rival denominations. About 10%, primarily in the west, belong to Uniate churches with eastern rites but affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church of Rome. Poles are Roman Catholics of the Latin rite. The Tatars are Muslims. About 4% are athiests.  

The religion is predominately [[Eastern Orthodox]].  In 1992 the Ukrainian Orthodox Church split into two rival denominations. About 10%, primarily in the west, belong to Uniate churches with eastern rites but affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church of Rome. Poles are Roman Catholics of the Latin rite. The Tatars are Muslims. About 4% are atheists.  

Ukraine is widely known for its lively Cossack-style dancing ("hopak") and elaborately batiked Easter eggs ("pysanky")

Ukraine is widely known for its lively Cossack-style dancing ("hopak") and elaborately batiked Easter eggs ("pysanky")

The December 26 re-vote took place in an atmosphere of calm. While irregularities were noted, observers found no systemic or massive fraud. The OSCE Mission noted that "campaign conditions were markedly more equal, observers received fewer reports of pressure on voters, the election administration was more transparent and the media more balanced than in previous rounds…in our collective view Ukraine’s elections have moved substantially closer to meeting OSCE and other European standards." On January 10, 2005, after the CEC and the Supreme Court had considered and rejected numerous complaints and appeals filed by the Yanukovych campaign, the CEC certified the results: Yushchenko had won 51.99% of the votes, with 44.20% for Yanukovych. President Yushchenko was inaugurated January 23, 2005.

The December 26 re-vote took place in an atmosphere of calm. While irregularities were noted, observers found no systemic or massive fraud. The OSCE Mission noted that "campaign conditions were markedly more equal, observers received fewer reports of pressure on voters, the election administration was more transparent and the media more balanced than in previous rounds…in our collective view Ukraine’s elections have moved substantially closer to meeting OSCE and other European standards." On January 10, 2005, after the CEC and the Supreme Court had considered and rejected numerous complaints and appeals filed by the Yanukovych campaign, the CEC certified the results: Yushchenko had won 51.99% of the votes, with 44.20% for Yanukovych. President Yushchenko was inaugurated January 23, 2005.

Ukraine held parliamentary and local elections on March 26, 2006. International observers noted that conduct of the Rada election was in line with international standards for democratic elections, making this the most free and fair in Ukraine's history. Unlike the first rounds of the 2004 presidential election, candidates and parties were able to express themselves freely in a lively press and assembled without hindrance. There was no systemic abuse of administrative resources as there had been under the previous regime. The Party of Regions and the bloc of former Prime Minster Tymoshenko, whose government the President dismissed in September 2005, finished ahead of the pro-presidential Our Ukraine bloc. Other parties passing the 3% threshold to enter parliament were the Socialist Party of Ukraine and the Communist Party of Ukraine. No party held the majority of Rada seats needed to form a government. Following four months of difficult negotiations, a government led by Prime Minister Yanukovych and including representatives from the Party of Regions, Our Ukraine, and the Socialist Party took office on August 4, 2006. This, the first government formed after the extensive constitutional amendments brokered as part of the Orange Revolution, has been the focus the Prime Minister's growing influence, sometimes at the expense of the President. Amid shifting political alliances, the "Anti-Crisis Coalition" formed by the Party of Regions, Socialist and Communist parties has grown into a "Coalition of National Unity," as some members of the pro-presidential "Our Ukraine" bloc have moved into the Prime Minister's camp. Meanwhile, others have joined forces with Bloc Yuliya Tymoshenko.

