Modern economic POTENTIAL OF UKRAINE

Ukrainian History in Brief

Ancient Ukrainian history

The first man appeared on the territory of modern Ukraine more than 300,000 years ago. The Tripillian culture (the 4-3^rd millennia BC) of the Copper-Bronze age is considered one of the most ancient archaeological cultures.

About the year 1500 BC, Ukrainian territory hosted the first nomadic tribes. One of the first nomadic groups belonged to the Cimmerian culture (the ninth-seventh centuries BC). In the seventh century BC, the Scythians, Iranian-speaking people, from Central Asia forced the Cimmerian tribes away from the Ukrainian steppes. Simultaneously, ancient Greeks established their first colonies in the North-Western Black Sea region. The Scythians founded the first centralized state on the territory of Ukraine. Around 200 BC, the Scythians were forced out by the Sarmats.

In the third century AD, Ukraine was occupied by the Goths. In 375, the Goths were defeated by the Huns and migrated westward. The Huns suffered several defeats from the Romans and their allies, which caused its fast break-up and finally led to its disintegration.

Soon after the Hun invasion, control over Ukrainian territory shifted to the Slavic tribes of the Anths. After that, a major part of Ukrainian territory fell under rule of Khazar Khaganate.

Kiev Rus

In the year 882, Oleg, the Prince of Novhorod, killed Prince Askold and Prince Dir and ascended to the Kiev throne. He became the ruler of the Kievan Rus, the first state of Old Slavs. Kiev became his capital and was proclaimed to be the political center of Rus. Prince Oleg (as well as his successors) became greatly concerned about the consolidation of several tribes around Kiev. As a result, at the end of the tenth century, all East-Slav tribes and many non-Slavic people were under the dominion of Kievan Rus, which spread from the Black Sea to the White Sea, from the Carpathians to the Volga River.

Christianity was officially introduced as a state religion to the Kievan Rus only in 988 by Prince Volodymyr Sviatoslavych.

Military campaigns of Kiev Princes played an important part in the expansion of the Kievan Rus and its assertion of power over surrounding people.

The creation of the Old Rus nation-state took place during the reign of Prince Sviatoslav's son, Prince Volodymyr (978-1015). During his reign, the state was strengthened and the authority of the Prince's rule increased considerably.

The process of forming the Old Rus State finished in the beginning of the eleventh century under Yaroslav Mudriy (the Wise). During Yaroslav the Wise’s rule, the Kievan Rus was at its height.

Unfortunately, the Prince's successors were involved in many feuds that inevitably broke the unity of the Rus state. It was not until the early twelfth century that Volodymyr Monomakh (1113-1125) managed to stop these feuds, for a while. Under his reign, Kiev’s authority as the capital was once again increased and the authority of the Kiev Prince expanded to major principalities and over other princes.

From the 1130s, the Old Rus state began fracturing, never to be united again. For several years, the territory of this powerful state was separated into several independent principalities, whose owners did not stop military conflicts until the mid-thirteenth century.

Feudal disintegration of Old Rus lands left its mark on political, socio-economic and cultural development, but also introduced certain innovations to geographical definitions of the state. In particular, the Kiev Chronicle of 1187 had first coined the term "Ukraine" to define the southern area of Rus lands (Kiev, Pereiaslav and Chernigov provinces). After some time, this name was also applied to Galychyna, Volyn and Podolye. Despite several attempts to unite principalities separated by boundaries, which took place during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Kievan Rus weakened economically and politically by 1237 and suffered the attacks from the Mongol-Tatar Hordes of Batyi. The Horde ultimately controlled the lands of Ukraine continued for more than two centuries.

Galytsian-Volynian Principality

After the fall of the Old Rus state in the twelfth century into separate regional states, in 1199 principalities with common economic and cultural conditions and political and economic relations united to form the Galytsian-Volynian state under the reign of Galytsian Prince Roman, a descendant of Volodymyr Monomakh.

After the death of Roman Mstyslavych, boyars succeeded in excommunicating his sons: Danylo and Vasylko. As a result of a liberating war initiated by Danylo Galytskyi the Galytsian-Volynian principality restored its state independence and territorial unity. By the end of the 1230s, Danylo Galytskyi managed to secure neighborly relations by marrying his son to the daughter of Bela IX, the Hungarian King. In 1254-1255, he succeeded in gaining a number of victories over the Horde armies and in driving them away - outside the boundaries of Ukraine.

