History

St. Sofia Cathedral

Human settlement in the territory of Ukraine dates back to the 12th century BC, but the history of state and Ukrainian identity began with the formation of the first eastern Slavic state Kyivan Rus’ in the 9th century AD. With the center in Kyiv, it became the largest and most powerful state in Europe in 10th and 11th centuries. Kyivan Rus’ was in its Golden Age under the reign of Volodymir the Great (980–1015), his son, Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054), and Volodymir Monomakh (1113–1125). In 989, Volodymir the Great accepted baptism and introduced Christianity to Kyivan Rus’, casting it as a European, rather than Islamic Asian, state. St Sofia’s Cathedral in Kyiv is still a testament to Kyivan Rus’ greatness and the importance of Orthodox Christianity within the state. 

 

Quarrels among the nobles and the 13th century devastating Mongolian invasion weakened the unified state. Kyivan Rus’ split into smaller territories and parts of Ukraine were incorporated into Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The heart of national identity survived in a Cossack military state in Zaporozhian Host.

Ilya Repin. The Zaporozhe Cossacks Write a Mocking Letter to the Turkish Sultan. 1891

Cossacks were some of the best fighters in Europe at the time and the Cossack Hetmanate established in mid-17th century remained autonomous for well over 100 years. Ukrainian national identity, literature, music, the folklore dress and dance were largely influenced by the Cossack culture. In 1648, Bohdan Khmelnitsky led the largest independence war to liberate Ukrainian land from Polish rule. With the promise of Ukrainian autonomy, Cossacks accepted Russian support in war against Poland; but the promises were not honored and parts of Ukraine were taken over by Russian Empire, while western parts went under Austrian control. The tsarist regime carried the policy of Russification suppressing Ukrainian culture and the use of language.

 Following the collapse of Russian Empire in 1917, Ukraine proclaimed independence. It was a democratic state with a constitution and its first president Mykhailo Hrushevsky. In 1922, the Soviet regime took over Ukraine and established its brutal rule that engineered two artificial famines (1920-22 and 1923-33) in which over 8 million people died. During World War II, Ukraine was the largest battle ground in USSR resulting in the death of 7 to 8 million people from German and Soviet armies. A lot of Ukrainian territory was occupied by the Nazis although the resistance was very fierce. The Victory Day is still celebrated as a Ukrainian national holiday. During the Stalin regime, thousands of Ukrainians were deported to Siberia labor camps. They were mostly “intelligentia” – highly educated people, writers, teachers and leaders that could potentially organize an independence movement. The Ukrainian language continued to be suppressed and banned.

During the industrialization of USSR and the space race, Soviet Ukraine became a center for high-tech research and a European leader in industrial production.

The independence of Ukraine was declared on August 24, 1991 followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Verhovna Rada, Ukrainian Parliament

Later that year, a referendum took place and over 90% of Ukrainian people expressed their support for the Act of Independence and elected the first president of the country. A new constitution was adopted in 1996. The independent Ukraine was set up as a democratic state with more favorable economic conditions than other members of the Soviet Union. But nearly seventy years of Soviet bureaucratic regime left its mark and the transition in Ukraine was bound to take some time. New reforms towards democratization and market economy were introduced. Ukraine entered the World Trade Organization in February 2008. 

In November 2004, the “Orange Revolution”

Orange Revolution 2004

took place in Ukraine as a peaceful mass protest to the presidential elections fraud. Authorities were forced to overrun the results and new internationally monitored elections took place with the majority of votes given to Victor Yushchenko. The only official language of Ukraine is Ukrainian; but due to the long history of Russian rule, Russian remains the primary spoken language in Ukraine mainly in the east and south of the country, including Kharkiv where the EESA-Ukraine program is based.