When Ukraine was formed as a separate state? Brief history of Ukraine. Review with conclusions

How it was created Ukrainian language- artificial and political reasons. “The truth is never sweet,” Irina Farion recently noted, presenting her next book about the Ukrainian language on the First Channel of the National Radio of Ukraine. And in some ways, and in this it is difficult to disagree with the now widely known deputy of the Verkhovna Rada. The truth for Ukrainian "nationally conscious" figures will always be bitter. They are too far apart from her. However, the truth needs to be known. Including the truth about the Ukrainian language. For Galicia, this is especially important. After all, Mikhail Sergeevich Grushevsky recognized this.

“Work on the language, like work on cultural development Ukrainians, was conducted mainly on the soil of Galicia,” he wrote.

It is worth dwelling on this work, begun in the second half of the 19th century. Galicia was then part of the Austrian Empire. Accordingly, Russia for the Galicians was a foreign country. But, despite this circumstance, the Russian literary language in the region was not considered a foreign language. Galician Rusyns perceived it as an all-Russian, common cultural language for all parts of historical Russia, and therefore for Galician Russia.

When at the congress of Galician-Russian scientists, held in 1848 in Lvov, a decision was made on the need to cleanse folk speech from polonisms, this was seen as a gradual approximation of Galician dialects to the norms of the Russian literary language. “Let the Russians start from the head, and we start from the feet, then sooner or later we will meet each other and come together in the heart,” Antony Petrushevich, a prominent Galician historian, said at the congress. In Russian literary language scientists and writers worked in Galicia, newspapers and magazines were published, books were published.

All this did not please the Austrian authorities. Not without reason, they feared that cultural rapprochement with a neighboring state would entail a political rapprochement and, in the end, the Russian provinces of the empire (Galicia, Bukovina, Transcarpathia) would openly declare their desire to reunite with Russia.

And then they came up with the roots of "mova"

From Vienna, Galician-Russian cultural ties were hindered in every possible way. They tried to influence the Galicians with persuasion, threats, and bribery. When it did not work, they switched to more vigorous measures. “The Ruthenians (as the official authorities in Austria called the Galician Rusyns - Auth.) did not, unfortunately, do anything to properly isolate their language from Great Russian, so the government has to take the initiative in this regard,” said the governor of Franz- Joseph in Galicia Agenor Goluhovsky.

At first, the authorities simply wanted to ban the use of the Cyrillic alphabet in the region and introduce the Latin alphabet into the Galician-Russian alphabet. But the indignation of the Ruthenians with such an intention turned out to be so great that the government backed down.

The fight against the Russian language was carried out more subtly. Vienna attended to the creation of the movement of "young rutens". They were called young not because of their age, but because of the rejection of the "old" views. If the "old" Rusyns (rutens) considered Great Russians and Little Russians to be a single nation, then the "young" insisted on the existence of an independent Ruthenian nation (or Little Russian - the term "Ukrainian" was put into use later). Well, an independent nation should, of course, have an independent literary language. The task of writing such a language was set before the "young rutens".

Ukrainians began to grow along with the language

They did it, however, with difficulty. Although the authorities provided the movement with all possible support, it did not have influence among the people. The "young rutens" were viewed as traitors, unscrupulous servants of the government. In addition, the movement consisted of people, as a rule, insignificant in intellectual terms. The fact that such figures would be able to create and spread a new literary language in society was out of the question.

The Poles came to the rescue, whose influence in Galicia was dominant at that time. Being ardent Russophobes, representatives of the Polish movement saw a direct benefit for themselves in the split of the Russian nation. That is why they took an active part in the "linguistic" attempts of the "young rutens". “All Polish officials, professors, teachers, even priests began to deal primarily with philology, not Masurian or Polish, no, but exclusively ours, Russian, in order to create a new Russian-Polish language with the assistance of Russian traitors,” recalled the large public figure Galicia and Transcarpathia Adolf Dobriansky.

Thanks to the Poles, things went faster. The Cyrillic alphabet was retained, but "reformed" to make it different from the one adopted in Russian. They took as a basis the so-called “kulishivka”, once invented by the Russian Ukrainophile Panteleimon Kulish, all with the same goal - to separate the Little Russians from the Great Russians. The letters "y", "e", "b" were removed from the alphabet, but "є" and "ї" missing in Russian grammar were included.

