History Of Ukraine

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Ukraine is the largest nation to come from the former Soviet satellite states and like the rest of the former communist nations, has a large ethnic division between its citizens. To know why Ukraine is so divided and so passionate in regards to its political views we must look back to the basis of ethnic diversity throughout Ukraine’s history. We start our look back at Ukrainian history with a look at Pre-Russian dominant times in the 1600’s. Ukraine at the time was under the control of the Polish Empire; this was until Bohdan Khmelnysky led a revolution in 1648 for independence from Poland. After three years of military control over most of Western and Central Ukraine, Khmelnysky’s forces suffered a devastating loss to Poland in Berestechko. With little options remaining and most of his allies abandoning him, Ukraine turned to the Russian Tsar for protection from Poland. After Ukraine signed the Treaty of Pereyaslav in 1654, which acknowledged Ukrainian loyalty to the Russian Tsar politically and militarily, the “Eternal Peace” was signed between Russia and Poland, which split up Ukraine. Kiev and the Cossack lands east of the Dnieper were under Russian rule, while lands west of the Dnieper were under Polish rule. The result of this war, miniscule in the grand theme of where Ukraine is today, shows the first divisions of the nation between the west and Russian dominated east. When World War 1 ended the ages of empires died with it, among these empires that collapse was the Russian one. With the collapse of the Russian Empire Ukrainian Nationalism flourished, a plethora of political parties emerged in Ukraine, some in favor of the new Bolshevik regime in Russia, others felt more of a connection with the Austro-Hungarian gov... ... middle of paper ... ...international issue involving Russia, The United States, and the European Union. Russia has gotten permission from its parliament to send troops over to Ukraine to “Keep the Peace” and even recognized Crimea as a member of the Russian Federation after a highly fraudulent, contested election voted for Crimea to break away from Ukraine and join Russia. The United Nations has failed to recognize this act of annexation and has threatened economic sanctions along with a reluctant threat to possibly use military involvement if Russia did not back off and leave Ukraine to settle its political issues itself. So the question if Ukraine will spiral into another devastating Civil War and possibly lead to bigger more serious global issues is yet to be seen, however there is no doubt that the root of all Ukraine’s problems has been its ethnic division, and Russian influence.

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