Ukraine held parliamentary and local elections on March 26, 2006. International observers noted that conduct of the Rada election was in line with international standards for democratic elections, making this the most free and fair in Ukraine's history. Unlike the first rounds of the 2004 presidential election, candidates and parties were able to express themselves freely in a lively press and assembled without hindrance. There was no systemic abuse of administrative resources as there had been under the previous regime. The Party of Regions and the bloc of former Prime Minister Tymoshenko, whose government the President dismissed in September 2005, finished ahead of the pro-presidential Our Ukraine bloc. Other parties passing the 3% threshold to enter parliament were the Socialist Party of Ukraine and the Communist Party of Ukraine. No party held the majority of Rada seats needed to form a government. Following four months of difficult negotiations, a government led by Prime Minister Yanukovych and including representatives from the Party of Regions, Our Ukraine, and the Socialist Party took office on August 4, 2006. This, the first government formed after the extensive constitutional amendments brokered as part of the Orange Revolution, has been the focus the Prime Minister's growing influence, sometimes at the expense of the President. Amid shifting political alliances, the "Anti-Crisis Coalition" formed by the Party of Regions, Socialist and Communist parties has grown into a "Coalition of National Unity," as some members of the pro-presidential "Our Ukraine" bloc have moved into the Prime Minister's camp. Meanwhile, others have joined forces with Bloc Yuliya Tymoshenko.

==Military and security==

==Military and security==

With [[Stalin]]'s change of course in the late 1920s, however, Moscow's toleration of Ukrainian national identity came to an end. Systematic state terror of the 1930s destroyed Ukraine's writers, artists, and intellectuals; the Communist Party of Ukraine was purged of its "nationalist deviationists"; and the peasantry was crushed by means of collectivization, resulting in the [[Great Famine]] or "Holodomor" (Голодомор) of 1932-1933, which claimed some 3-7 million lives as crops failed and remaining food wtocks were forcibly removed by the government. Stalin had full knowledge of the destructive force of the famine. It was a by-product of his war on the peasantry that began with collectivization and dekulakization and as an attempt to eradicate peasant culture in its entirety.  Ellman explains the causes for the excess deaths in rural areas of Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan during 1931-34 by dividing the causes into three groups: objective nonpolicy-related factors, like the drought of 1931 and poor weather in 1932; inadvertent result of policies with other objectives, like rapid industrialization, socialization of livestock, and neglected crop rotation patterns; and deaths caused intentionally by a starvation policy. The Communist leadership perceived famine not as a humanitarian catastrophe but as a means of [[class struggle]] and used starvation as a punishment tool to teach peasants to work well in the collective farms.<ref>Michael Ellman, "The Role of Leadership Perceptions and of Intent in the Soviet Famine of 1931-1934." ''Europe-Asia Studies'' 2005 57(6): 823-841. Issn: 0966-8136 Fulltext in [[Ebsco]]</ref>

With [[Stalin]]'s change of course in the late 1920s, however, Moscow's toleration of Ukrainian national identity came to an end. Systematic state terror of the 1930s destroyed Ukraine's writers, artists, and intellectuals; the Communist Party of Ukraine was purged of its "nationalist deviationists"; and the peasantry was crushed by means of collectivization, resulting in the [[Great Famine]] or "Holodomor" (Голодомор) of 1932-1933, which claimed some 3-7 million lives as crops failed and remaining food wtocks were forcibly removed by the government. Stalin had full knowledge of the destructive force of the famine. It was a by-product of his war on the peasantry that began with collectivization and dekulakization and as an attempt to eradicate peasant culture in its entirety.  Ellman explains the causes for the excess deaths in rural areas of Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan during 1931-34 by dividing the causes into three groups: objective nonpolicy-related factors, like the drought of 1931 and poor weather in 1932; inadvertent result of policies with other objectives, like rapid industrialization, socialization of livestock, and neglected crop rotation patterns; and deaths caused intentionally by a starvation policy. The Communist leadership perceived famine not as a humanitarian catastrophe but as a means of [[class struggle]] and used starvation as a punishment tool to teach peasants to work well in the collective farms.<ref>Michael Ellman, "The Role of Leadership Perceptions and of Intent in the Soviet Famine of 1931-1934." ''Europe-Asia Studies'' 2005 57(6): 823-841. Issn: 0966-8136 Fulltext in [[Ebsco]]</ref>

