Ukraine

The Tsardom of Ukraine (Later Ukraine-Romania) (Ukrainian: Царизм України-Румунія (Tsaryzm Ukrayiny-Rumuniya) Romanian: Țarismului din Ucraina-România (Tsarismuli din Ucraina-Romania)) is an empire located in Eastern Europe. The Tsardom is bordered by the Russian Empire to the North and to the east, Yugoslavia to its south and west, and Hungary to the Northwest.

Etymology
During the period of Romantic nationalism it was popular to trace the origin of the country name to an ancient ethnonym. After this pseudo-historical view was discarded, two main versions of the etymology emerged. Naturally, the versions have different implications from a nationalist point of view. They are also based on different possible or certain meanings of the lexeme ukraina as occurring in historical sources (see above) – "borderland", "homeland", "country", "region" or simply "land".

Middle Ages
As Hrushevsky states, the city of Kyiv was established during the time when area around the mid- and low-Dnipro was the part of the Khazar state. He derived that information from local legends because no written chronicles from that period are left.

In 882, Kyiv was conquered from the Khazars by the Varangian noble Oleg who started the long period of rule of theRurikid princes. During this time, several Slavic tribes were native to Ukraine, including the Polans, the Drevlyans, theSeverians, the Ulichs, the Tiverians, the White Croats and the Dulebes. Situated on lucrative trade routes, Kyiv among the Polanians quickly prospered as the center of the powerful Slavic state of Kyivan Rus.

In CE 941, the prince of Kyiv invaded the Byzantine Empire but was defeated in the Rus'–Byzantine War (941).

In the 11th century, Kyivan Rus' was, geographically, the largest state in Europe, becoming known in the rest of Europe as Ruthenia (the Latin name for Rus'), especially for western principalities of Rus' after the Mongol invasion. The name "Ukraine", meaning "in-land" or "native-land",[18] usually interpreted as "border-land", first appears in historical documents of 12th century[19] and then on history maps of the 16th century period.[20]

The meaning of this term seems to have been synonymous with the land of Rus' propria—the principalities of Kyiv,Chernihiv and Pereyaslav. The term, "Greater Rus'" was used to apply to all the lands ruled by Kyiv, including those that were not just Slavic, but also Uralic in the north-east portions of the state. Local regional subdivisions of Rus' appeared in the Slavic heartland, including, "Belarus'" (White Ruthenia), "Chorna Rus'" (Black Ruthenia) and "Cherven' Rus'" (Red Ruthenia) in northwestern and western Ukraine.

Christainization
Although Christianity had made headway into the territory of Ukraine before the first ecumenical council, the Council of Nicaea (325) (particularly along the Black Sea coast) and, in western Ukraine during the time of empire of Great Moravia, the formal governmental acceptance of Christianity in Rus' occurred at in 988. The major cause of the Christianization of Kyivan Rus' was the Grand-Duke, Vladimir the Great (Volodymyr). His Christian interest was midwifed by his grandmother, Princess Olga. Later, an enduring part of the East-Slavic legal tradition was set down by the Kyivan ruler, Yaroslav I, who promulgated the Russkaya Pravda (Truth of Rus') which endured through the Lithuanian period of Rus'.

Conflict among the various principalities of Rus', in spite of the efforts of Grand Prince Vladimir Monomakh, led to decline, beginning in the 12th century. In Rus' propria, the Kyiv region, the nascent Rus' principalities of Halych and Volynia extended their rule. In the north, the name of Moscow appeared in the historical record in the principality of Suzdal, which gave rise to the nation of Russia. In the north-west, the principality of Polotsk increasingly asserted the autonomy of Belarus'. Kyiv was sacked by Vladimir principality (1169) in the power struggle between princes and later by Cumans and Mongol raiders in the 12th and 13th centuries, respectively. Subsequently, all principalities of present-day Ukraine acknowledged dependence upon the Mongols (1239–1240). In 1240, the Mongols sacked Kyiv, and many people fled to other countries.

Galicia-Volhynia
A successor state to the Kyivan Rus' on part of the territory of today's Ukraine was the principality of Galicia-Volhynia. Previously, Vladimir the Great had established the cities of Halych and Ladomir (later Volodimer) as regional capitals. This state was based upon the Dulebe, Tiverian and White Croat tribes.

