preface:
Recently, the border conflict between Russia and Ukraine has escalated day by day, the two sides have torn their faces and fought hard, and the situation between Russia and Ukraine has instantly become the focus of global attention.
Russia and Ukraine have a common origin in history, and even the anecdotes have jokingly called Russia the big hair, and Ukraine is the second hair.
However, these two brothers have been in constant conflict since ancient times, and there is a thousand-year-old grudge that cannot be dissolved or erased.
The geopolitical form of Ukraine and Russia
01
Ukraine is located in Eastern Europe, bordering Russia in the east and Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and other Eastern European countries in the west, which is an important way for Western Europe to enter Russia, and its geographical location is very important.
The meaning of "Ukraine" is "frontier land", and its own meaning is first derived from the 1187 "History of Rus'", which is the frontier land of Russia.
Such a geographical location makes Ukraine inevitably closely related to Russia.
Ukraine and Russia belong to both East Slavs.
Their common ancestor was Kievan Rus' .
Slavic distribution
Kievan Rus', with a population of 5 million at its peak, encompassed Lake Ladoga, the southern shore of Onega Lake and the northern shore of the Black Sea, and the capital city of Kiev was known as the "Imperial City on the Dnieper River".
In the 12th and 14th centuries, Kievan Rus' gradually split into Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.
From the 13th century onwards, Kievan Rus' declined due to frequent infighting and decadent rule.
In 1240, Batu led an expeditionary force of the Mongol Empire to capture Kiev, and Kievan Rus entered the reign of the Golden Horde.
From the 14th century onwards, Ukrainians formed a single people with their own language, script and culture.
In 1340, the Lithuanians defeated the Golden Horde, and much of the Ukrainian region fell into the hands of the Duchy of Lithuania.
Then, in 1349, poles rose up to seize the vast territory and large population of Ukraine, which had actually been divided between Lithuania and Poland.
At the same time, the Principality of Moscow (the predecessor of the Russian Empire) also began to expand around Moscow.
In 1480, the Muscovite Principality ended the 240-year rule of the Golden Horde over Russia.
The Principality of Moscow immediately began its march into the Ukrainian region.
In 1490, the muscovite army approached the Area of Ukraine occupied by Lithuania.
The Muscovite principality was aggressive, and Lithuania and Poland were forced to unite.
In order to monopolize Ukraine, the three countries fought fiercely in a fierce confrontation.
In 1569, Poland and Lithuania established the United Kingdom, and the Ukrainian region was "unified" again in this way.
Ukraine became an autonomous region under the jurisdiction of the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom.
Poland-Lithuanian Kingdom
However, after the Poles ruled the Ukrainian regions, they carried out brutal national oppression, hoping to turn Ukrainians into Poles and implement a series of de-Ukrainianization policies.
Ukraine began a long revolt.
In 1648, the Ukrainian Cossack commander Bogdan Khmelnytsky set off a wave of ukrainian anti-waves.
At that time, Ukraine did not have the consciousness of establishing an independent kingdom, and they only could not stand the cruel rule of the Poles and rose up to resist.
In the long struggle, the Ukrainian economy was on the verge of collapse due to the disparity in strength, and Ukraine had neither the strength to resist the Poles independently nor the possibility of peaceful negotiations with Poland to continue to submit to Poland.
Thinking about it, the Poles had to turn to a moderate boss to fight against Poland.
Ukraine looked around, and only the Principality of Moscow was the best candidate.
02、
By this time the Muscovite Principality had been unified in 1514, and in 1547 Ivan IV was crowned Tsar, and the famous Tsarist Russia was established (in 1721, Peter I made Tsarist Russia the Russian Empire).
Tsarist Russia's rise was unstoppable, becoming one of the most powerful countries in Eastern Europe, enough to compete with Poland.
For Ukrainians, Tsarist Russia and Ukraine are the same East Slavs, brothers of the same lineage, the same religious beliefs, much more adorable than the Poles (Poles are West Slavs).
As a result, the two sides immediately agreed and began to form a Russian-Ukrainian alliance.
In 1653, Russia accepted ukrainian demands for union and declared war on Poland.
In 1654, Russia formally entered into a military-political alliance with Ukraine, which was joined by Ukraine in the form of autonomy.
After the alliance was reached, Tsarist Russia launched two wars against Poland.
By 1795, Tsarist Russia had occupied 80% of Ukraine's territory, and by 1815, there were very few areas of Ukraine that were not in Tsarist russia.
