Global Questions Series – Number 1: The Russia-Ukraine War - Part 1

Where Have We Been?

The city of Kyiv has a long and deep cultural history. Its founding year is debated to be 482. The Golden Age of Kyiv began in the 10th-12th century as a part of Kievan Rus, a region of which Kyiv was the capital.

The Dneiper River, like most major cities of the past, provided transport, faster trade movement, and water for irrigation, agriculture, and drinking. Hence Kyiv was one of the cities that thrived during this period and had the conditions to be the location of a great city.

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By the 12th century, Kievan Rus started to decline alongside one of its greatest economic partners, the Byzantine Empire. The territory finally fell in the Mongol invasion of 1237-1241.

It was around this time that the Russian Orthodox Church became the key religion of the city of Kyiv. The language of Old East Slavic was the language from which Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian evolved.

In 1362, Kyiv became a part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania after the Battle at Blue Waters after the Mongol Golden Horde fell. The city was ruled by Lithuanian princes of different families until the Principality of Kyiv was abolished in 1471 and replaced with the Kyiv Voivodeship. This area existed under the rule of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1471-1569, and under the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland from 1569-1648.

During the rule of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, the Cossacks attacked and entered Kyiv, establishing the rule of their Cossack Hetmanate in 1648. The Cossacks were associated with the Tsardom of Russia from 1654 through the Treaty of Pereyaslav. This provided the Cossacks with military support from the Russians against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth who refused to recognise the Cossack Hetmanate.

In 1667, the Truce of Andrusovo detailed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth seizing control of Kyiv to the Tsardom of Russia for a period of two years. This transition ended up being made permanent in 1686 in the Eternal Peace of 1686. Kyiv was abolished by Catherine the Great in 1775.

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The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was no more by 1795. The First Partition of Poland took place in 1772, the Second in 1792, and the Third in 1795. Polish-Lithuanian national sovereignty didn’t return until 1918. Prussia, the Habsburg Empire and the Russian Empire completely partitioned Poland-Lithuania out of existence.

Poland continued to influence Ukraine. Poland was the language of Kyiv’s educational system. Hence why Kyiv’s autonomy was removed and the city was under the rule of bureaucrats from St Petersburg.

The late 18th to early 19th century saw the Russian Orthodox Church spread through Ukraine once again. Russian migration in the 19th century led to Ukraine becoming more integrated with Russian culture. The late 19th century saw the Russian Industrial Revolution. Kyiv’s importance as an agricultural base, specifically for grain and sugar grew.

Independence, two World Wars, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, and Independent Ukraine get us back to the present day. So where are we now?