In 1253, Pope Innokentyi IX crowned Danylo Galytskyi in the town of Droghobych. Territorial possessions of the principality increased considerably in the thirteenth century under the descendants of Danylo Romanovych. In particular, the lands of Lublin and a part of Transcarpathia were added to the principality. The Galytsian-Volynian Prince also controlled the lands of Lithuania for a short time. Notwithstanding partial economic and political dependence on the Golden Horde, the principality’s leaders managed to keep to their own foreign policy. However, constant struggle with foreign and home enemies gradually exhausted and weakened the Galytsian-Volynian principality, and its enemies did not hesitate to take advantage of the situation. In the end of the fourteenth century, state’s lands were divided between Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, and Moldavia.

As Part of Great Lithuanian Principality and Rich Pospolyta

The military-political movement of Lithuania and Poland into Ukrainian lands began in the 1330s and 1340s, when the Lithuanian Grand Duke Liubard conquered Volyn. Allocation of the Galytsian-Volynian principality’s lands between the two foreign states was completed following the Lithuanian-Polish War of 1351-1352, after which Galychyna came under the power of the Polish King (later on, the West Volynian, Kholmian and Belzian lands also came under the Polish crown). Podolye, Kiev, Siver and Pereiaslav provinces became parts of Lithuania under Liubard's successor, Grand Duke Olgerd. Forced to resist the onset of German Knights and Golden Horde Khans, as well as opposition at home, the Lithuanian and Polish governments created an international union, validated by marriage. The Union foresaw the incorporation of the Great Lithuanian Principality to Polish Kingdom.

However, soon the Lithuanian-Catholic element began dominating the entire state. Naturally, this brought about resistance from the aristocracy. A number of revolts took place on Ukrainian lands in the late fifteenth to early sixteenth centuries.

Cossacks

The appearance of Cossacks in the late fifteenth century played a major part in the historical fate of Ukraine. In the mid-sixteenth century, the Cossacks created their own military-political organization: Zaporizhian Sich. It originally had a military-administrative system based on the principles of Cossack democracy. The Cossacks founded specific political institutions such as military councils and the Zaporizhian Army Kish and higher executive-legislative organs with their own legal proceedings. K. Kosynskyi and S. Nalyvaiko led the Cossacks in the first great revolts. They took fortresses, liberated towns and villages, and their law became firmly established in the Kiev, Volyn, and Bratslav provinces.

In 1633 the Polish government, influenced by revolts, legalized the existence of the Orthodox Church (of which Petro Mohyla was the Metropolitan). However, in 1638 the Warsaw court abolished the privileges that were claimed by the Cossacks. Among these Cossack privileges were internal legislation, the appointment of officers by election and the limitation of register.

Defeats to Cossack rebellions of the sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries made the grave position of Ukraine worse. Cossack leaders, thousands of rebellious Cossacks and peasants were put to death and their lands were redistributed. The "gold tranquility", which prevailed in the early part of the seventeenth century, proved tranquil only for Polish magnates and squires who had not learned lessons from the events of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. A gradual accumulation of power before a decisive conflict by the powerful state forces of Rich Pospolyta took place.

The Liberating War in the mid-XVII Century

The Liberating War began in February 1648 after the Sich was conquered by rebels and Bohdan Khmelnytskyi (1595-1657) was elected as the Hetman of the Zaporizhian Army. Two processes had been distinctly crystallized at the beginning of the Liberating War: state formation and a complete change in the principal model of socio-economic relations. This period embraced the triumphal wins of the Cossack Army in 1648, liberation of vast territories of Ukraine from the reign of Polish squires (battles under Korsun and Zhovti Vody), defeat of Poles under Pyliavtsi and a raid by the Cossack Army in the vicinities of Lvov and Zamostia.

During June-November 1648, the process of forming national state institutions was mainly completed in the central, southern and eastern regions while in the western regions they were in the process of intensive formation. Old administrative divisions were replaced with a new regiment – sotnia, courts and judicial procedures were introduced, and a National Army was formed. The Liberating War opened up the possibility for peasants and townsmen to become fully privileged Cossacks who had a lot of rights and privileges at that time.

The period 1649 to 1652 was characterized by active efforts of the young state to firmly establish itself in the world arena.