Tsarist Russia basically completed the unification of the Ukrainian region, and the two countries were merged into one country.
Since then, Russia has regarded Ukraine as an integral part of itself.
After the Russian occupation of Ukraine, the fierceness was exposed, and began to brutally implement the policy of Russification, banning the use of Ukrainian and changing to Russian.
Obviously, once Tsarist Russia succeeds, Ukraine will become a complete part of Russia.
This is unacceptable to Ukrainians.
In the eyes of the Ukrainians, they could not become a truly independent state due to their limited strength, and all they wanted was a high degree of autonomy.
Poland, Russia, ukraine can accept their rule, but maintain national independence.
In other words, Ukrainians can recognize The Russian as a big brother, but they can't call him Daddy.
But after half a day, Ukrainians understood that what the Russians wanted was not a little brother, but to occupy Ukraine, destroy Ukrainian culture, and turn Ukrainians into Russians.
The Russians and the Poles are simply one and the same, no one is better than the other, and no one can be trusted.
Even when the war between Russia and Poland reached a stalemate, Russia did not hesitate to betray Ukraine and sign a peace treaty with Poland to divide Ukraine together.
Ukrainians are remorseful, and they really lure wolves into the house.
Ukraine immediately began to rebel against Tsarist Russia, and achieved a brief success.
In 1658, Ukrainian anti-Russian forces formed the "Principality of Great Rus" and joined the Polish-Lithuanian Principality.
In 1708, Ukraine took advantage of the outbreak of a great war between Russia and Sweden, declared independence, and signed an alliance with Sweden.
Unfortunately, whether it was against Poland or against Tsarist Russia, Ukraine did not have enough strength and determination, and always fantasized about relying on another robber to plot against the tiger, which doomed them to failure.
(The Ukrainian story tells us that if we want to really stand up, we can't pin our hopes on others, people can only rely on themselves))
As a result, ukraine's revolts all ended in failure.
Since then, Ukraine has been largely ruled by Tsarist Russia.
Moreover, the rule of Tsarist Russia over Ukraine was extremely cruel, and Tsarist Russia did not regard Ukrainians as people at all, Ukraine was only the granary of Tsarist Russia, and Ukrainians were only Russian serfs.
In the 19th century, modern democratic consciousness began to awaken, and Ukrainians began to seek true national independence.
Ukraine's resistance to Tsarist Russia intensified, and correspondingly, Russia's repression and exploitation of Ukraine became more and more serious.
This creates a vicious circle.
Partition of Ukrainian cartoons
03、
In July 1914, World War I broke out, and the rule of Tsarist Russia, which was involved in a world war, was on the verge of collapse, and ethnic contradictions broke out completely.
Ukrainians saw an opportunity to seek a high degree of autonomy.
On March 8, 1917, the February Revolution broke out in Russia, the Romanov dynasty of Tsarist Russia came to an end, and the two regimes of the Russian Provisional Government and soviet power appeared in Russia.
On 7 November, the October Revolution broke out and soviet power overthrew the Provisional Government.
But soon, The Soviet Union fell into a civil war, and the Ukrainian region became a battlefield for various forces in the world.
Several regimes emerged in the Ukrainian region, once again falling apart.
On January 22, 1918, the Central Rada regime of Ukraine, with the support of Germany, established the People's Republic of Ukraine, declared its independence from Russia.
However, Ukraine failed again, and soon Germany was defeated in World War I and was overwhelmed with self-care.
On January 6, 1919, the Ukrainian Soviets, with the support of Soviet Russia, established Soviet power by force and established the "Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic".
In order to consolidate Soviet power, Ukraine established a military alliance with Soviet Russia, and the Soviets gained leadership over Ukraine.
On December 30, 1922, the Soviet Union was formally established, and Ukraine was one of the four republics of the Soviet Union (the other three being Russia, Belarus and the Transcaucasian Federation).
Moreover, Ukraine was the largest republic outside of Russia, and Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union.
Although Russia occupies a leading position in the Soviet Union, in principle, Ukraine and Russia are equal in status and are both members of the Soviet Union.
At least that's what ukrainians think, and it's hard to say what the Russians think.
This laid the groundwork for future Russian-Ukrainian relations.
04、
At the beginning of the founding of the Soviet Union, Lenin implemented a relatively correct ethnic policy in the Ukrainian regions, promoted Ukrainianization, and ensured the independence of the Ukrainian nation.