In order for the Ruthenian population to accept the changes, the “reformed” alphabet was introduced by order into schools. The need for innovation was motivated by the fact that the subjects of the Austrian emperor "are both better and safer not to use the very spelling that is customary in Russia."

Interestingly, the inventor of the “kulishivka” himself, who by that time had departed from the Ukrainophile movement, opposed such innovations. “I swear,” he wrote to the “young ruten” Omelyan Partitsky, “that if the Poles print with my spelling to commemorate our discord with Great Russia, if our phonetic spelling is presented not as helping the people to enlightenment, but as a banner of our Russian discord, then I, writing in my own way, in Ukrainian, will print in etymological old-world orthography. That is, we live at home, we talk and sing songs differently, and if it comes to something, then we will not allow anyone to separate ourselves. A dashing fate separated us for a long time, and we moved towards Russian unity on a bloody road, and now Lyad's attempts to separate us are useless.

But the Poles allowed themselves to ignore Kulish's opinion. They just needed Russian discord. After spelling, it was the turn of vocabulary. From literature and dictionaries, they tried to expel as many words as possible used in the Russian literary language. The resulting voids were filled with borrowings from Polish, German, other languages, or simply made-up words.

“Most of the words, turns and forms from the former Austro-Ruthenian period turned out to be “Moscow” and had to give way to new words, supposedly less harmful,” one of the “transformers”, who later repented, told about the language “reform”. - "Direction" - that's the Moscow word, can no longer be used - they said "young", and they now put the word "directly". “Modern” is also a Moscow word and gives way to the word “modern”, “exclusively” is replaced by the word “exclusive”, “enlightenment” - by the word “enlightenment”, “society” - by the word “comradeship” or “suspension” ... ".

The zeal with which they "reformed" the Rusyn speech aroused the astonishment of philologists. And not only locals. “The Galician Ukrainians do not want to take into account that none of the Little Russians has the right to the ancient verbal heritage, which Kyiv and Moscow equally claim, to frivolously leave and replace with polonisms or simply invented words,” wrote Alexander Brikner, professor of Slavic studies at the University of Berlin ( Pole by nationality). - I can't understand why in Galicia a few years ago the word "master" was anathematized and the word "kind" was used instead. “Dobrodiy” is a remnant of patriarchal-slavish relations, and we can’t stand it even in favor.”

However, the reasons for "innovation" had, of course, to be sought not in philology, but in politics. "In a new way" began to rewrite school textbooks. In vain the conferences of folk teachers, held in August and September 1896 in Przemyshlyany and Glinyany, noted that now study guides became incomprehensible. And incomprehensible not only for students, but also for students. In vain did the teachers complain that, under the prevailing conditions, "it is necessary to publish an explanatory dictionary for teachers."

The government remained unwavering. Disgruntled teachers were fired from schools. Ruthenian officials who pointed out the absurdity of the changes were removed from their posts. Writers and journalists who stubbornly adhere to the "pre-reform" spelling and vocabulary were declared "Muscovites" and subjected to persecution. “Our language goes to the Polish sieve,” noted the prominent Galician writer and public figure, priest John Naumovich. “Healthy grain is separated like Muscovite, and the siftings are left to us by grace.”

In this regard, it is interesting to compare the various editions of Ivan Franko's works. Many words from the writer’s works published in 1870-1880, for example, “look”, “air”, “army”, “yesterday” and others, were replaced with “look”, “potrya”, “vіysko” in later reprints "vchora", etc. Changes were made both by Franko himself, who joined the Ukrainian movement, and by his "assistants" from among the "nationally conscious" editors.

In total, in 43 works that came out during the author's lifetime in two or more editions, experts counted more than 10 thousand (!) Changes. Moreover, after the death of the writer, “editing” of the texts continued. As, however, as well as "corrections" of texts of works of other authors. Thus, an independent literature was created in an independent language, later called Ukrainian.

But this language was not accepted by the people. The works published in Ukrainian experienced an acute shortage of readers. “Ten-fifteen years pass until the book of Franko, Kotsyubinsky, Kobylyanskaya sells 1,500 copies,” complained Mikhail Grushevsky, who was then living in Galicia, in 1911. Meanwhile, the books of Russian writers (especially Gogol's "Taras Bulba") quickly dispersed in the Galician villages in huge circulation for that era.