However, extremely unfavorable geopolitical situations interfered with Khmelnytskyi's plans. In order to avoid union of the Crimean Khan Islam Hirey with the King of Poland, Hetman Yan Kazymir made the Zboriv agreement in August 1649. The latter, though recognizing the existence of the Cossack state, limited its territory to Bratslav, Kiev and Chernigov provinces. At the same time, it abolished a number of social rights for the Ukrainian people. In response, the Cossacks and peasants took up arms once again. Mass revolts in a number of regions took place for much of 1650. The threat of civil war was avoided because of Khmelnytskyi's social policy.

The ruling circles of Rich Pospolyta tended to decide problems with the Ukrainians through war. In February 1651, the Polish Army moved on the offensive. The Ukrainian army suffered a defeat at the town of Berestechko. A new agreement was signed in September 1651 in Belaya Tserkov. The terms of this agreement greatly limited Ukrainian autonomy.

However, a strong patriotic spirit prevailed in Ukraine. Khmelnytskyi mobilized the army and won a great victory in a battle near the settlement of Batih against the Polish Army on May 23, 1652. Nearly all of Ukrainian territory was liberated from Polish oppression.

However, in 1653, creation of an anti-Ukraine coalition significantly worsened Ukraine’s position. In the opinion of Khmelnytskyi, orientation to the Moscow state would bring about irreversible changes to Ukraine. After long-term negotiations, Ukraine consented to succeed to the protectorate of Moscow. On October 1, 1653 a corresponding resolution was passed by the Zemstvo Council. On January 8, 1654 the Pereiaslav Rada decided the Zaporizhian Army was subject rule by the Moscow Tsar.

This agreement provided for preservation of the Ukrainian political system, army, model of socio-economic relations and rights for making independent domestic policies. Partial control was established only over its foreign-political activities and tax policy. The agreement of 1654 ratified the creation of a confederation - a military union. However, as a part of monarchic Moscow, the Ukrainian state was deprived of prospects for its own development.

After 1654, a new stage in the course of the Liberating War against Rich Pospolyta began. The military campaign from the autumn of 1654 to winter of 1655 resulted in awful ravages to the Bratslav province. Hetman Khmelnytskyi began searching for allies among other countries. He succeeded in improving relations with Crimea and Turkey, modified relations with Transylvania, and created an important alliance with Sweden.

The Hetman's influence on state affairs weakened due to poor health. Meanwhile, the Tsar's instituted measures to limit the autonomous rights of Ukraine. During the most critical period of this time, Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytskyi died on July 27, 1657.

The Ukrainian state during the late XVII century

The Ukrainian state Khmelnytskyi created had a great potential for independence. However, these potentials were not realized for many reasons. In the late seventeenth century, domestic problems tore Ukrainian society apart became more defined as a result of Russian policy. Brutal struggles between hetmans and claimants of the Hetmate broke out immediately after Khmelnytskyi's death. The country was drawn into a vortex of civil war, political crisis, and economic displacement for many years.

New Hetman I. Vyhovskyi (?-1664) pursued a course to creating an oligarchic republic and gradually lost the support of a large number of Cossacks. During the civil war, which began in Ukraine in the spring of 1658, Vyhovskyi looked for support from the Tatar Horde to smash the rising Cossacks and also renewed allied relations with Rich Pospolyta. The Hadiach agreement of September 16, 1658, provided for the return of Cossack Ukraine to the Polish crown as an independent autonomy. Changes in the course of foreign policy created a precedent for splitting the state. Tendencies of the Ukraine’s Left Bank to be oriented with Moscow, and the Right Bank Ukraine to be oriented with Rich Pospolyta became more profound during this time.

Hetman Yuriy (about 1641-1685), a son of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi, could not prevent increasing troubles. The Chudnivsk agreement, which he made during the military campaign of 1660, practically recognized the validity of the Hadiach agreement. In 1663, deprived of real political support, Yuriy Khmelnytskyi abdicated. The Hetman's mace in Left Bank Ukraine, supported by the Tatars, came to the hands of P. Teteria. Near the city of Nizhyn in 1663, the so-called Chorna Rada (the Black Council) elected the Cossacks' chief, I. Briukhovetskyi (?-1668), to be Hetman. From then on, Cossack Ukraine was divided into two Hetmanates. The complete distribution of Ukraine’s territory between two states was confirmed by the Andrusiv truce of 1667 between the Moscow State and Rich Pospolyta. The Left Bank and Kiev with its surrounding territory stayed with Moscow, the Right Bank remained under Poland and Zaporozhye was subject to both states. Some time later, the territorial agreement was confirmed by clauses of the so-called "Eternal" peace of 1686.

