Changes

The Cossack-led uprising called Koliivshchyna that erupted in the Ukrainian borderlands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1768 involved ethnicity as one root cause of Ukrainian violence that killed tens of thousands of Poles and Jews. Religious warfare also broke out between Ukrainian groups. Increasing conflict between Uniate and Orthodox parishes along the newly reinforced Polish-Russian border on the Dnepr River in the time of Catherine II set the stage for the uprising. As Uniate religious practices had become more Latinized, Orthodoxy in this region drew even closer into dependence on the Russian Orthodox Church. Confessional tensions also reflected opposing Polish and Russian political allegiances.<ref>Barbara Skinner, "Borderlands of Faith: Reconsidering the Origins of a Ukrainian Tragedy." ''Slavic Review'' 2005 64(1): 88-116. Fulltext: in [http://www.jstor.org.proxy.cc.uic.edu/view/00376779/sp060001/06x0162f/0 Jstor]</ref>

The Cossack-led uprising called Koliivshchyna that erupted in the Ukrainian borderlands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1768 involved ethnicity as one root cause of Ukrainian violence that killed tens of thousands of Poles and Jews. Religious warfare also broke out between Ukrainian groups. Increasing conflict between Uniate and Orthodox parishes along the newly reinforced Polish-Russian border on the Dnepr River in the time of Catherine II set the stage for the uprising. As Uniate religious practices had become more Latinized, Orthodoxy in this region drew even closer into dependence on the Russian Orthodox Church. Confessional tensions also reflected opposing Polish and Russian political allegiances.<ref>Barbara Skinner, "Borderlands of Faith: Reconsidering the Origins of a Ukrainian Tragedy." ''Slavic Review'' 2005 64(1): 88-116. Fulltext: in [http://www.jstor.org.proxy.cc.uic.edu/view/00376779/sp060001/06x0162f/0 Jstor]</ref>

===19th century===

===Origins of Ukraine: 19th century and World War I===

In the 19th century the Ukrainian was a rural area largely ignored by Russia and Austria. With growing urbanization and modernization, and a cultural trend toward nationalism inspired by romanticism, a Ukrainian intelligentsia committed to national rebirth and social justice emerged. The serf-turned-national-poet [[Taras Shevchenko]] (1814-1861) and the political theorist  [[Mykhailo Drahomanov]] (1841-1895) led the growing nationalist movement. Nationalist and socialist parties developed in the late 19th century. Austrian [[Galicia]], which enjoyed substantial political freedom under the relatively lenient rule of the [[Hapsburgs]], became the center of the nationalist movement. The Russian government responded to nationalism by sponsoring pogroms against Jews and by placing severe restrictions on the Ukrainian language.

In the 19th century the Ukrainian was a rural area largely ignored by Russia and Austria. With growing urbanization and modernization, and a cultural trend toward nationalism inspired by romanticism, a Ukrainian intelligentsia committed to national rebirth and social justice emerged. The serf-turned-national-poet [[Taras Shevchenko]] (1814-1861) and the political theorist  [[Mykhailo Drahomanov]] (1841-1895) led the growing nationalist movement. Nationalist and socialist parties developed in the late 19th century. Austrian [[Galicia]], which enjoyed substantial political freedom under the relatively lenient rule of the [[Hapsburgs]], became the center of the nationalist movement. The first Ukrainians were Carpathian Russians in [[Austria-Hungary]] who denounced [[Orthodox Christianity]] for [[Roman Catholicism]] in 1893.</ref><ref>https://russian-faith.com/persecution/struggle-russian-christian-faith-europe-carpatho-russians-n1122</ref> Defeat in [[World War I]] and the Russian revolutions of 1917 destroyed the Hapsburg and Russian empires. The Ukrainian elite declared statehood: the Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed at Kiev on Nov. 20, 1917, becoming independent on Jan. 22, 1918. The West Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed at Lviv on Nov. 1, 1918. A rival Ukrainian Soviet Republic was established at Kharkiv on Dec. 24, 1917. On Jan. 22, 1919, the two people's republics united. By then, however, the military situation was desperate, as Polish and Bolshevik armies pressed the Ukrainian nationalists from west and east and the peasant anarchists led by Nestor Makhno took control of large areas. Lenin expanded it's territory, making it an artificial state in the style of the [[EU]].<ref>https://russophile.org/is-ukraine-an-artificial-state-popular-youtuber-says-yes/</ref><ref>https://orientalreview.org/2017/08/21/ukraines-misunderstanding-lenin-helps-explain-americas-fight-re-invented-historical-statues/</ref><ref>https://russian-faith.com/persecution/struggle-russian-christian-faith-europe-carpatho-russians-n1122</ref><ref>https://www.sott.net/article/391652-The-history-of-Ukraine-as-an-artificial-state</ref> Because communist theory denies the existence of race as the adherents flip flop to favor one group over another, Lenin made the soviet Union autonomous republics so not one ethnic group will have too much power.

