#俄乌局势观察团 #
One of the causes and consequences of the Russo-Ukrainian War
Author: Mast
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine eventually turned into war and became the focus of the world. People can't help but ask: Why do two countries of the same origin and the same species fight each other?
In fact, the Russo-Ukrainian War was the result of a combination of historical, ethnic, geopolitical and major power game factors.
Russian troops entered the western part of Kiev
The Principality of Rus' with Kiev as its capital is the source of Russia and Ukraine
The ties between Russia and Ukraine are extremely deep. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, for more than 300 years, the two countries belonged to the same country. Paul, Brezhnev, etc., whom we are familiar with, are all Ukrainians. To understand the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, it is impossible not to understand the evolutionary history of relations between the two countries.
Both Russians and Ukrainians have their origins from the ancient East Slavs. Around the 9th century AD, tribes that were half-cultivated and half-pastored along the Dnieper River in present-day Ukraine gradually formed tribes. According to russia's earliest "Chronicles of the Past", earlier, the East Slavic region was governed by the Northmen (also known as Normans, Vikings, Varyags, etc.), paid taxes to them, and then expelled them. But since then, these East Slavic tribes have been fighting each other continuously. So the tribes consulted together, and then went to the Rus' and asked them to govern.
In 862, the three Rus' chiefs, the Rus' rus' chiefs, the Rus' brothers, led the clan from jutland (around present-day Denmark) to the banks of the Tië River and established the Rus' Principality, also known as the Rurik Dynasty, in Novgorod (in present-day Russia). It was the first state of the East Slavs, whose rulers were Rus' people. After that, the Rus' Principality began to expand outwards, moving the capital to Kiev, beginning the Kievan Rus' period.
The Rus' Principality, with Kiev as its capital, was the source of Russia and Ukraine.
By the end of the 10th century, the principality reached its peak and became the most powerful state in Eastern Europe. After gradual decline, in the middle of the 11th century, 18 small principalities were divided into 18 small principalities, and they fell into a pattern of chaos. Its tribes also gradually divided into three branches of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus in the 12th and 14th centuries.
Ukrainians are also known as The Little Rus', who later became Little Russians. This title is not meant to be taken lightly. At the beginning of the 14th century, the Orthodox Church of Kievan Rus was divided into two parishes, one parish to the west and one to the north of Kiev, of which the western parish was smaller, called little Rus, and the people who lived in this area were called little Rus' people, which originally meant people living in the little Rus' parish.
From Kievan Rus' to the Russian Empire, the Mongols ruled for 240 years
In 1235, Genghis Khan's grandson Battu led the Mongol army on a second western expedition, as far as Russia, Hungary, Poland and other Eastern Europe, and captured Kiev in 1240. Around 1242, Batu established the Khanate of Chincha (i.e., the Golden Horde), which encompassed a vast area of conquest, and many principalities of Kievan Rus' became its vassals.
In 1283, the Muscovite Principality, which was divided by Kievan Rus', was established. From the beginning of the 14th century, the Muscovite Principality accepted the canonization of the Khanate of Chincha and was granted the privilege of conquest of all Russian Gonna. With this privilege, it annexed the surrounding principalities and gradually became the most powerful principality in all of Russia.
During this period, the Chincha Khanate gradually declined, and the Muscovite Principality ceased to pay tribute in 1478. In 1480, the Khanate of Chincha sent an army to fight, which resulted in a defeat on the Don Plain, and the Muscovite Principality became independent, ending 240 years of Mongol rule over Russia.
After the independence of the Muscovite Principality, after more than 100 years of conquest, by the 1830s, the all-Russian unified state centered on Moscow was basically formed, and its eastern part extended to the Ural Mountains at the boundary between Europe and Asia. In 1547, Grand Duke Ivan IV became the supreme monarch of all of Russia, and the name of the country was changed to Tsarist Russia, and in 1721 it was renamed the Russian Empire.
The term "Ukraine", first appeared in the late 12th century, meaning "frontier land", mainly referring to today's western Ukraine. After the decline of Kievan Rus' , the region of Ukraine was successively ruled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland for more than 300 years. In 1648, a great uprising broke out against Poland. After the defeat of the battle, the leader of the uprising asked the Tsarist Russia for help and drove the Poles out of eastern Ukraine.
(iii) from the incorporation of Russia to the independence of Ukraine
In 1654, the leader of the uprising signed a peace treaty with the Tsar, and Eastern Ukraine was formally merged with Tsarist Russia, becoming part of Tsarist Russia ever since. In 1667, Russia and Poland signed an agreement that the entire ukrainian region was bounded by the Dnieper River, to the west by Poland, and to the east and Kiev to Russia.
At that time, Eastern Ukraine and Russia were merged to jointly deal with enemies from the west. Unexpectedly, after 368 years, a similar situation will repeat itself.
Since then, Tsarist Russia has expanded everywhere. By the end of the 18th century, all but the westernmost Galicia were included in the territory of Tsarist Russia.
After the October Revolution, the Ukrainian regions established Soviet states at the end of 1917, but remained part of Soviet Russia. During the period of foreign armed intervention in Soviet Russia from 1918 to 1920, western Ukraine and western Belarus were occupied by Poland, and the two sides signed the Treaty of Riga on March 18, 1921, and the western part of Ukraine and Belarus was assigned to Poland.
When the Soviet Union was founded in 1922, Ukraine (which at this time had only the Eastern Region) joined the Union, becoming one of the first four founding states of the Soviet Union, the other three being Russia, White Russia and the South Caucasus Federation (split in 1936).
On September 1, 1939, Germany blitzed Poland from the west. The Soviet Union then sent troops from the east to Poland on the 17th, retaking western Ukraine (and western Belarus). Today's Ukraine is largely formed.
On December 8, 1991, the three Soviet republics of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus signed an agreement to "divide the three houses", declaring that the Soviet Union no longer existed and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States. At this point, Ukraine finally completed its independence, marking the end of the 337-year history of Russian-Ukrainian integration.
In the Russo-Ukrainian War, Russian tanks flew the Soviet flag
From the above combing, it can be seen that Ukraine was only part of Russia before independence in 1991, whether it is territory or history, the country has just completed 30 years, and the two countries have thousands of years of history. From Russia's point of view, its national history originates from the Rus' Principality in Kiev. It is undeniable that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, from Putin to ordinary people, most of them have a deep Sense of Great Russia, especially for Ukraine, the source of history. Of course, having a complex does not mean that force must be used, and there are ukrainian and external reasons that eventually broke out. Let's explore that below.
(To be continued)