The prospect of the territorial consolidation of the Left and Right Banks became most visible during the reign of P. Doroshenko (1627-1698). To achieve this aim, he began fighting with Poles, made an agreement with the Tatars, negotiated with representatives of the Moscow Tsar and Hetman I. Briukhovetskyi. He succeeded in uniting both the territories under his mace for a short time. But the interference of Russia and Rich Pospolyta, which led extended campaigns against the Hetman, made his victory an unstable one. Cossacks' Ukraine was drawn into a new vortex of political struggle and civil wars. In the beginning of July 1668, P. Doroshenko had to leave Left Bank Ukraine and in March 1669, the Cossacks' Council in Glukhiv elected D. Mnohohrishnyi (?-1696), to be Hetman of Left Bank Ukraine. The agreement he had with the Moscow government essentially limited the sovereignty of the Ukrainian state.

Then, in Pereiaslav, I. Samoilovich was elected Hetman of Cossacks' Ukraine "on both sides of the Dnepr." He succeeded in holding the Hetman's mace for fifteen years. Samoilovich also created an aristocratic state under the strong central power of the Hetman.

Right-Bank Western Ukrainian Lands During the XVIII Century

Almost until the end of the thirteenth century, the Left Bank was a part of Rich Pospolyta. The spoils of the Liberation War of the mid-seventeenth century were gradually abolished and the prewar regime was renewed. However, certain elements of state-created traditions remained an important part of socio-political life. In the early eighteenth century, there were Cossack regiments in the Right Bank Dnepr area. Unfortunately, the international situation was not favorable for the Right Bank Cossacks. Poland soon established its power over the Right Bank.

The situation was the same in Eastern Galychyna. Royal authorities acted within its boundaries. Polish lords owned great land estates that included hundreds of towns and villages. Only cities (Kamianets-Podilskyi and Lviv) had self-government rights. The Union was still introduced in West Ukrainian regions. In the early eighteenth century it was adapted by Lviv and Lutsk bishops as well as by other church hierarchies. The Transcarpathian region was still a part of Hungary and Northern Bukovyna was under the reign of the Moldavian principality, the vassal of Turkey. Foreign ethnic political institutions and right standards were in force there.

Considerable changes occurred in the political condition of Western Ukrainian lands in the late eighteenth century. As a result of the first Polish defeat (1771), almost all of Galychyna and the western part of Volyn and Podillye were conquered by Austria. Those lands were unified with some Polish provinces into the "Kingdom of Galychyna and Lodomeria." Other territories were gained by Austria after the third fall of Poland (1795). Northern Bukovyna was also occupied by Austria. In 1774 Vienna troops occupied the whole territory (in 1775 these Austrian gains were affirmed by the Constantinople convention). Transcarpathia, which preserved the traditional divisions into comitates, remained under the reign of the Hapsburg monarchy.

In the end of the eighteenth century, Austrian Emperors introduced a number of reforms, which limited the power of landlords over peasants, canceled the peasants' personal dependence on landlords and liquidated certain duties. Certain indulgences were also made in the spiritual and linguistic spheres. Unfortunately, these progressive actions by the Austrian government came to an end in the future.

Revolts never stopped in Right Bank Ukraine. A great peasants' rebellion erupted in 1702-1704. The rebels crushed the Polish Army in the Kiev province, Podillye and Volyn. Right Bank rebels had the help of Cossacks from Zaporozhye and Left Bank Ukraine, and people from Moldavia, Byelorussia, and Valakhia. This "people's rebellion" was suppressed. However, the so-called movement of Haidamaks rose in the region. Small, yet extremely mobile squadrons of Haidamaks attacked the landlords' estates, merchants' caravans, separate tenants, etc. The Haidamak movement continued until the mid-1770s.

The great people's revolt began in Right Bank Ukraine in 1768 and was known as "Koliivshchyna." However, despite certain achievements this rebellion was stifled.