It was largely the same groups of individuals who were responsible for the mass killing operations during the civil war, collectivization, and the Great Terror. These groups were associated with Efim Georgievich Evdokimov (1891-1939) and operated in Ukraine during the civil war, in the North Caucasus in the 1920's, and in the Secret Operational Division within General State Political Administration (OGPU) in 1929-31. Evdokimov transferred into Communist Party administration in 1934, when he became Party secretary for North Caucasus Krai. But he appears to have continued advising Joseph Stalin and Nikolai Yezhov on security matters, and the latter relied on Evdokimov's former colleagues to carry out the mass killing operations that are known as the Great Terror in 1937-38.<ref>Stephen G. Wheatcroft, "Agency and Terror: Evdokimov and Mass Killing in Stalin's Great Terror." ''Australian Journal of Politics and History'' 2007 53(1): 20-43. Issn: 0004-9522  Fulltext in  [[Ebsco]]; Robert Conquest, ''The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet collectivization and the terror-famine'' (1986). Mark B. Tauger, "The 1932 Harvest and the Famine of 1933" ''Slavic Review'', Vol. 50, No. 1 (Spring, 1991), pp. 70-89, notes the harvest was unusually poor. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-6779(199121)50%3A1%3C70%3AT1HATF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H online in JSTOR]; R. W. Davies, M. B. Tauger, S. G. Wheatcroft, "Stalin, Grain Stocks and the Famine of 1932-1933," ''Slavic Review,'' Vol. 54, No. 3 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 642-657 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-6779(199523)54%3A3%3C642%3ASGSATF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7];  online in JSTOR; Michael Ellman. "Stalin and the Soviet famine of 1932-33 Revisited," ''Europe-Asia Studies,'' Volume 59, Issue 4 June 2007 , pages 663-93.</ref>

It was largely the same groups of individuals who were responsible for the mass killing operations during the civil war, collectivization, and the Great Terror. These groups were associated with Efim Georgievich Evdokimov (1891-1939) and operated in Ukraine during the civil war, in the North Caucasus in the 1920s, and in the Secret Operational Division within General State Political Administration (OGPU) in 1929-31. Evdokimov transferred into Communist Party administration in 1934, when he became Party secretary for North Caucasus Krai. But he appears to have continued advising Joseph Stalin and Nikolai Yezhov on security matters, and the latter relied on Evdokimov's former colleagues to carry out the mass killing operations that are known as the Great Terror in 1937-38.<ref>Stephen G. Wheatcroft, "Agency and Terror: Evdokimov and Mass Killing in Stalin's Great Terror." ''Australian Journal of Politics and History'' 2007 53(1): 20-43. Issn: 0004-9522  Fulltext in  [[Ebsco]]; Robert Conquest, ''The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet collectivization and the terror-famine'' (1986). Mark B. Tauger, "The 1932 Harvest and the Famine of 1933" ''Slavic Review'', Vol. 50, No. 1 (Spring, 1991), pp. 70-89, notes the harvest was unusually poor. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-6779(199121)50%3A1%3C70%3AT1HATF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H online in JSTOR]; R. W. Davies, M. B. Tauger, S. G. Wheatcroft, "Stalin, Grain Stocks and the Famine of 1932-1933," ''Slavic Review,'' Vol. 54, No. 3 (Autumn, 1995), pp. 642-657 [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0037-6779(199523)54%3A3%3C642%3ASGSATF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7];  online in JSTOR; Michael Ellman. "Stalin and the Soviet famine of 1932-33 Revisited," ''Europe-Asia Studies,'' Volume 59, Issue 4 June 2007 , pages 663-93.</ref>

===World War II: 1939-1945===

===World War II: 1939-1945===

:''See main article: [[Crisis in Ukraine]]''

:''See main article: [[Crisis in Ukraine]]''

[[File:Euromaidan in Kyiv on 1 December 2013 by Nwssa Gnatoush.jpg|thumb|Pro-European protests in [[Kyiv]] (2013)]]