And another great moment. When the first one flared up World War, an Austrian military publishing house published a special phrase book in Vienna. It was intended for soldiers mobilized into the army from various parts of Austria-Hungary, so that military personnel of different nationalities could communicate with each other. The phrasebook was compiled in six languages: German, Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Croatian and Russian. “The Ukrainian language was missed. This is wrong,” lamented the “nationally conscious” newspaper Dilo. Meanwhile, everything was logical. The Austrian authorities were well aware that the Ukrainian language was created artificially and was not widespread among the people.

It was possible to plant this language on the territory of Western Ukraine (and even then not immediately) only after the massacre of the indigenous population committed in Galicia, Bukovina and Transcarpathia by the Austro-Hungarians in 1914-1917. That massacre changed a lot in the region. In Central and Eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian language spread even later, but already in a different period of history...

Alexander Karevin

UKRAINE. STORY
In the I millennium BC. The steppes of Ukraine were inhabited, replacing each other, by the Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Goths and other nomadic peoples. The ancient Greek colonists lived in several city-states on Black Sea coast in 7-3 centuries. BC. In the 6th c. AD the northern part of the territory of modern Ukraine was settled by the tribes of Slavs displaced by nomads from the Danube. Kyiv was founded in the 6th century. clearings and captured in 882 by the Slovene prince Oleg from Novgorod. Thanks to its convenient location on important trade routes "from the Varangians to the Greeks," Kyiv turned into the center of a powerful state. During the period of its highest prosperity during the reign of the Grand Dukes Vladimir I (980-1015) and Yaroslav I the Wise (1019-1054), Kievan Rus was one of the largest states in Europe. In 988-989 Vladimir I abandoned paganism and adopted Orthodox Christianity. Yaroslav the Wise put the laws of the state in order; his daughters married the kings of France, Hungary and Norway. Due to overlap by nomads trade route along the Dnieper and internal intrigues of Kievan Rus by the middle of the 12th century. fell into disrepair. In 1169 Grand Duke Andrei Bogolyubsky moved the capital of Russia to Vladimir. In 1240, Kyiv was destroyed to the ground by the Mongol-Tatars under the leadership of Batu Khan, and then captured by Lithuania. Vladimir-Suzdal principality in the interfluve of the Oka and Volga in the middle of the 13th century. was conquered by the Mongol-Tatars. Carpathian Galician- Volyn principality continued to exist independently until joining Poland and Lithuania in the 14th century. National, social and religious oppression in Catholic Poland caused a mass exodus of peasants to the south of Ukraine in the 15th-16th centuries. and contributed to the emergence of the Cossacks. Zaporizhzhya Sich - an independent community located beyond the thresholds of the lower reaches of the Dnieper - became the stronghold of the Cossacks. Poland's attempts to suppress the Cossacks led to mass uprisings, especially during the liberation war of 1648-1654. The uprising was led by the Cossack hetman Bogdan Khmelnitsky (1595-1657). The victorious war of Khmelnytsky against the Poles led to the creation of the Ukrainian Cossack state. In 1654 Khmelnytsky signed the Treaty of Pereyaslav on the creation of a military and political union with Russia. As Russian influence grew, the Cossacks began to lose autonomy and repeatedly initiated new uprisings and rebellions. In 1709 Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1687-1709) took the side of Sweden against Russia in the Northern War (1700-1721), but the Cossacks and Swedes were defeated in the Battle of Poltava (1709). The Hetmanate and the Zaporizhzhya Sich were abolished - the first in 1764, and the second in 1775 - after Russia ousted the Turks from the Black Sea region. During the partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793 and 1795, Ukrainian lands west of the Dnieper were divided between Russia and Austria. In the first half of the 19th century Ukrainian lands remained the agrarian outskirts of Russia and Austria. The development of the Black Sea and Donbass, the opening of universities in Kharkov (1805), Kyiv (1834) and Odessa (1865) stimulated the growth of the national consciousness of the Ukrainian intelligentsia. People's poet Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861) and political publicist Mikhailo Drahomanov (1841-1895) gave impetus to the growth of national identity. At the end of the 19th century nationalist and socialist parties. Russian state responded to nationalism with persecution and restrictions on the use of the Ukrainian language. Austrian Galicia, which had much greater political freedom, became the center national culture. The First World War and the revolution in Russia destroyed the empires of the Habsburgs and the Romanovs. Ukrainians got the opportunity to create their own state; On November 20, 1917, the Ukrainian People's Republic was proclaimed in Kyiv, on December 12, 1917, in Kharkov, the Ukrainian Soviet Republic, and on November 1, 1918, in Lvov, the Western Ukrainian People's Republic. January 22, 1919 people's republics united. However, the military position of the new state became hopeless under the blows of the Polish troops from the west and the Red Army from the east (1920). The southeastern part of Ukraine was for some time controlled by anarchist peasants led by Nestor Makhno. The war in Ukraine continued until 1921. As a result, Galicia and Volyn were included in Poland, and eastern Ukraine became a Soviet republic. Between the First and Second World Wars, there was a powerful Ukrainian nationalist movement in Poland. It was led by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian military organization. Legal Ukrainian parties, the Greek Catholic Church, the Ukrainian press and entrepreneurship have found opportunities for their development in Poland. In the 1920s, in Soviet Ukraine, thanks to the policy of Ukrainization, there was a national revival in literature and art, carried out by the republican communist leadership. When the leadership of the CPSU(b) changed its general political course in the late 1920s, the Communist Party of Ukraine was purged for its "nationalist bias." As a result of the terror of the 1930s, many Ukrainian