In the second half of the eighteenth century, Rich Pospolyta went through a period of decline. As a result of the fall of Rich Pospolyta, the Right Bank belonged to Russia. Later on, the Volyn and Byelorussia also became a part of Russia. However, the issue of reuniting all Ukrainian lands was not completely fulfilled. They became parts of the Russian and Austrian empires. Next came decades of political disconnection, statelessness and the national persecution of Ukrainians.

The Left-Bank Hetmanate

The beginning of the eighteenth century was marked by complications to the domestic and foreign political situation of Left Bank Ukraine. A northern war between Russia and Sweden resulted in increased economic pressure to this part of Ukraine.

Ivan Mazepa (1644-1709), who was elected Hetman in 1687, seized on the opportunity of the Sweden invasion in Ukraine to take a risky step. Together with his confederates and four thousand Cossacks he united with the army of Karl XII in October 1708. An agreement was soon made between Ukraine and Sweden, which provided for complete independence of Ukraine from "all foreign possession." Unfortunately, the general Ukrainian public, which had not been sufficiently informed about the Hetman's intentions, did not support his plans to provoke a rebellion against Peter I. Ivan Mazepa was declared a traitor and his name was anathematized. By the Tsar's command, the officers elected I. Skoropadskyi (1646-1722) as the new Hetman. During the elections of I. Skoropadskyi (1708), Peter I refused to sign traditional agreement articles between Russia and Ukraine. The new Hetman was practically deprived of the right to make independent decisions.

After the defeat of the Swedish Army near Poltava in June 1709 and the capitulation of Karl XII and his allies, the offensive of tsarism against the autonomy of the Hetmanate was executed much quicker. The highest state posts in the Hetman's administration were given to people devoted to Peter I. First, Russian landlords appeared in Ukraine (as they were the closest fellow warriors of the Russian emperor), and then middle gentry appeared. In 1709, the Zaporizhian Sich was destroyed.

Such a policy, Peter I found resistance in the national elite, where the idea of Ukrainian independence was still alive. In the mid 1720s, P. Polubotok (about 1660-1724), who was appointed Hetman, rose in defense of the Ukrainian national state system. However, his plans were not supported by a demoralized society.

In 1727, Ukrainians elected a new Hetman. D. Apostol (1654-1734) perfected the judicial system and founded the "New Sich." All the activities of the Hetman remained under the control of tsarist loyalists.

In 1750, K. Razumovskyi (1728-1803) was elected as the last Hetman of Ukraine and introduced a number of reforms to the military and judicial system as well as foreign policy. However, Catherine II, disturbed by the increase in Razumovskyi's authority, decided to completely liquidate the hetmanship. A Manifesto of August 3, 1775 proclaimed the liquidation of the Zaporizhian Sich.

Serfdom became law in Ukraine in period of 1783-1796.

Ukraine of the XIX Century

Tsarism pursued a course of Russification of the Eastern Ukrainian population. As a result of such policies by the Russian government, the number of Ukrainians in this area decreased to 80% by the end of the century. In particular, Ukrainians in the urban population did not exceed one third of the total number of people. Intensive industrial production in these agricultural lands, led to strengthening a class of workers as well as the growth of a national bourgeoisie.

In the early XIX century, activities of the Kharkiv romantics - Ukrainian works by M. Hohol - were of great significance for preserving the spirits of the cossacks' victories. In the future, Ivan Franko, Lesya Ukrainka, P. Hrabovskyi and Taras Shevchenko continued the cause.

Activities of such non-legal political organizations such as the Brotherhood of St. Cyril and Methodius (Kiev, 1846) aimed to attain state independence for Ukraine and further develop the liberation movement. Taras Shevchenko also spread national liberation ideas in his poetry.

A new stage of liberation in Ukraine was connected with the activities of narodniks (populists) that spread the ideas of freedom and equality among peasants. Their organizations and influence worked in Kiev, Odessa, Chernihiv and other cities. In general, the beginning of the XX century was marked by considerable provocation toward revolutionary struggle.

In the nineteenth century, the populations of Eastern Galychyna, Northern Bukovina and Transcarpathia (mainly peasants) suffered from economic and social oppression as well as from national restraints. In 1848, the Austro-Hungarian government, influenced by the revolutionary situation in Europe, began reforms directed at improving agrarian relations in the country.

