The Ukraine history possesses two unique features.
- Kievan Rus' is the predecessor of the three major nationalities - modern Belarusians, Russians, and Ukrainians.
- History of the Kievan Rus and Russia was written by the foreigners. German historians were invited to Russia in 18th century in order to write its history. They created their own theory of Russia's origination, which didn’t reflect real historical facts.
Both of these features became the source of numerous debates around Ukrainian history. We still can hear arguing over the heritage of Kievan Rus. We’re still not sure whether to consider some historical persons as traitors or the greatest Ukrainian patriots of all time.
One can discuss. One can argue. But our past can’t be changed. Ukrainian history has things to be proud of. We look forward to the happy future of the independent Ukraine.
In the Beginning of Ukraine History
Ukraine history.The Pectoral from the Tolstaya Mogila
Source: http://vm.kemsu.ru
Archeological finds show that the earliest settlements in the Dnepr and Dniester valleys appeared several thousand years ago. The territory of present-day Ukraine was inhabited by Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, and Goths throughout the first millennium B.C.
Antes and the Ros', the ancestors of the Eastern Slavs, occupied central and eastern Ukraine in the 6th century A.D. About 14 East Slav tribe unions existed in Ukraine during the 6th - 9th centuries. They became the political foundation for forming the core of the powerful Kievan Rus.
It included the cities of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Pereiaslav , Novgorod, Halych, Smolensk, Rostov, Susdal and later Moscow.
Kievan Rus
Princ Oleg is a founder of the Kievan Rus'.Source: http://www.guidetorussia.org
Kievan Rus is the beginning of the Ukraine history as a state. Kyiv Rus spread from the Black Sea to the White Sea, from the Carpathians to the Volga River.
According to the Russian Primary Chronicle Kievan Rus was founded by the Varangian (Swedish Viking) Oleg in 862. (Some Slavic historians have debated the role of the Varangians in the establishment of Kievan Rus. They consider that Oleg was not a Varangian but one of the Slavic princes).
During almost 100 years Oleg, his successor Igor (reigned 912-945), Igor's widow Olga (who was regent until about 962), and Olga's son Sviatoslav (r. 945-972) turned the scattered Slavic tribes into an organized powerful state. Kyiv became the political center of the Eastern Slavs. 
Princess Olga. Source:
http://www.pskov.ru/
The time of the greatest rise the Slavic State reached during the reigns of Prince Vladimir (Vladimir the Great, r. 980 -1015) and Prince Yaroslav (Yaroslav the Wise, r. 1019-1054).
Vladimir's most important merit was the Christianization of Kievan Rus. The successful military raids of the Prince expanded the limits of the Rus territory. At that time Kyiv had 400 churches, 8 markets, and over 50000 residents (compared to 20000 in London, Hamburg, and Gdansk).
Yaroslav the Wise. Source:
http://www.vor.ru
Yaroslav improved relations with the rest of Europe, especially the Byzantine Empire. He promulgated the first East Slavic law code, Russkaya Pravda (Justice of Rus′); founded a school system; built Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev and Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod.
After his death the Kievan Rus split into two principalities: Galicia-Volhynia in the south-west and several regional centers in the north-east that eventually became Muscovy. After the conquest of the Kievan Rus (13th cent.) by the Mongols of the Golden Horde, the history of Ukraine and Russia went their separate ways.
In the mid-14th century Lithuania and Poland began to enlarge their territory at the expense of their eastern neighbors. As the result of the dynastic union between Poland and Lithuania in 1386, Ukraine came under Polish rule. Meanwhile, the Turks and Tatars were making similar moves into the Crimea. At the same time the rising principality of Muscovy tried to control the vast area south of its borders.
At the end of the 15th century a glorious period of struggle for national independence in the Ukraine history began. Cossack Republic appeared on the European political map.
The Cossacks
Zaporizhian Sich. Source:
www.potop.kiev.ua/hortica.htm
The Cossack Republic is usually viewed as precursor of Ukraine. Its appearance played an outstanding part in the historical fate of Ukraine. The Cossack liberation movement is one of the most tragic and heroic period in Ukraine history.
Due to serfdom and the oppressive domination of Polish rule, many men escaped beyond the area of the lower Dnepr rapids. There they established a military order called the Zaporozhian Sich ("clearing beyond the rapids"). These fugitives became known as Cossacks or Kozaks, an adaptation of the Turkic word Kazak, meaning "outlaw" or "adventurer."
