Full Description
As the Dark Ages enveloped Europe, a civilization was born on the banks of the Dnieper River. Rus--whose capital at Kiev surpassed in grandeur most cities of Europe--was home to the Ukrainian people, whose princes made war on Constantinople and established the city states of what would become Russia. The cities of Rus were destroyed by the Mongols, their remains falling to the Polish-Lithuanian kingdom. With the steppe restored to wilderness, the "kraina" borderlands of the hardy frontiersmen known as Cossacks--who in the 17th century destroyed powerful Polish, Lithuanian and Muscovite armies--gained Ukrainian independence and established a unique social order.
Drawing on English, Ukrainian and French sources, this book chronicles the military and social origins of Ukraine and describes the differences between Ukraine and its neighbors. The author refutes the claim that Ukraine and Russia were once united in a common political system.
Contents
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction: History and Politics
One. The Early History
Two. The Roman Empire
Three. The Slavs and the Roman Empire
Four. Rus: The Early Beginnings
Five. The Rise of the Kyiv State
Six. Civilization Comes to Rus
Seven. The Papal Crusades
Eight. Internal Conflict and Foreign Invasion
Nine. The Coming of the Mongols
Ten. The Rise of the Cossacks
Eleven. The Zaporozhian Brotherhood and the First Cossack Wars
Twelve. Rising Up Against Oppression
Thirteen. The Ukrainian Revolution
Fourteen. The Revolution Continues
Fifteen. Alliance with the Tsar and the Death of Khmelnitsky
Sixteen. The Cossacks Defeated
Seventeen. The End of Cossack Freedom
Epilogue: The Birth of the Ukrainian State
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
