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Home , Bukovina, Central Ukraine, Zaporozhian Sich

SPECIFIC FEATURES OF HISTORICAL EVOLUTION

Through the turbulent course of history with its The transition to the Iron Age (1000 years kaleidoscopic changes, appeared on the B. C.) was marked not only by evident climatic geographical and political maps of in changes, which to a great extent caused the re- the blink of an eye, disappearing from them just duction in the native population over the entire as suddenly, only to arise anew with a variety territory of what would become in the future, of names, territories and borders. It has experi- Ukrainian ethnic territory. The Iron Age also wit- enced a troubled and unique history which is nessed a significant transformation of the terri- rooted in ancient times; a dramatic, yet some- tory's economics and way of life. Important fea- times tragic and heroic era; periods of crucial tures in the of the were change contrasted with relative stability (which left by a number of cultures at particular refer- at times has verged on economic and political ence points in history, such as Greek colonisers stagnation) as well as periods of state welfare north of the coast; nomads from the and centuries of stateless existence. Its own he- Eurasian steppe (the Scythian and ); roes and anti-heroes figure large in the past. Thracian, Teutonic (German) and Baltic proto- The historical development of civilisa- cultures. The influence of ancient civilisations tion on Ukrainian soil is notable for its richness broadened the outlook of the native population and variety. Ukraine's involved and complex re- of ethnic Ukrainian territories and enabled their construction is only possible today if this process engagement with European civilisation. is a unity of considerations that are both objec- The period from 1000 B. C. – 1000 A. D. tive and subjective, social and ethnic, collective heralded the formation of the first groups of eth- and individual in nature. Society's development nic Slavs in the . The is not determined by a particular factor, and Zarubintsy, Cherniakhiv and Kiev archeological mankind's evolution has always been affected cultures are representative of this development by a variety of influences: economic, political, in Ukraine. At the turn of 4th and 5th centuries ideological, religious, cultural, and more. the confederation of Venedian tribes (which as- During their history that spans more than similated non-Slavic groups of the population) a millennium, the Ukrainians have passed over a broke up into several independent tribes of long and difficult road of development. The suc- Sklavians and , who in turn, formed new cessive change of archeological cultures, ancient archeological cultures. The first centuries of the and nomadic proto-civilisations as well as the Christian era were marked by the transition formation of a quasi-Slavic state all took place on from the prehistoric period to the advent of the Ukrainian ethnic territory. According to archeologi- first historical tribes in the south and southwest cal discoveries, the first group of native inhabitants territories of Ukraine, as well as the formation of that lived within the historical borders of modern late Scythian states on the Crimean steppe and Ukraine, can trace their roots back to Stone Age in the . and the first archeological artifacts left by human The massive settling of Slavs in the activity date back to the Paleolithic period. Ukrainian forest-steppe region in the second Waves of migration, which were typical half of the first millennium was the impetus for for Europe during the Stone and Bronze Ages, the formation of Slavic “ethnic and cultural sym- influenced the ethno-genetic processes to a great biosis”, which would become the genetic core of extent, especially in such historical as: Ukrainian nationality in the future. Polissia, (Volyn), (Podillia), the The evolutionary development of Slavic Ukrainian Carpathians, Middle Region tribal unions led to the establishment of econom- and Nadporizhzhia. This migration also resulted ic, political and social institutions. The rise of in the development of specific archeological cul- the powerful Old Russian state, with its political tures on the left and right banks of the Dnipro centre in Kiev, took place in the final 300 years of river, coastal lowland of the Black Sea and the the first millennium (Figure 7). Its golden age fell Dnister region. during the rule of Princes Volodymyr the Great