Zaporizhian Cossacs. By I.Repin.Source: www.19thc-artworldwide.org
The Cossacks initially were focused on the struggle against Turkey-Tatar aggression. But from 1648 to 1654 Cossacks under their Hetman (Ukrainian for Cossack leader) Bohdan Khmelnytsky organized a series of revolts against the Poles. In order to secure a military ally against Poland, the Cossacks signed an agreement with Muscovy in 1654, known as the Pereiaslav Agreement.
By the terms of the Agreement, Ukraine was to be largely independent; but Ukraine found itself under the long lasting domination of the Russian Empire. The short period of Ukraine's sovereignty was followed by hundreds of years of colonial existence. In 1667, Moscow and Warsaw signed the Treaty of Andrusov, which partitioned Ukraine. The right-bank of the Dnepr River went to Poland. Russia obtained left-bank Ukraine.
The last Hetman of Ukraine was forced by Empress Catherine II to resign in 1764; the Zaporozhian Sich was razed by Russian troops in 1775, and Ukraine, its political autonomy terminated. The glorious period of Cossack Republic in Ukraine history was over.The country was drawn into the vortex of civil war, political crisis and economic displacement for many years.
Ukraine History and the USSR
Mikhailo Grushevsky.Source:http://www.ukraine-observer.com
Ukrainian independence was short-lived. Ukraine was simply not ready for political independence. The Ukrainians did not have a clear policy of national independence or a single prominent leader who could unite them. The dream of an independent Ukraine ended in 1922 when the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian SSR) was founded. Ukraine history during 74 years became an organic part of the USSR history.
Ukraine as the part of the Soviet Union had its own organs of state authority and administration, its own budget, and Constitution. It was a clearly defined nation and territorial entity having its own capital (Kharkiv, in 1919-1934, and Kyiv, starting in 1934). In the years of reconstruction of its industries devastated by WW I and the civil war, hundreds of factories were built in Ukraine, bringing its level with the world's industrialized countries.
But at the same time there were also a lot of "Hero Projects"- public works programs which relied heavily on slave labor. Throughout the Stalinist era (and later) the KGB spent much of its time rounding up supposed "enemies of the state" to be sentenced for construction work in Siberia.
A forceful agricultural collectivization and artificial famines as part of the collectivization policies killed millions of previously independent peasants and others throughout the country. Estimates of deaths from the 1932-33 famine alone range from 3 million to 7 million.
World War II
Professor Y.O. Paton (1870-1953).Source: http://www.infoukes.com
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Under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed in 1939, the USSR occupied Ukrainian lands under Polish control. In the early 1940s, the Ukrainska Povstanska Armiia (UPA), otherwise known as the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, was formed in Western Ukraine and fought the Soviets, Nazis, and Poles.
In 1941 Nazis invaded the USSR. All of Ukraine fell under the Germans' control. During World War II, many Ukrainians, particularly in the west, welcomed the Germans as liberators and collaborated with them against the USSR. However, the Nazis' harsh occupation (1941-44) of Ukraine turned many of them into anti-German guerrilla fighters.
The German field commanders couldn’t understand this tenacious resistance, wondering why anyone would fight to return to Stalin's rule. The answer was very simple. The Soviet people defended their homes and families.
According to UNRRA, Ukraine's material losses during the war amounted to $1000 billion. 714 towns and cities, 28000 villages, 2 million buildings, over 16000 industrial enterprises, 28000 state and 870 collective farms were devastated. More then 5 million civilians were tortured to death during the Nazi occupation and 3 million Ukrainians were killed in the war.
When the war ended, most Ukrainian cities - notably Kiev, Dnipropetrovs'k and Sevastopol - were in ruins. The Dnepr River was a major German defence line prior to the general retreat of 1944, and these cities suffered prolonged sieges.
In the early post-war period Ukraine's economy was restored by the strenuous selfless effort of the entire nation. Ukraine history has always been rich in human talents.
During periods of relative liberalization - as under Nikita Khrushchev, from 1955 to 1964 - Ukrainian communists pursued national objectives. In the years of perestroika, under USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, national goals were again advanced by Ukrainian officials.
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