The state was ruled by the descendants of Yaroslav the Wise and Vladimir Monomakh. For a brief period, the country was ruled by a Hungarian nobleman. Battles with the neighboring states of Poland and Lithuania also occurred, as well as internecine warfare with the independent Ruthenian principality of Chernihiv to the east. At its greatest extension the territory of Galicia-Volhynia included later Wallachia/Bessarabia, thus reaching the shores of the Black Sea.

During this period (around 1200–1400), each principality was independent of the other for a period. The state of Halych-Volynia eventually became a vassal to the Mongolian Empire, but efforts to gain European support for opposition to the Mongols continued. This period marked the first "King of Rus'"; previously, the rulers of Rus' were termed, "Grand Dukes" or "Princes."

The 14th Century
During the 14th century, Poland and Lithuania fought wars against the Mongol invaders, and eventually most of Ukraine passed to the rule of Poland and Lithuania. More particularly, the lands of Volynia in the north and north-west passed to the rule of Lithuanian princes, while the south-west passed to the control of Poland (Galicia) and Hungary (Zakarpattya). Also the Genoese founded some colonies in Crimean coasts until Ottoman conquest in 1470s.

Most of Ukraine bordered parts of Lithuania, and some say that the name, "Ukraine" comes from the local word for "border," although the name "Ukraine" was also used centuries earlier. Lithuania took control of the state of Volynia in northern and northwestern Ukraine, including the region around Kyiv (Rus'), and the rulers of Lithuania then adopted the title of ruler of Rus'. Poland took control of the southeastern region. Following the union between Poland and Lithuania, Poles, Germans, Lithuanians and Jews migrated to the region. In 15th century decline of Golden Horde enabled foundation of Crimean Khanate, which occupied present Black Sea shores and southern steppes of Ukraine. Until the late 18th century, Crimean Khanate maintained a massive slave trade with the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East,[22] exporting about 2 million slaves from Russia and Ukraine over the period 1500–1700.[23] It was vassal state of Ottoman Empire till 1774. It was finally dissolved by Russian Empire in 1783.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
After the Union of Lublin in 1569 and the formation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Ukraine fell under Polish administration, becoming part of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The period immediately following the creation of the Commonwealth saw a huge revitalisation in colonisation efforts. Many new cities and villages were founded.

New schools spread the ideas of the Renaissance; Polish peasants arrived in great numbers and quickly became mixed with the local population; during this time, most of Ukrainian nobles became polonised and converted to Catholicism, and while most Ruthenian-speaking peasants remained within the Eastern Orthodox Church, social tension rose.

Ruthenian peasants (Ukrainians and some from other nations) who fled efforts to force them into serfdom came to be known as Cossacks and earned a reputation for their fierce martial spirit. Some Cossacks were enlisted by the Commonwealth as soldiers to protect the southeastern borders of Poland from Tatars or took part in campaigns abroad (like Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny in the battle of Khotyn 1621). Cossack units were also active in wars between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Tsardom of Russia. Despite the Cossack's military usefulness, the Commonwealth, dominated by its nobility, refused to grant them any significant autonomy, instead attempting to turn most of the Cossack population into serfs. This led to an increasing number of Cossack rebellions aimed at the Commonwealth.

Cossack Era
The 1648 Ukrainian Cossack (Kozak) rebellion or Khmelnytsky Uprising, which started an era known as the Ruin (in Polish history as The Deluge), undermined the foundations and stability of the Commonwealth. The nascent Cossack state, the Cossack Hetmanate,[24] usually viewed as precursor of Ukraine,[24] found itself in a three-sided military and diplomatic rivalry with the Ottoman Turks, who controlled the Tatars to the south, the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania, and the rising Russian Empire to the East.