writers, artists, and intellectuals were destroyed; the peasantry was crushed by collectivization and the mass famine of 1932-1933. After Germany and the USSR divided Poland in August-September 1939, Galicia and Volhynia were annexed to Soviet Ukraine. Northern Bukovina, which ended up in Romania after 1917, was included in Ukraine in 1940, and the Transcarpathian region, which had previously been part of Czechoslovakia, in 1945. The German attack on the USSR in 1941 was welcomed by many Western Ukrainians; The OUN even tried to create a Ukrainian state under German auspices. However, Nazi policies alienated most Ukrainians. The OUN created nationalist partisan detachments - the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA); many eastern Ukrainians joined the Soviet partisans or fought in the Red Army against the Germans. After the Second World War, the OUN and UPA continued their partisan struggle against Soviet power in Western Ukraine until 1953. The war devastated the country. Its entire territory was occupied. 714 cities and 28 thousand villages were destroyed, which were restored in the late 1940s and early 1950s. At the same time, intensified political repression in Western Ukraine. With the death of I.V. Stalin in 1953 the situation changed. Under N.S. Khrushchev (who headed the Communist Party of Ukraine in 1938-1949), a whole galaxy of writers, artists, intelligentsia, the so-called. "Generation of the Sixties". After the removal of Khrushchev in 1964, the Soviet regime began to persecute dissidents such as Vyacheslav Chornovil (1938-1999), editor of the underground Ukrainskiy Vestnik, Valentin Moroz (b. 1936), critic of Soviet policy towards Ukraine, and others. Rise to power in the Kremlin, MS Gorbachev in 1985 led to political changes in Ukraine. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986 caused radioactive contamination of vast areas and undermined the credibility of the party leadership, which tried to cover up the accident. Glasnost made it possible to fill in the "blank spots" in the history of Ukraine, and the growing political freedom made it possible to rehabilitate dissident groups and create cultural organizations with a national focus. The turning point in public life was the formation of Rukh at the end of 1989 and the removal of V.V. Shcherbitsky from power. In 1990, the former secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, L.M. Kravchuk, was appointed chairman of the presidium of the cosmetically updated Supreme Council, which included 25% of deputies from national and democratic movements elected in semi-free elections in 1990. On July 16, 1990, Ukraine declared its sovereignty. This term meant independence for the nationalists, and autonomy for the communists. November 21, 1990 Ukraine and the RSFSR signed an agreement on sovereignty and non-interference in each other's internal affairs. While the union government continued to disintegrate, Ukraine, the RSFSR and other republics were engaged in negotiations with Gorbachev about the form of the future union. After the failed coup on August 24, 1991, Ukraine declared independence. A few days later, the Communist Party of Ukraine was banned and its property confiscated. A popular independence referendum was held on 1 December; about 90% of those who voted supported the Declaration of Independence. Most of the world's countries recognized Ukraine over the next few months. The Ukrainian Republic became a member of the Council for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the International Monetary Fund, the NATO Advisory Council and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. December 8, 1991 Ukraine created with Russian Federation and Belarus Commonwealth independent states(CIS). However, immediately after that, tensions arose between Ukraine and Russia. The Russian Federation took over practically all the property of the Soviet state; at the same time some Russian politicians demanded the annexation of the Donbass and Crimea to Russia (the latter was conquered by Russia from Turkey in 1783 and transferred to Ukraine by N.S. Khrushchev in 1954). The Ukrainian government responded to these demands by taking steps to create its own army and navy. Despite the signing of a number of agreements, relations between the Russian Federation and Ukraine remained very tense, especially after the election of Yuri Meshkov, a supporter of the separation of Crimea from Ukraine, as president of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in 1994. After the signing of a tripartite agreement between the presidents of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the United States (1994), Ukraine began to transfer nuclear weapon to Russia. As a result of this relationship between Ukraine and the United States and countries Western Europe improved. Ukraine has established closer economic and political ties with Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. On December 1, 1991, L.M. Kravchuk was elected President of Ukraine (60% of the votes were cast for him). When the presidential re-elections took place in June 1994, they were won by former Prime Minister L.D. Kuchma, who proposed a moderate political program(52% of votes). Kuchma began his tenure as president with promises to begin implementing economic and political reforms, create a market economy and strengthen democratic institutions of power. Although the beginning of reforms was announced in the fall of 1994, progress in their implementation turned out to be insignificant due to the lack of legislative framework and corruption at all levels of government. Elections to a new parliament in March 1998 did little to change the political situation. Out of 450 seats, left-wing radicals and left-centrists (122 communists, socialists, the Peasant Party, the Union bloc) took more than 200 seats, centrists and right-centrists - about 130 (including the presidential People's Democratic Party and Rukh), right - 6 and independent - more than 110 seats. On April 19, 1999, the composition of deputies from the main parties was as follows (indicating the number of those who left): KPU - 122 (1), NDP - 53 (39), "Rukh" (Kostenko) - 30 (18), "Rukh" (Chornovil) - 16 (0), SDPU - 27 (5), Revival of regions - 27 (1), SPU - 24 (13), Gromada - 28 (17). In July 1997, Ukraine signed a charter that defined "special" relations between Ukraine and NATO. Relations with Russia improved in 1997 thanks to new economic agreements and the achievement of an acceptable partition solution. Black Sea Fleet. In November 1999, Leonid Kuchma was re-elected President of Ukraine.

