Courses

Our goal is to gain a general understanding of the history of the country, with the ability to identify its disputed and controversial topics. Often, sharply different and politically loaded viewpoints and interpretations circulate. Like other European countries, Ukraine has not existed as a national entity throughout history, but has emerged in a historical process.

We will discuss different interpretations of medieval Rus, and then survey the history of the region from the end of the sixteenth century to present, paying attention to politics, economy, social structure, ideas, ethnic groups and nationalities, and gender. The topics to be discussed include the Church Union of Brest, Cossack Wars, the autonomous Hetmanate under Russian suzerainty, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Habsburg Empire, Russian Empire, World War I, revolution and short-lived Ukrainian states 1917-21, Ukrainians in the interwar Poland and the Soviet Union, Holodomor or the Great Famine 1932-33, World War II and Holocaust in Ukraine, destalinization in Ukraine, independent Ukraine and its political upheavals, including the recent Russian attack on Ukraine.