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We would like to enlarge your knowledge about Ukrainian nation and history, some elements of which have become an integral part of the Ukrainian culture as we know it today.
Fifth century BC is marked by a kingdom of the Scythians. Southern parts of Ukraine…the first state formation known to us from various sources… Cattle breeding, land-tilling, large settlements can be traced further back into earlier history, but this information is not enough in order to form a certain opinion about the ethnic background of the earliest tribes inhabiting Ukraine. It is known nevertheless that Scythians are the first organized society in the region, who had tamed horses and used this mobility to rule most of the region north of the Black Sea.
First century AD is marked by Romans' coming. Their tribes came to the southern Crimea and established their hegemony. Later, waves of barbarians roll through the Ukrainian territory, including the Goths and the Huns.
The next remarkable period is Fifth Century AD. During this period Kyiv may have been founded. Some sources indicate that it may have occurred even earlier. By the end of the ninth century Kyiv becomes the capital of a state. Its territory stretches up to the Baltic Sea in the north and almost to the Volga in the east. Slavic people was the dominant ethnic element in the Kyivan state, which are now known as "Kyivan Rus".
The Kyivan Rus reached its peak during the reign of Prince Volodymir the Great (980-1015). In 988, Volodymyr converts Kyivan Rus to Christianity. It allows to improve political and cultural relations with the Byzantine Empire, the Bulgarians, and other countries of Western Europe and the Near East. By the 11th century, Kyiv was one of the largest centers of civilization in the Christian World with 400 churches, eight markets and nearly 50,000 inhabitants.
1125 is marked by the death of the great Kyivan Prince Vladimir Monomakh. After this a process of feudal disintegration begins. Foreign powers, among which the Mongols, headed by Batu Khan, were the most remarkable, took advantage of these feudal wars and in 1240 invaded Lyivan Rus. Kyiv fell into a prolonged period of decline. The Mongols which are known among Westerners as the Tartars ruled for almost a century. Nevertheless, Kyiv in this period remains an important political, commercial and cultural center.
Fourteenth century brought one more invasion. This time the Kingdom of Lithuania and Poland began to enlarge their territory at the expense of their eastern neighbors, Ukraine. The Ukrainian autonomy is limited further and further…It was not a large scale invasion, but in this period, to the south and south-east, the Turks were making similar moves into the Crimea and along the Sea of Azov. Slavic resistance lacked for concerted actions against the invaders.
The 16 century started a new movement, a new force. Zaporizhska Sich, a kind of Cossack republic became the military and political organization of Ukraine. By the mid-17th century, the Poles finally occupied Kyiv. This led the Zaporozhyan Sich to a war of independence (1648-1654). Unfortunately the Poles were too powerful to resist and Ukraine in the person of Hetman Bogdan Khmelnytsky had to sign a union treaty with its northern neighbor, the Muscovite state.
Mazepa Portrait
18th century is marked by Hetman Mazepa's movement. Increasing interference of Russian empire into Ukrainian affaires made him struggle for independence of Ukraine. With this purpose he becomes an ally of the Swedish King Charles XII. In the battle of Poltava in 1709 Russian army defeats these troops and by the end of the century, long-suffering Ukraine is already divided between the Russian and Austrian Empires. The independence is lost.
The next important period of history is the beginning of the 20th century. It is probably the first time when the country is liberated from oppression of other countries. After the revolution in Russia (1917) it becomes autonomous. Even the Central Rada was formed. But Ukraine was simply not ready for political independence. The country splits in two, with the western part becoming a separate state.
An independent Ukraine again got into oppression with the triumph of the Bolsheviks. In 1920 Ukraine is integrated into the Soviet Union. In reality, however, Ukraine was a conquered province ruled directly from Moscovy. In 1932-1933 as a result of the Stalinist economic and socialist policies Ukraine suffers a genocidal famine. 8 million Ukrainians died of starvation.
The next period that should be mentioned specially is the Great Patriotic War. In 1941 Germany occupies Ukraine. The country finds itself among the countries the hardest hit by the war. 1945 - after a liberation from Nazi Germany, together with 50 other nations, Ukraine becomes a founding member of the United Nations.
In 1991, August 24 - The Supreme Rada adopts the Act proclaiming the state independence of Ukraine. At last! Ukrainian population votes for independence. The first president is elected (Leonid Kravchuk) and in several months, Ukrainian independence is recognized worldwide.
In 1994, July 10 - Leonid D.Kuchma is elected the President of Ukraine. Leonid Kuchma currently is the President of the country and it now has a rebirth period. The country takes part in the work of many international organizations. It is visited by delegations, groups of specialists, art companies, sport teams and tourists from different countries of the world.
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