Defeat in [[World War I]] and the Russian revolutions of 1917 destroyed the Hapsburg and Russian empires. The Ukrainian elite declared statehood: the Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed at Kiev on Nov. 20, 1917, becoming independent on Jan. 22, 1918. The West Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed at Lviv on Nov. 1, 1918. A rival Ukrainian Soviet Republic was established at Kharkiv on Dec. 24, 1917. On Jan. 22, 1919, the two people's republics united. By then, however, the military situation was desperate, as Polish and Bolshevik armies pressed the Ukrainian nationalists from west and east and the peasant anarchists led by Nestor Makhno took control of large areas.  

===Soviet era to 1939===

===Soviet era to 1939===

see [[Ukrainian Famine]]

see [[Ukrainian Famine]]

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. Besides Ukraine, [[Kazakhstan]] and the Volga region were also hit by the famine. 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 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>

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>

===1945 to 1991===

===1945 to 1991===

Reconstruction proceeded rapidly in the late 1940s and the 1950s, as the Soviets n\eeded the food and raw materials of Ukraine.  Political repression of nationally conscious Ukrainians also intensified. The widespread acculturation and assimilation of the Soviet Jews by the 1930s led Stalin to consider the "Jewish question" as settled; he now viewed the Jews as a national rather than a religious group. With the influx of Jews into the Ukraine and Russia from Poland, the Baltic states, Bessarabia, and Bukovina following the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939, there followed an intensification of Jewish religious activity, and the reopening of many synagogues. However, political unrest preceding the creation of the state of Israel unleashed Stalin's massive repression against Jews during the "black years" of 1948-53. Suspected of Zionism and cosmopolitanism, Jews were systematically removed from positions of leadership in culture, science, medicine, politics, and economics. The anti-Semitic campaign ended only with the death of Stalin in March 1953.

Reconstruction proceeded rapidly in the late 1940s and the 1950s, as the Soviets n\eeded the food and raw materials of Ukraine.  Political repression of nationally conscious Ukrainians also intensified. The widespread acculturation and assimilation of the Soviet Jews by the 1930s led Stalin to consider the "Jewish question" as settled; he now viewed the Jews as a national rather than a religious group. With the influx of Jews into the Ukraine and Russia from Poland, the Baltic states, Bessarabia, and Bukovina following the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939, there followed an intensification of Jewish religious activity, and the reopening of many synagogues. However, political unrest preceding the creation of the state of Israel unleashed Stalin's massive repression against Jews during the "black years" of 1948-53. Suspected of Zionism and cosmopolitanism, Jews were systematically removed from positions of leadership in culture, science, medicine, politics, and economics. The anti-Semitic campaign ended only with the death of Stalin in March 1953.

Stalin's death finally brought relief in many ways. The thaw initiated by [[Nikita Khrushchev]], who had served as Ukrainian party chief in the 1930s, led to the emergence in the late 1950s and the early 1960s of the "sixties generation" of writers, artists, and intellectuals. Following Khrushchev's downfall in 1964, Moscow, under [[Leonid Brezhnev]] initiated a series of crackdowns on Ukrainian dissidents, including [[Ivan Dziuba]] (b. 1931), the author of Internationalism or Russification?; Vyacheslav Chornovil (b. 1938), the editor of the underground ''Ukrainian Herald''; and Valentyn Moroz (b. 1936), the author of stinging attacks on Soviet policy. In 1972, Petro Shelest, the national-Communist Ukrainian party chief, was replaced by hardliner Volodymyr Shcherbytsky.

Stalin's death finally brought relief in many ways. The thaw initiated by [[Nikita Khrushchev]], who had served as Ukrainian party chief in the 1930s, led to the emergence in the late 1950s and the early 1960s of the "sixties generation" of writers, artists, and intellectuals. Following Khrushchev's downfall in 1964, Moscow, under [[Leonid Brezhnev]] initiated a series of crackdowns on Ukrainian dissidents, including [[Ivan Dziuba]] (b. 1931), the author of Internationalism or Russification?; Vyacheslav Chornovil (b. 1938), the editor of the underground ''Ukrainian Herald''; and Valentyn Moroz (b. 1936), the author of stinging attacks on Soviet policy. In 1972, Petro Shelest, the national-Communist Ukrainian party chief, was replaced by hardliner Volodymyr Shcherbytsky.