Collier Encyclopedia. - Open Society. 2000 .

See what "UKRAINE. HISTORY" is in other dictionaries:

State in east. parts of Europe. The name Ukraine in the meaning of outskirts, border territory was first mentioned in the annals under 1187. Initially, it denoted part of the southwest. lands Ancient Russia, mainly the Middle Dnieper, the territory of Galicia ... Geographic Encyclopedia

History of Rus or Little Russia History of Rus or Little Russia Author: Archbishop of Belarus Georgy Konisky Genre: history Original language: Russian Original published by ... Wikipedia

History of the Rus or Little Russia History of the Rus or Little Russia

History of Rus or Little Russia ... Wikipedia

Ukrainian Republic, a state in Eastern Europe. In the south it is washed by the waters of the Black and Seas of Azov; in the east and northeast it borders with the Russian Federation, in the north with Belarus, in the west with Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, in the south ... ... Collier Encyclopedia

History of Ukraine ... Wikipedia

Historia de la nacion chichimeca

History of relations between Russia and Ukraine- The history of Ukraine is closely connected with the history of Russia. In the IX - XII centuries. most of territories of Kievan Rus was part of the early feudal Old Russian state. In the XII century. on the territory of Southwestern Russia stood out Kiev, Chernigov ... Encyclopedia of newsmakers

When did Ukraine emerge, as a state, in fact? With clear boundaries, its own capital and other attributes of independence. Look at the pictures and see the inexorability of history.

Maybe Ukraine originated in antiquity? 3-2 century BC:

Oops. Some Roxolans. Sarmatia. Or is it them?

Or maybe at the very end of that era?

Oh Scythians. It is Ukraine? Yes, probably. There is one common letter in the name - this is I))) No, not that ...

Maybe in the 600s of our era?

Bulgars, go away nasty. This is Ukraine! It can't be, somewhere here, well, there must be Ukrainians.

But, probably ... The formation of the state of Russia. Come on, there should be Ukraine inside ...

Again no. This mess. I will complain..

And this is about 1054-1132. When a path arose from the Varangians to the Greeks, that is, a great transit and the rapid creation of a powerful state. But no, not Ukraine again) But why is it so unlucky ...

1237. I'll take a magnifying glass, somewhere here there is definitely Ukraine. Where are you, the most most country?

There is Kyiv, Chernihiv. And the states of Ukraine - nope ... Oh, what do I see here - the Galician Volyn principality? So maybe Ukraine is not Ukraine, but Galicia?

By 1252, this is how there was no Ukraine either:

And here Galitsinskoe! state. Oh well then yes.