The adoption of the December 1867 constitution guaranteed (at least formally) the equality of nationalities and languages. As a result of splitting up peasants' farms by the end of the nineteenth century, a market of hired manpower was created. Further development of industry was observed in Western Ukrainian lands.

Political parties such as the Rus-Ukrainian radical party, the Ukrainian Social-Democratic Party, the Ukrainian National Democratic Party appeared in the region late in the nineteenth century. The Greek-Catholic church, headed by Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytskyi, became an influential force.

The Ukrainian National Revolution

On February 23, 1917 revolution broke out in Petrohrad. A Council of United Public Organizations appeared on March 4 in Kiev and the Tsentralna Rada (Central Council) was founded. Commissioners of the Provisional Government were given executive powers. Elected committees began functioning in volosts instead of the officers. Mykhailo Hrushevskyi was elected as the Head of the Tsentralna Rada.

The First Universal of the Tsentralna Rada was announced on June 10, 1917 in Kiev. It proclaimed that Ukrainian people had the right to manage their life through the Ukrainian Constituent Assembly on democratic grounds. Some days later, the executive organ of power, the General Secretariat headed by V. Vynnychenko was created.

After the October Revolution in Russia, the Tsentralna Rada issued its Third Universal, where it proclaimed the creation of the Ukrainian Republic (UPR). Impressed by the offensive of Russian troops controlled by Sovnarcom, Tsentralna Rada leaders considered formal separation from Bolshevik dictatorship as their main task. On the night of January 12, 1918 M. Hrushevskyi issued the Fourth Universal of the Tsentralna Rada, which proclaimed independence of the UPR.

On January 27, 1918 the first peace treaty of the world war was signed between the UPR and four states of the German block in Brest-Litovsk. On February 18, German and Austro-Hungarian troops began to occupy Ukraine.

The presence of an occupational army restored a revolutionary situation in Ukraine. The former tsarist General P. Skoropadskyi used these moods to come to power, proclaiming himself Hetman of the “Ukrainian State,” which replaced the UPR. The Hetman’s regime only survived under occupation. On November 12, 1918 a truce was concluded between Germany and the Entente countries, which meant the end of the World War. Immediately after that, heads of the Ukrainian parties decided to organize the Directory to overthrow of the Hetman’s regime and to restore the UPR. The Directory was headed by V. Vynnychenko and its armed forces were subject to S. Petliura. Some weeks later, the Directory took control of all of Ukraine. In November, the armed forces of S. Petliura opposed the troops of Y. Pilsudskyi, who wanted to draw them as far eastward as possible over the undetermined boundary of the renewed Polish state. Red armies of L. Trotskyi were about to invade Ukraine from the north and east and the White Guard of A. Denikin from the south.

In 1919, Polish troops occupied Eastern Galychyna and Western Volyn. At the beginning of January, Soviet Russia began an invasion of the UPR and occupied its capital on February 5. Early in May, S. Petliura and other figures of the UPR emigrated.

In January 1919, the government of Soviet Ukraine refused to recognize control of the Tsentralna Rada (UPR) and established a new one, the Ukrainian Socialist People’s Republic (Ukrainian SSR). Khrystian Rakovskyi headed the government.

A powerful tide of peasant resistance rose in response to the policy of “military communism.” Revolts of ataman Zelenyi (D. Terpylo), Nestor Makhno, and ataman M. Hryhoriev were the greatest.

Anti-Bolshevik peasant revolts deeply influenced the mood of the Red Army, which mainly consisted of peasants, provoked mass desertion and general discipline issues. A. Denikin, a commander of the White Guards Voluntary army, took advantage of the situation. From May to August 1919, the White Guard occupied Ukraine and started a march to Moscow.

Having placed the economy under state control, Russian Bolsheviks created an army that greatly surpassed Denikin’s armed forces. At the beginning of February 1920, the Red Army occupied all of Ukraine.

On the eve of inevitable war with Soviet Russia, Y. Pilsudskyi, head of the Polish state, concluded the Warsaw agreement with S. Petliura. The Pilsuskyi’s government recognized the UPR and refused further expansion of Polish borders behind the line that was already occupied by Pilsudskyi’s troops.