19 20 (Saint) and Yaroslav the Wise. Owing to its mili- During the so called Polish-Lithuanian tary strength and dynastic marriages strengthen- period, the historical development of the ing the power of the princes, the economic devel- Ukrainians had a specific character. Being part opment of Kievan Rus’, centralisation in its home of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and later in- and foreign policy, and cultural development corporated in i.e. the Polish– following from its adoption of re- Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Ukrainians on sulted in it becoming one of the most influential the one hand were enriched by progressive west- states in at the turn of 10th–11th ern European ideas, and on the other received centuries. However, the period of political, cul- important lessons in the struggle for national tural and national development of this ancient identity. The historical evolution of Ukrainians Russian state was short-lived. Internal centrifu- is fundamentally punctuated around this time gal processes, as a by-product of the previous by the formation of a new social community on development of this poly-ethnical state (which the eastern borders: the , who created was, for a period of time the empire of the original state form – Zaporozhian Army (Viysko Dynasty which united different principalities of Zaporizhske). In the political and religious fields Slavic tribal unions and other non-Slavic groups) the unions of Lublin (1569) and Brest (1596) were caused the gradual division of Kievan Rus’ into signed (Figure 7). 15 independent principalities in the 12th and 13th The time interval of a little over 200 years centuries. Under the prevailing conditions of po- that historians called the Cossack period, occu- litical fragmentation, the baton founding the na- pies a very important place in the historical de- tion was taken by the Galych–Volhynian ( velopment of Ukraine (Figures 7 and 8). It was – Volyn) state (Figure 7). a crucial point in Ukrainian history, when the Further development of the Ukrainian hitherto slow course of events abruptly accel- nation included large territories, such as Kiev, erated in a cataclysmic manner and influenced , –Siversk, Galych–Volhynia the panoply of human activity. The result was principalities, and it partly covered present- a radical turn in Ukrainian history. The reasons day areas of and Transcarpathia that caused the appearance of the Cossack state, (Figure 7). During the 15th–17th centuries the were complex and included economic, politi- Ukrainians moved on to the south, colonising cal, social, military and strategic factors. The Slobozhanschina (”Free Ukraine”), and at the Cossacks were the first ethnic community that beginning of the 18th century settled in coastal came to reflect the characteristic features of the regions of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. Ethnic Ukrainians as an ethnically independent soci- and social development took place under com- ety. It would be difficult to overestimate the sig- plicated conditions imposed by the division of nificance of the Cossacks in the development Ukrainian territories. The existence of political of the liberation movement and social struggle borders was the reason distinctive features of of the masses. Over a lengthy period of time, differing regions of Ukraine were preserved. the Cossacks were the only force who would Historical development for the spar with neighbouring states in the name of the Ukrainians in a variety of fields had far from Ukrainians, fighting for their right to an exist- stopped at this stage. During their ethnogen- ence and economic and spiritual development. esis, the medieval Ukrainians were enriched In the political field, the Cossacks estab- by the experience of a social and national lib- lished a new era of nation-building. The creation eration movement, which has evolved into the of Zaporozhian , which was the Cossack con- modern Ukrainian nation, with its unique na- ception of a state, meant that the tional consciousness, a highly developed sense organisation was enriched by historical forms, of spirituality and culture. This complicated and which were inadequate for economic and social controversial process receved new qualitative basis of late medieval community. A republican forms in the following centuries. The primary form of government and the participation of a example was an economic union which took the wide circle of Cossacks in the decision-making form of close inner commercial and economic process around economic and social problems ties that fused the independent regions together, resulted in becoming a strong and also resulted in intensive migration between political organisation with a wide field of activ- these regions. ity. During the different periods of its existence,

21 22 Zaporozhian Sich was not a “republic in itself”, borders of ethnic Ukrainian territories. The but always strove for expansion of its political Ukrainians were highly populous in the coastal sovereignty to the other Ukrainian lands. lowland along the Black Sea (Figure 8). The 1640s were marked by the event that The 19th century was an ambiguous fundamentally changed the course of Ukrainian era for the historical evolution of Ukraine. history and predetermined it in many respects. Despite being assimilated into the empires of The national liberation movement between the the Hapsburgs and Romanovs (Figure 8), the 1640s to the 1670s had no rival in Europe for its Ukrainians managed to significantly develop strength, scope and results. It is interesting to their culture. The result of this was a phenom- note that the revolutionary outburst occurred on enon of cultural and national revival in the mid- the territory of the Cossack state (Figure 7). These dle of the 19th century that further stimulated the revolutionary events kept their significance over development of a national movement at the turn the following decades, having a noticeable influ- of the 19th and 20th centuries. The Intellectual ence on all Ukrainian activities. The most sig- resources of the nation, which consisted of de- nificant consequence was the establishment of scendants of the Cossacks and Ukrainian no- the Ukrainian Cossack state with its democratic bles, was directed to save the heritage of the forms of government, original legislature and Ukrainians and took the form of collecting his- executive power, which received well-defined torical documents, artifacts, manuscripts from national features. The establishment of the full the Cossack period and folklore. New groups range of state institutions took some years to mushroomed as the national liberation struggle achieve and occurred with permanent military expanded, such as: “The search for Cossacks”; operations and an increasing threat to independ- “New Haidamakschina” of Ustim Karmalyuk, ence inter-playing in the background. The vital- the activities of the “Russian Troyka” in ity and great potential in the new state is easily Galicia and the Cyril and Methodius Society in explained by the fact that it was founded by the Dnipro (central–Ukraine). These groups were people themselves.. at outward expression of social phenomenon The period of Bohdan Khmel’nyts’kyi, called “khlopomanstvo” and “hromadivstvo”. or so called Khmel’nytchina, was not only when National and cultural development, as well as the independent state was established, but was the development of political and social ideas also when Ukraine gained new political status of the modern Ukrainian community were ad- on the European . It was a period of so- vanced by such people as Ivan Kotlyarevskyi cial upheaval that fundamentally influenced all and Mykola Lysenko; and strata of society and had a considerable impact Lesia Ukrainka; Mykhaylo Drohomanov and upon the development of the national culture. Mykhaylo Hrushevskyi; Ivan Franko and Yurii Despite hardship arising from war, annexation Fedkovych, amongst others. At the same time of Ukrainian territory and obstacles placed by the political, social and economic spheres them- foreign conquerors, the nation continued to selves witnessed modernisation. Artistic master- develop successfully in the general context of pieces amongst the world's best in quality were European cultural and historical process, enrich- produced and it is significant that the Ukrainian ing both global and Ukrainian cultural wealth. Renaissance - in spite of the destructive influ- Territorial incursion into the Ukraine ence of the empires that divided Ukraine - with- during the last three decades of the 17th cen- out exception involved all Ukrainian regions, tury caused certain divisions to arise in social, each of which had a unique local contribution political and economic development between to make. two large regions – the left-bank of the Dnipro The 20th century brought new ordeals for (Livoberezhzhia) and Slobozhanschina on the Ukraine. It was the century of wars and revolu- one hand, and the right-bank of the Dnipro tions, famines and deportations, juxtaposed with (Pravoberezhzhia) and western Ukrainian lands a rejuvenated national renaissance and fresh at- on the other. After the divisions of in the tempts at nation building. The first Universal of 18th century and the reunification of the main Central council declared a right of self-determi- regions of former Hetmanate (Hetmanschyna), nation for Ukrainians . Further steps taken to- it was eastern Galicia, northern Bukovina and wards nation building included the declaration Transcarpathia, that still remained outside the of an independent Ukrainian People’s Republic