Let's continue looking for Ukraine as a state, but already from 1200 to 1920, when it was formed as a republic of the USSR.

1. In the 12th century, a terrible fragmentation of the Russian lands began. The strife led to the weakening of the defense against the horde. No Ukraine, of course, no. And even Kyiv land, as we see on the map, is NOT a STATE!:

2. Territory of the Horde, or Tatar-Mongol invasion or simply the enslavement of 1243-1438. Highlighted in yellow:

3. And this is the Principality of Lithuania at the beginning of the 13th century. Further it will be seen how, due to the fact that Russia held back the Horde, it will crawl to the Black Sea. This is what strife leads to. That is, what can expect Ukraine today.

4. This is the whole Principality of Lithuania in the 13th-15th centuries. Maybe Ukraine is Lithuania? European Union)))

5. This is in 1387 Lithuania together with Poland:

6. And in 1600, Poland already occupied Lithuania. Ay yayay) But it didn’t work from sea to sea. I couldn't):

7. Territory!, not the country of Ukraine, which passed to Russia according to the Andrusovsky truce with Poland, in 1667.

8. Here on the Polish map even lands are indicated, like Ukraine. Also 1667. By the way, part of it is in Poland, part in Russia. But on it is the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks:

9. Map of 1695. There are no major changes. I mean the lands of Ukraine:

10. It's more interesting here. In 1772-1795, Russia, Prussia and Austria tore Poland apart in three steps. Under the root. In a red circle for the years that Russia departed:

11. And in 1807, Napoleon recreated Poland in order to infringe on Prussia, the future Germany. That's no luck for her. But Russia - Ukraine again returned to Kyiv, section along the Dnieper:

12. It did not last long. Everything came back in 1815. Like children, by God. Just to kill people.

It is hard to see on the map, look along the Dnieper River.

Ukraine is the most large state on the territory of Europe. Although some historians claim that the country is the cradle of European culture and has been around for centuries, this is not true. The formation of Ukraine as a state actually took place 23 years ago. This is a young country that is just learning to live independently, without anyone's support. Of course, Ukraine has its own centuries-old history, but still there is no mention of the country as a full-fledged state. Scythians, Sarmatians, Turkic peoples, Russians, Cossacks once lived on this territory. All of them in one way or another influenced the development of the country.

Ancient history

You need to start with the fact that the word "Ukraine" in translation from Old Russian means "outskirts", that is, no man's land, borderland. These territories were also called the "wild field". The first mention of the Black Sea steppes date back to the 7th century BC, when the Scythians settled there. They are described in the Old Testament as an unmerciful and cruel nomadic people. In 339 BC. e. the Scythians were defeated in battle with Philip of Macedon, the beginning of their end.

For four centuries, the Black Sea region was dominated by the Sarmatians. These were kindred nomadic tribes who migrated from the Lower Volga region. In the 2nd century A.D. e. The Sarmatians were pushed back by the Turkic peoples. In the 7th century, Slavs began to settle on the banks of the Dnieper, who at that time were called Rusichs. That is why the lands they occupied were called Kievan Rus. Some researchers argue that the formation of Ukraine as a state took place in 1187. This is not entirely true. At that time, only the term “Ukraine” appeared, which meant nothing more than the outskirts of Kievan Rus.

Tartar raids

At one time, the lands of modern Ukraine were subjected to raids. Rusichs tried to develop rich, fertile lands Great Steppe, but the constant robberies and murders did not allow to bring the plan to the end. For many centuries, the Tatars posed a great threat to the Slavs. Huge territories remained uninhabited only for the reason that they were adjacent to the Crimea. The Tatars carried out raids because they needed to somehow support their own economy. They were engaged in cattle breeding, but it did not give a big profit. The Tatars robbed their Slavic neighbors, took young and healthy people prisoner, then exchanging slaves for finished Turkish products. Volyn, Kiev region and Galicia suffered the most from the Tatar raids.

The settlement of fertile lands

Grain growers and landowners were well aware of the benefits that could be derived from fertile free territories. Despite the fact that there was a threat of an attack by the Tatars, rich people appropriated the steppes, built settlements, thus attracting peasants to themselves. The landowners had their own army, thanks to which they maintained order and discipline in the territories they controlled. They provided the peasants with land for use, and in return they demanded the payment of dues. The grain trade brought untold wealth to the Polish magnates. The most famous were Koretsky, Pototsky, Vishnevetsky, Konetspolsky. While the Slavs labored in the fields, the Poles lived in luxurious palaces, basking in wealth.