[[File:Euromaidan in Kyiv on 1 December 2013 by Nwssa Gnatoush.jpg|thumb|Pro-European protests in [[Kyiv]] (2013)]]

2010 [[Viktor Yanukovych]] and his pro-Russian "Party of Regions" won the elections. 2013 the Ukrainian People protested against Yanukovych and wanted a pro-European course by the government.<ref>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/vladimir-tismaneanu/ukrainian-people-power/</ref> These protests were called "EuroMaidan".<ref>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/arnold-ahlert/putin-vs-pro-west-ukrainians/</ref> The key figures of the opposition were [[Yulia Tymoshenko]], [[Vitali Klitschko]] and [[Oleh Tyahnybok]]. As a result prime minister Mykola Azarov resigned<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25932352</ref> and Yanukovich was discontinued on February 22, 2014 by the parliament.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/02/22/ukrainian-protesters-claim-control-over-capital/</ref>

2010 [[Viktor Yanukovych]] and his pro-Russian "Party of Regions" won the elections. 2013 the Ukrainian People protested against Yanukovych and wanted a pro-European course by the government.<ref>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/vladimir-tismaneanu/ukrainian-people-power/</ref> These protests were called "EuroMaidan".<ref>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/arnold-ahlert/putin-vs-pro-west-ukrainians/</ref> The key figures of the opposition were [[Yulia Tymoshenko]], [[Vitali Klitschko]] and [[Oleh Tyahnybok]]. As a result, prime minister Mykola Azarov resigned<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25932352</ref> and Yanukovich was discontinued on February 22, 2014 by the parliament.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/02/22/ukrainian-protesters-claim-control-over-capital/</ref>

After the fall of Yanukovych, pro-russian peninsula [[Crimea]] declared its indepence from Ukraine on March 11, 2014.<ref>http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2578160/Ukraines-fugitive-president-blasts-bandit-regime-says-country-heading-civil-war.html</ref> On March 17, 2014 Crimean parliament decided that Crimea belongs to [[Russia]].<ref>http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26609667</ref> As a result of the annexion of Crimea people in Eastern Ukraine like [[Donetsk]] or [[Kharkiv]] wanted to join Russia.<ref>http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/12/east-ukraine-protesters-miners-donetsk-russia</ref> On May 11, 2014 a referendum in Eastern Ukraine was held. Most people voted for indepence of eastern region, but Ukrainian government ignores the will of the people.<ref>http://cnsnews.com/news/article/insurgents-say-ukraine-region-opts-sovereignty</ref> The [[Donetsk People's Republic]] and the [[Lugansk People's Republic]] created an confederation called "[[Novorossiya|Federal State of Novorossiya]]".<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20140607011548/http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_24/Donetsk-Lugansk-Peoples-Republics-unite-in-Novorossiya-1012/</ref> Novorossiya was dissolved in May 2015. The Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics however still exist.

After the fall of Yanukovych, pro-Russian peninsula [[Crimea]] declared its indepence from Ukraine on March 11, 2014.<ref>http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2578160/Ukraines-fugitive-president-blasts-bandit-regime-says-country-heading-civil-war.html</ref> On March 17, 2014 Crimean parliament decided that Crimea belongs to [[Russia]].<ref>http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26609667</ref> As a result of the annexion of Crimea people in Eastern Ukraine like [[Donetsk]] or [[Kharkiv]] wanted to join Russia.<ref>http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/12/east-ukraine-protesters-miners-donetsk-russia</ref> On May 11, 2014 a referendum in Eastern Ukraine was held. Most people voted for indepence of eastern region, but Ukrainian government ignores the will of the people.<ref>http://cnsnews.com/news/article/insurgents-say-ukraine-region-opts-sovereignty</ref> The [[Donetsk People's Republic]] and the [[Lugansk People's Republic]] created an confederation called "[[Novorossiya|Federal State of Novorossiya]]".<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20140607011548/http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_05_24/Donetsk-Lugansk-Peoples-Republics-unite-in-Novorossiya-1012/</ref> Novorossiya was dissolved in May 2015. The Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics however still exist.