On April 25, 1920 Pilsudskyi began an offensive along the 500 km front using forces from three armies, which accounted for about 150 thousand people. Fifteen thousand of Petliura’s soldiers advanced together with the Poles. On May 6, they occupied Kiev. The counter-offensive to soviet troops started on June 5 soon turned into a broad offensive headed by M. Tukhachevskyi. A truce that was finalized in October fixed allowed the Soviet party to remain Western Ukraine and Western Byelorussia within the boundaries of Poland.

As a part of the USSR

As a result of the Ukrainian peasants mass uprising in the spring of 1921, V. Lenin had to refuse the surplus-appropriation system and to renew free trade. A New Economic Policy (NEP) replaced the old communist one. The transition to NEP proceeded painfully and under pressure of realities of the economic life. The introduction of the NEP in Ukraine was halted by famine in 1921-1922.

The legalization of private trade and currency reform of 1922-1924 drew out enterprises from underground. A new bourgeoisie (tenants, wholesalers, industrialists, commission agents, and brokers) appeared in the country. They quickly saved the country from economic chaos, but the authorities disapproved of them.

The Soviet Union was formed on December 30, 1922. Ukraine changed its status from independent republic to union republic.

In 1927, the 15th Congress of VCP (b) adopted directives making the first five-year plan of development of the national economy for 1928/1929 to 1932/1933, which included a principal decision for complete use of this method to confiscate peasants’ incomes. However, the peasants did not want to sell their products for prices set by the law. A crisis in state grain procurement took place in 1927-1929.

In 1928, Josef Stalin separated peasants from the market and deprived them of production means and prohibited free trade. In November 1919, the decision to collectivize agriculture was made. When peasants refused forced labor, Stalin’s response was famine. During the Holodomor (Famine) in Ukraine in 1932-1933, millions of people starved to death. In the spring of 1933, 17 people died every minute, 1,000 people died every hour and almost 25 thousand people daily.

The constitution of the USSR was adopted on December 5, 1936, and at the end of January 1937, the constitution of the Ukrainian SSR was introduced.

Millions of people died during the mass repression of 1937-1938.

Ukraine in the Second World War

On September 1, the attack by Adolf Hitler on Poland marked the beginning of the Second World War. Almost simultaneously, Stalin attacked Poland from the east and occupied the greatest part of the country’s territory: Western Byelorussia and Western Ukraine. In June 1940, Stalin took Bessarabia, and Northern Bukovyna was annexed by Romania in 1940. Sovietization of newly created western regions began. About 10% of the Western population was repressed and the population sharply felt the lack of freedom the totalitarian regime embraced them with.

On June 22, Germany and its allied powers invaded the Soviet Union from three strategic directions. The Soviet Union suffered a great defeat, which cast doubt on the state’s existence and the fate of its people. Germans considered the territory of Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, as the life space (Lebensraum) for the German people. Mad racist theories of the Fuhrer, which materialized in his “Ost” general plan, were soon realized.

Terror dominated in the land occupied by the Germans, who completely exterminated Jewish and Gipsy populations. In 230 camps for war prisoners, 1,366 million people died, most of whom starved to death. Ostarbeiters, almost 2.4 million, were taken off to work in forced labor camps in Germany. Between 7-8 million people born in Ukraine perished during the war.

Material losses of the USSR during the Second World War surpassed 40% of total expenditures of the confrontational powers. Part of the Ukrainian SSR in the allied union losses surpassed 40%. Ukraine suffered greater material losses than Russia, Germany, France or Poland.

Post-War Years

In the post-war years, Ukraine underwent a complex restoration. Great care was taken to restore railways and coal-metallurgical complexes. During the period of the first postwar five-year plan (1946-1959), Ukrainian industry as a whole achieved the prewar level of production. However, isolation from the surrounding world was evident because Soviet industries lagged considerably behind other leading countries. Success in industrial growth was provided due to low wages and employees based on national income as well as due to nonequivalent exchange between towns and villages. A famine in 1946-1947 took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian peasants.

Total collectivization of agriculture was carried out in western regions during 1948-1949. Its methods were as brutal as those used in eastern regions in 1929-1933. Many tried to resist the state, which expropriated property and made the peasant hired manpower, the boldest went to the forests to detachments of the UPA (Ukrainian Rebel Army). Dissenters in western regions were crushed only in 1952.

After the death of Stalin in March 1953, the political climate started to gradually change in the country. M. Khrushchev played a key role in the political changes. Concentration camps were closed and the victims of Stalin’s repression who survived began returning to Ukraine. The catastrophic situation in agriculture was a concern for the first time. Degradation of productive village labor was stopped through liberal tax policies and pricing.