Cossack period

The freedom-loving Cossacks, who began to populate the free steppes at the end of the 15th century, sometimes thought of the creation of a state. Ukraine could be a haven for robbers and vagabonds, because it was they who originally inhabited this territory. People who wanted to be free came to the deserted outskirts, so the bulk of the Cossacks were farm laborers who fled from pan slavery. Also here came the townspeople and priests-cutters in search of a better life. Among the Cossacks there were people of noble origin, they were mainly looking for adventure and, of course, wealth.

The gangs consisted of Russians, Poles, Belarusians and even Tatars, they accepted absolutely everyone. Initially, these were the most common robber gangs who robbed the Tatars and Turks and lived on the stolen goods. Over time, they began to build sichs - fortified camps, in which a military garrison was always on duty. They returned there from their trips.

Some historians believe that 1552 is the year Ukraine was formed as a state. In fact, at that time, the famous one of which the Ukrainians are so proud arose. But she was not a prototype modern state. In 1552, the Cossack gangs were united, and their fort was built on the island of Malaya Khortitsa. All this was done by Vishnevetsky.

Although initially the Cossacks were ordinary robbers who robbed the Turks for their own benefit, over time they began to protect the settlements of the Slavs from the raids of the Tatars, freed their fellow countrymen from captivity. To Turkey, this freedom-loving brethren seemed like a punishment from heaven. Cossacks on their seagulls (long, narrow boats) silently swam to the shores of the enemy country and suddenly attacked the strongest fortifications.

The state of Ukraine wanted to create one of the most famous hetmans - Bogdan Khmelnitsky. This ataman waged a grueling struggle with the Polish army, dreaming of the independence and freedom of all fellow countrymen. Khmelnitsky understood that he alone could not cope with the Western enemy, so he found a patron in the person of the Moscow Tsar. Of course, after that, the bloodshed in Ukraine ended, but it never became independent.

Fall of tsarism

The emergence of Ukraine as a state would have been possible immediately after the overthrow of the Romanov dynasty from the throne. Unfortunately, local politicians did not have enough strength, intelligence, and, most importantly, solidarity to bring their plan to the end and make their country independent. Kyiv learned about the fall of tsarism on March 13, 1917. In just a few days, Ukrainian politicians created the Central Rada, but ideological limitations and inexperience in such matters prevented them from holding power in their hands.

According to some reports, the formation of Ukraine as a state took place on November 22, 1917. It was on this day that the Central Rada promulgated the Third Universal, proclaiming itself the highest authority. True, at that time she had not yet decided to break all ties with Russia, so Ukraine temporarily became an autonomous republic. Perhaps such caution by politicians was unnecessary. Two months later, the Central Rada decided to form a state. Ukraine was proclaimed an independent and completely independent country from Russia.

Interaction with Austrians and Germans

The period when Ukraine appeared as a state was not easy. For this reason, the Central Rada was forced to ask for support and protection from European countries. On February 18, 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, according to which Ukraine was to carry out mass food supplies to Europe, and in return received recognition of independence and military support.

The Austrians and Germans brought troops into the territory of the state in a short period of time. Unfortunately, Ukraine could not fulfill its part of the terms of the agreement, so at the end of April 1918 the Central Rada was dissolved. On April 29, Pavel Skoropadsky began to rule the country. The formation of Ukraine as a state was given to the people with great difficulty. The trouble is that the country did not have good rulers who could defend the independence of the controlled territories. Skoropadsky did not last even a year in power. Already on December 14, 1918, he fled in disgrace along with the allied German troops. Ukraine was thrown to the mercy, European countries never recognized its independence and did not provide support.

The coming to power of the Bolsheviks

The beginning of the 1920s brought a lot of grief to Ukrainian homes. The Bolsheviks created a system of rigid economic measures in order to somehow stop the collapse of the economy and save the newly formed state. Ukraine suffered the most from the so-called “war communism”, because its territories were a source of agricultural products. Accompanied by armed detachments, officials went around the villages and took grain from the peasants by force. It got to the point that freshly baked bread was taken from the houses. Naturally, such an atmosphere did not contribute to an increase in agricultural production, the peasants simply refused to work.