In June 2014 [[Petro Poroshenko]] was elected as new president of Ukraine<ref>http://news.yahoo.com/poroshenko-sworn-ukraines-president-073208251.html</ref> and [[Arseniy Yatsenyuk]] became prime minister.

In June 2014 [[Petro Poroshenko]] was elected as new president of Ukraine<ref>http://news.yahoo.com/poroshenko-sworn-ukraines-president-073208251.html</ref> and [[Arseniy Yatsenyuk]] became prime minister.

===Historiography===

===Historiography===

The scholarly study of the Ukraine's history emerged from romantic impulses in the late 19th century.  The outstanding leaders were Volodymyr Antonovych (1834-1908), based in Kiev,  and  his student Michael Hrushevsky (1866-1934).<ref>Serhii Plokhy, ''Unmaking Imperial Russia: Mykhailo Hrushevsky and the Writing of Ukrainian History'' (2005)</ref> For the first time full-scale scholarly studies based on archival sources, modern research techniques, and modern historical theories became possible. However, the demands of government officials—especially Soviet, but also Czarists and Polish—made it difficult to disseminate ideas that ran counter to the central government. Therefore exile schools of historians emerged in central Europe and Canada after 1920.<ref>KubijovyČ, ed. ''Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopedia'' (1963) 1:559-74</ref>

The scholarly study of the Ukraine's history emerged from romantic impulses in the late 19th century.  The outstanding leaders were Volodymyr Antonovych (1834-1908), based in Kiev,  and  his student Michael Hrushevsky (1866-1934).<ref>Serhii Plokhy, ''Unmaking Imperial Russia: Mykhailo Hrushevsky and the Writing of Ukrainian History'' (2005)</ref> For the first time full-scale scholarly studies based on archival sources, modern research techniques, and modern historical theories became possible. However, the demands of government officials—especially Soviet, but also Czarists and Polish—made it difficult to disseminate ideas that ran counter to the central government. Therefore, exile schools of historians emerged in central Europe and Canada after 1920.<ref>KubijovyČ, ed. ''Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopedia'' (1963) 1:559-74</ref>

Strikingly different interpretations of the medieval state of Kievan Rus' appear in the four schools of historiography within Ukraine: Russophile, Sovietophile, Eastern Slavic, and Ukrainophile. The Sovietophile and Russophile schools have become marginalized in independent Ukraine, with the Ukrainophile school being dominant in the early 21st century.  The Ukrainophile school promotes an identity that is mutually exclusive of Russia. It has come to dominate the nation's educational system, security forces, and national symbols and monuments, although it has been dismissed as nationalist by Western historians. The East Slavic school, an eclectic compromise between Ukrainophiles and Russophilism, has a weaker ideological and symbolic base, although it is preferred by Ukraine's centrist former elites.<ref>Taras Kuzio, "National Identity and History Writing in Ukraine," ''Nationalities Papers'' 2006 34(4): 407-427, online in [[EBSCO]]</ref>  

Strikingly different interpretations of the medieval state of Kievan Rus' appear in the four schools of historiography within Ukraine: Russophile, Sovietophile, Eastern Slavic, and Ukrainophile. The Sovietophile and Russophile schools have become marginalized in independent Ukraine, with the Ukrainophile school being dominant in the early 21st century.  The Ukrainophile school promotes an identity that is mutually exclusive of Russia. It has come to dominate the nation's educational system, security forces, and national symbols and monuments, although it has been dismissed as nationalist by Western historians. The East Slavic school, an eclectic compromise between Ukrainophiles and Russophilism, has a weaker ideological and symbolic base, although it is preferred by Ukraine's centrist former elites.<ref>Taras Kuzio, "National Identity and History Writing in Ukraine," ''Nationalities Papers'' 2006 34(4): 407-427, online in [[EBSCO]]</ref>