In 1990 [[Leonid Kravchuk]], formerly in charge of ideology in the CPU, was appointed chairman of the presidium of a revamped supreme soviet, one fourth of whose deputies were nationalists and "democrats" elected in the semifree elections of 1990. On July 16, 1990, Ukraine proclaimed its sovereignty, an ambiguous formula that meant independence to the nationalists and autonomy to the Communists.  On Nov. 21, 1990, Ukraine and Russia signed a treaty recognizing each other's sovereignty and promising not to interfere in each other's affairs.

In 1990 [[Leonid Kravchuk]], formerly in charge of ideology in the CPU, was appointed chairman of the presidium of a revamped supreme soviet, one fourth of whose deputies were nationalists and "democrats" elected in the semifree elections of 1990. On July 16, 1990, Ukraine proclaimed its sovereignty, an ambiguous formula that meant independence to the nationalists and autonomy to the Communists.  On Nov. 21, 1990, Ukraine and Russia signed a treaty recognizing each other's sovereignty and promising not to interfere in each other's affairs.

As the Communist system collapsed in 1991, Ukraine, Russia, and the other republics engaged in lengthy negotiations with Gorbachev over the form of a new union. In August 1991 an abortive coup by conservatives in Moscow destroyed Gorbachev's strength and impelled the republics to go their own way. Ukraine declared independence on Aug. 24, 1991. Several days later the CPU was suspended and its property was confiscated. A popular referendum on independence was held on December 1, and over 90 percent of the voters supported the declaration. Most of the countries of the world recognized Ukraine in the months that followed. Ukraine became a member of the Council on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the International Monetary Fund, the Consultative Council of NATO, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

As the Communist system collapsed in 1991, Ukraine, Russia, and the other republics engaged in lengthy negotiations with Gorbachev over the form of a new union. In August 1991 an abortive coup by conservatives in Moscow destroyed Gorbachev's strength and impelled the republics to go their own way. Ukraine declared independence on Aug. 24, 1991. Several days later the CPU was suspended and its property was confiscated. A popular referendum on independence was held on December 1, and over 90 percent of the voters supported the declaration. Most of the countries of the world recognized Ukraine in the months that followed. Ukraine became a member of the Council on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the International Monetary Fund, the Consultative Council of NATO, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. As a consequence of the autonomous republics system, Ukraine became a second [[Yugoslavia]] following.<ref>https://orientalreview.org/2014/09/15/eight-reasons-why-ukraine-is-new-yugoslavia/</ref>

 

The nominal successor to the Soviet Union was the Commonwealth of Independent States; Ukraine joined  on Dec. 8, 1991.  Serious tensions soon emerged with Russia as Moscow seized all former Soviet government property, while some Russian politicians wanted the Donbas and the Crimea; the latter, conquered by Russia in 1783, had been transferred to Ukraine by the Soviet authorities in 1954. The Ukrainian government responded by taking steps to create its own army and navy. The pro-secessionists elected Yuri Meshkov as president of the Crimea in early 1994. The government established closer economic and political ties with Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. Ukraine's fears of Russia led it to postpone action on its earlier promise to give up strategic nuclear missiles, prompting concern in the West. After the signing of a tripartite agreement by the presidents of Ukraine, Russia, and the United States in early 1994, Ukraine began shipping these weapons to Russia. Thereafter, Ukraine's relations with the United States and western Europe improved.

The nominal successor to the Soviet Union was the Commonwealth of Independent States; Ukraine joined  on Dec. 8, 1991.  Serious tensions soon emerged with Russia as Moscow seized all former Soviet government property, while some Russian politicians wanted the Donbas and the Crimea; the latter, conquered by Russia in 1783, had been transferred to Ukraine by the Soviet authorities in 1954. The Ukrainian government responded by taking steps to create its own army and navy. The pro-secessionists elected Yuri Meshkov as president of the Crimea in early 1994. The government established closer economic and political ties with Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. Ukraine's fears of Russia led it to postpone action on its earlier promise to give up strategic nuclear missiles, prompting concern in the West. After the signing of a tripartite agreement by the presidents of Ukraine, Russia, and the United States in early 1994, Ukraine began shipping these weapons to Russia. Thereafter, Ukraine's relations with the United States and western Europe improved.