Drought was added to all the misfortunes. The famine of 1921-1922 claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians. The government was well aware that it was not advisable to use the whip method further. Therefore, the law on the NEP (new economic policy). Thanks to him, by 1927, the area of ​​cultivated land had increased by 10%. During this period, the real formation of the state is noted. Ukraine is slowly forgetting about the horrors civil war, hunger, dispossession. Prosperity returns to the homes of Ukrainians, so they begin to treat the Bolsheviks more condescendingly.

Voluntary-compulsory entry into the USSR

At the end of 1922, in Moscow, they thought about the unification of Russia, Belarus and the Transcaucasian republics in order to create more stable ties. Until the time when Ukraine was formed as a state, there were some seven decades left. On December 30, 1922, representatives of all the Soviet republics approved the unification plan, thus the USSR was created.

Theoretically, any of the republics had the right to withdraw from the union, but for this it had to obtain consent communist party. In practice, gaining independence was very difficult. The party was centralized and controlled from Moscow. Ukraine in terms of area occupied the second place among all the republics. The city of Kharkov was chosen as the capital. When answering the question about when Ukraine was formed as a state, it should be noted the 20s of the twentieth century, because it was then that the country acquired territorial and administrative borders.

Renewal and development of the country

Breathed life into Ukraine. During this time, 400 new enterprises appeared, the country accounted for about 20% of all capital investments. In 1932, the Dnepropetrovsk hydroelectric power station was built, which at that time became the largest in Europe. Thanks to the labor of the workers, the Kharkov Tractor Plant, the Zaporozhye Metallurgical Plant, and many Donbas factories appeared. Behind a short time a huge number of economic transformations have been made. In order to improve discipline and increase efficiency, competitions were introduced in early implementation plan. The government singled out the best workers and awarded them the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.

Ukraine during World War II

In the period 1941-1945. Millions of people died in the country. Most Ukrainians fought on the side Soviet Union, but this does not apply to Western Ukraine. In this territory other moods prevailed. According to the militants of the OUN, the divisions of the SS "Galicia", Ukraine was supposed to become independent from Moscow. The history of the formation of the state could be completely different if the Nazis still won. It is hard to believe that the Germans would have given Ukraine independence, but nevertheless, with promises, they managed to win over about 220,000 Ukrainians to their side. Even after the end of the war, these armed formations continued to exist.

Life after Stalin

Death Soviet leader brought with her new life for millions of people living in the USSR. The new ruler was Nikita Khrushchev, who was closely connected with Ukraine and, of course, patronized it. During his reign, she reached a new level of development. It was thanks to Khrushchev that Ukraine received the Crimean peninsula. How the state arose is another matter, but it formed its administrative-territorial boundaries precisely in the Soviet Union.

Then Leonid Brezhnev, also a native of Ukraine, came to power. After the short reign of Andropov and Chernenko, Mikhail Gorbachev took the helm. It was he who decided to radically change the stagnant economy and Soviet system generally. Gorbachev had to overcome the conservatism of society and the party. Mikhail Sergeevich always called for publicity and tried to be closer to the people. People began to feel freer, but still, even under Gorbachev, the communists completely controlled the army, police, Agriculture, industry, the KGB, followed the media.

gaining independence

The date of formation of Ukraine as a state is known to everyone - it is August 24, 1991. But what preceded this? significant event? On March 17, 1991, a poll was held, thanks to which it became clear that Ukrainians are not at all against sovereignty, the main thing is that it does not subsequently worsen their living conditions. The Communists tried in every possible way to keep power in their hands, but it inevitably eluded them.

On August 19, 1991, the reactionaries isolated Mikhail Gorbachev in the Crimea, while in Moscow they themselves tried to seize the initiative by declaring a state of emergency and forming the State Emergency Committee. But the communists failed. On August 24, 1991, when Ukraine appeared as a state, the Verkhovna Rada declared the independence of the country. And after 5 days, the activity of the Communist Party was banned by Parliament. On December 1 of the same year, Ukrainians supported the Act of Independence in a referendum and elected their first president, Leonid Kravchuk.

For many years, the formation of Ukraine as a state took place. The map of the country changed frequently. Many territories were annexed in the Soviet Union, this applies to Western Ukraine, part of the Odessa region and Crimea. The main task of Ukrainians is to preserve the modern administrative-territorial borders. True, it is difficult to do so. So, the third president of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko in 2009 gave part A to Romania. In 2014, Ukraine lost its pearl - the Crimean peninsula, which passed to Russia. Whether the country will be able to keep its territories intact and remain independent, only time will tell.