Lenin's policies contributed to the further development of Ukraine and Russia.
As a result, Ukraine was happy to join the Soviet Union and was proud to be a part of it.
However, since Stalin came to power, he has begun to promote Great Russian chauvinism and oppose local nationalism, resulting in de facto national inequality within the Soviet Union.
Stalin's main target was Ukraine, where the policy of Russification was vigorously pursued, and Ukraine's limited autonomy was completely deprived, destroying the fruits of Ukrainianization.
After Stalin's death, both Khrushchev and Brezhnev actually inherited Stalin's policy toward Ukraine, only to become more moderate.
This has led to dissatisfaction among Ukrainians.
Of course, because the Soviet Union was too powerful, Ukraine could not escape from the Soviet Union.
But in 1965, there were underground organizations in Ukraine that expanded Ukrainian autonomy.
Even The Then First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Seleste, openly called for Ukraine to be firmly Ukrainianized.
That is to say, although Ukraine was very willing to join the Soviet Union, Ukraine was dissatisfied with the Soviet Union's various Russification policies.
In 1990, the political, economic, and national crisis in the Soviet Union broke out in full swing.
The world's most anticipated collapse of the Soviet Union was on the horizon, and Ukraine's long-standing dissatisfaction with the Soviet Union and Russia triggered the rise of a wave of Ukrainian independence.
On 16 July 1990, Ukraine adopted the Declaration on State Sovereignty;
On August 24, 1991, Ukraine officially became independent.
On December 1, Ukraine held a referendum on secession from the Soviet Union and the election of a president, and 99.85% of Ukrainians chose to secede from the Soviet Union, and Kravchuk was elected president on the same day.
On December 3, Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced his recognition of Ukraine's independence.
On December 8, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus announced the collapse of the Soviet Union and the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
On December 26, the Soviet Union officially disintegrated, the Russian Federation became the sole successor state of the Soviet Union, and Ukraine became a fully independent state.
Flags of Russia and Ukraine
05、
Ukraine's thousand-year feud with Russia, geographical location, economy and culture, and the strength of the two countries have led Ukraine to rely on Russia on the one hand because of Russia's strong strength, so Ukraine has maintained a long-term strategic partnership with Russia after independence.
However, Ukraine was also extremely wary of Russia, fearing that the Russian Empire would be revived and that it would be annexed by Russia.
At this time, the United States and Europe took the opportunity to actively co-opt Ukraine.
In 2004, the "Orange Revolution" broke out in Ukraine, and Yushchenko, a pro-Western representative supported by the United States and Europe, was elected president of Ukraine.
Ukraine began a policy of de-Russification and a radical pro-Western policy.
Yushchenko even pushed Ukraine to join NATO.
Coupled with the economic outbreak of gas disputes between Ukraine and Russia, diplomatic support for Georgia, Crimea and other events, resulting in Russian-Ukrainian relations into a trough.
For Russia, Ukraine is Russia's western gateway, and they will never allow Western forces to encroach on their doorstep.
Therefore, Russia has also vigorously cultivated pro-Russian forces.
Since then, Ukraine has been mired in a process of repeated intermingling of pro-Western and pro-Russian forces.
Ukrainian forces
Ukraine oscillated back and forth between pro-Western and pro-Russian forces, eventually leading pro-Western forces.
Thus, there is now the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
"Originally born from the same root, frying each other he is too anxious", where Russia and Ukraine will eventually go, no one can guess.
However, it is clear that Russia and Ukraine are broken bones and tendons, ukraine wants to completely get rid of Russia, it is tantamount to a fool's dream, Russia wants to completely annex Ukraine is also a fantasy.
ps：
In fact, Ukraine is a country full of tragedies.
Ukraine has a long history and can be truly independent for a very short time;
Ukraine has many beautiful legends, but sadness is their theme;
Ukraine is rich in resources, but its economy has not been fully autonomous;
Ukraine has struggled for national independence for many years, but the final result, I am afraid, they themselves will not be satisfied.
Because, historically, Ukraine, it seems, is a loser no matter what it does, and there is no hope of victory.
Finally, with a paragraph, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine ends:
The Russian-Ukrainian war, you think Ukraine is doomed to lose?
NO！ Ukraine wins and enters the five permanents, and loses also enters the five permanents, and the advantage is in me!
Applause that I understood, laughed when I didn't understand.