23 (Figure 8); the establishment of the Ukrainian Ukraine managed to avoid becom- Hetmanate of P. Skoropadskyi in Dnipro– ing embroiled in armed conflicts that erupted Ukraine; and the proclamation of a Western in some of the territories of the former Soviet Ukrainian People’s Republic in Galicia. Union after 1991 (Figure 8). The nation building Once absorbed into the USSR (Figure process today charts its path next to the struggle 8), attempts were made to eradicate illiteracy. for old and new, and is accelerating. A modern Thousands of people originally from working social and economic pattern is emerging and class and peasant families were allowed access these processes carry on parallel with the inte- to higher education and with time, to gain po- gration of Ukraine into the global community. sitions in high-level scientific, economic, aca- While investigating some aspects of Ukrainian demic, diplomatic and administrative posts. history, researchers may miss the universal his- The possibilities that arose from an improve- torical context, but it is known that Ukrainians ment in the national economy, to a hitherto un- have never existed in isolation. Circumstances seen level of technological prowess resulted in have many times developed in such a way, that a parallel growth in economic potential. This, this old European nation found itself at the cen- together with the integration of the Ukrainian tre of the historical evolution of Europe and lands enabled Ukraine to raise its profile in the events that took place in Ukraine had an im- international arena. The final realignment of portant meaning not only for central and eastern Ukrainian territory took place in the middle of Europe, but for the whole European mainland the 20th century. After the Second World War, too. Situated at the crossroads of economic and peace treaties defined the political borders of commercial arteries between East and West, Ukraine and consolidated all ethnic Ukrainian North and South, from ancient times Ukraine territories, that were earlier parts of Poland, was a recipient of hostility from martial tribes. and . The final touch The country's location has saved other European to this process was added by , when it countries from devastation on numerous occa- handed Ukraine the peninsula in 1954 sions by acting as a buffer, but was nevertheless (Figure 8). Since the middle of the 19th century, a destructive experience for Ukraine which later the dispersion of Ukrainians has increased. The became the hostage of the geopolitical interests migration streams moved not only in easterly, of neighboring countries. southerly and northerly directions, but also fur- Those who believe that Ukraine's role ther inland into Europe. Ukrainian diasporas was passive, under conditions of permanent for- appeared on the American and Australian conti- eign policy pressure, are wrong. On the contrary, nents. Many Ukrainians fell victim to both world Ukraine not only resisted this pressure (and very wars (which lasted for years within Ukraine), often successfully), but also became an active along with mass repression and persecution by influence on European international relations the Soviet authorities subsequently. The final during certain periods of time. Coming under three decades of the 20th century bought with the direction of European civilisation, Ukraine it new ordeals for the nation to overcome. The felt an impact on its political, economic, social, process of urbanisation and industrialisation be- and cultural development, but at the same time, came an obstacle to agricultural development, original Ukrainian thoughts and actions repeat- which fell by the wayside. Meanwhile, the war edly impacted on eastern Europe, enriching not in Afghanistan, as well as the disaster only European political thinking, but also its had a negative impact on the country's demog- practice. raphy.

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