At the initiative of Khrushchev, the most contemporary enterprises of the rocket, electronic, chemical, ship-building and other branches of industry were constructed in Ukraine, and modern scientific and research institutions were established.

Features of the system crisis of soviet totalitarianism had been distinctly manifested during the times of Khrushchev. At last in October 1964, Khrushchev was dismissed as a result of his machinery conspiracy. The time of L. Brezhnev began: these were two decade of “stagnation.”

“Stagnation” was characterized in Ukraine by development of mining, wasting of natural resources, and the transformation of a lot of area into zones of ecological danger. Ukraine was polluted by waste of the mineral-raw-material industry ten times more extensively than the USSR as a whole. After explosion of the fourth power unit of Chernobyl NPP in April 1986, ecological conditions in the republic grew even worse.

The military-industrial complex exhausted the national economy. A necessity of keeping up with the western countries in the arms race brought the Soviet Union to the brink of economic abyss. It was evident that the USSR had lost the “cold war.”

The Way to Freedom and Independence

Reforms initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev in spring 1985 were first controlled by the state party. However, with the expansion of publicity (“glasnost”), there remained even less people who could find any harmony in relations between the State and society. Communist ideology lost its authority and society was quickly politicized. These processes immediately acquired a national color in Ukraine. In 1989, political strikes burst out in Donbass and the People’s Movement of Ukraine appeared in Kiev.

In March 1990, elections were held for the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR and local councils. A lot of new political figures, adherents to reform, appeared on the scene. On July 16, 1990 the Parliament adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of Ukraine.

On August 24, 1990 an extraordinary session of the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR approved “The Bill Announcing the Independence of Ukraine.”

In the last days of August 1991, they adopted an edict about temporal cessation and then prohibited the activities of the Communist Party of Ukraine. On December 1, 1991, a referendum to confirm “The Bill of Independence Announcement of Ukraine” took place. There was a positive response from 90.3% of the population who took part in the referendum. The elections of the first President of Ukraine were also held. Leonid Kravchuk became the first President of Ukraine. Ukraine became an independent sovereign state acknowledged by the international community.

In 1994-1996, Ukraine got rid of its nuclear weapons and obtained the status of a non-nuclear state. Such changes were accompanied while curtailing Ukraine’s armed forces.

The Constitution of Ukraine was adopted on June 28, 1996 after a long-term political struggle. The Constitution created a strong legislative foundation for regulation of public relations, development of sovereignty and a democratic state.

In June 1994, as a result of free elections power was given to Leonid Kuchma, the new President of Ukraine. In 1999, Leonid Kuchma was re-elected for a second term.

Strengthening of Ukraine as a sovereign state was complicated by difficulties to the transition period, which were especially felt in the sphere of economy. The economic crisis, which was inherited from Soviet times, became worse in following years. At the same time, Ukrainian state authorities openly ignored people’s rights and freedoms and their disregarded the people’s will.

In November 2004, Ukraine witnessed the “Orange Revolution,” which was primarily instigated by falsified results of presidential elections intended to usurp power in the state. Such falsifications caused the indignation of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens, who flooded the squares of cities and towns to protect their rights. As a result, the second round of elections was repeated (it was considered by experts as much more democratic than the two previous rounds), and Viktor Yushchenko became the President of Ukraine. He holds this post to the present day.

The completion of presidential elections in Ukraine marked the beginning of processes, which in the end should lead to complete restoration and formation of a healthy state system immune to the viruses of corruption, autocracy, censorship and any violation of human rights. It was the beginning of a confident movement toward economic prosperity, economic guarantees and respected life for every Ukrainian citizen.

At the same time, new state authorities encountered a great variety of problems and resistance in the sphere of domestic and foreign policy. However, despite a near-crisis in the economy that accompanied the activities of the new government, they managed to liberalize regulatory legislation considerably, ensure transparent privatization processes and laid the foundation for further improvements to the social and economic situation in Ukraine.

Forthcoming important political events, especially parliamentary elections in 2006, will be another trial for the new Ukrainian democracy. For the first time in Ukraine, these elections will be held on a party-membership basis. Previously, Ukraine had a mixed system that embraced representatives from both party-membership lists and majority electoral districts.