| | 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>https://russian-faith.com/persecution/struggle-russian-christian-faith-europe-carpatho-russians-n1122</ref> Before 1917, one could walk on foot from Kiev to Moscow without noticing any linguistic differences. 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. Lenin gave Ukraine Kharkiv, Donbass, and the coastal oblasts, 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> 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. 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. | | 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>https://russian-faith.com/persecution/struggle-russian-christian-faith-europe-carpatho-russians-n1122</ref> Before 1917, one could walk on foot from Kiev to Moscow without noticing any linguistic differences. 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. Lenin gave Ukraine Kharkiv, Donbass, and the coastal oblasts, 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> 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. 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. |