The Zaporizhian Host, in order to leave the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, sought a treaty of protection with Russia in 1654.[24] This agreement was known as the Treaty of Pereyaslav.[24] Commonwealth authorities then sought compromise with the Ukrainian Cossack state by signing theTreaty of Hadiach in 1658, but — after thirteen years of incessant warfare — the agreement was later superseded by 1667 Polish-Russian Treaty of Andrusovo, which divided Ukrainian territory between the Commonwealth and Russia. Under Russia, the Cossacks initially retained official autonomy in the Hetmanate.[24] For a time, they also maintained a semi-independent republic in Zaporozhia, and a colony on the Russian frontier in Sloboda Ukraine, and after several decades, Ukraine fell under Russian rule completely.

Independent Ukraine
On April 2nd, 1838, Tsar Nicolas I signed a deal with Ivan Kostiuk to give Ukraine its formal independence from the Russian Empire, but with the condition that Russia would still be allowed to station soldiers in Crimea. With the news, Ivan returned to Kiev and named himself Tsar of Ukraine, where he was coronated as the new leader of the Kievan, or Ukrainian people. Ivan's initial policies saw the growth of relations with the neighboring Kingdom of Romania, and the Russian Empire, however Ivan did keep Ukraine isolated from most of the western world and remained friendly with his fellow Slavs to stave off aggression from the Russians.

The War of Crimean Independence
Shortly after Ukraine's independence, Ivan imposed a tax on non-catholic citizens in Crimea to encourage the muslims there to convert to Eastern Orthodoxy. This was however met with unrest from the local Crimeans, such unrest saw its peak in the fall of 1838 when Kemal Giray declared himself Khan of Crimea and Crimea and independent state. While the Russian military pulled out of the region at the request of Ivan a month earlier, the Ukrainians found themselves unable to put down the uprising and as a result a treaty was signed in Yevpatoria by the former Duke of Ukraine, Sergei Vasiliev who upon his return to Ukraine was executed for treason. As a result, Ukraine never recognized Crimea as an independent state, and instead as an illegal occupation of Ukrainian territory. Despite this, Ukrainian forces completely left the region by 1839.

Formation of Ukraine-Romania
While the state itself did not officially exist until 1841, it was known as a personal union of the two nations when Tsar Viktor Kostiuk inherited Ukraine from his late father and Queen Alina inherited Romania from her late brother, preexisting marriage of the two leaders caused both nations to unify into one, The Tsardom of Ukraine-Romania. With the two nations officially merged into one state, and with the official being made Kiev, the new government began rapid industrialization of Romania, which prior to the unification was mostly agricultural. While Viktor saw this as a Great Leap Forward for the Romanian people, many of them initially died due to food shortages and it was due to this that Ukraine-Romania opened itself up to the world, at the behest of the Russians.

The Great War
The Great War begun on August 1st, 1891 when a Ukraine-Romanian ship fired upon a Russian and Rumite fleet that was violating the Crimean embargo, while there is much modern controversy about the shot heard around the world, some historians still claim that the Tri Sviatitelia's sinking was due to a Ukrainian cannonball striking the Russian ship, however most modern historians blame the Tri Sviatitelia's sinking on an engine failure that blew the ships hull. Immediately following the crisis in the Black Sea, Tsar Ivan then declared war on Crimea and Ukrainian soldiers begun their campaigns in Perekop and near Shcholkine (Qazan Tip). In the north the Russians, led by Tsar Nicolas II was intent on regaining Ukraine, though his original casus belli was to protect the ethnic Russians in the area. Both theaters Ukraine was involved in saw initial success due to Ukrainian inventions such as Sulfur Mustard gas and the K-1 Machine Gun along with the variants used on the Tachanka cavalry units, but then failure in Crimea forced the nation into white peace.

Post-Great War
Following the large loss of life for no territorial gain, many radical political factions began to organize in the nation. The main ones being the Black Army (Nazi militants), and the Peoples Will (Communist Terrorists), for the next few years, the two factions would wreak havoc in the empire and would often clash in large-scale firefights across the Moldavia region. Tsar Viktor cracked down on both ideologies and factions, declaring Petro Poroshenko (The Nazis) and Antony Belinsky (Communists) enemies of the state and ordered the secret police to hunt the two down.

Rise of Ruthenia
1899 was a significant year in the fall of the monarchy and in the rise of the Nazi regime. In October of that year, Tsar Viktor Kostiuk was assassinated by Antony Belinsky of the Peoples Will while he was addressing his nobles in Kiev. Belinsky, following the death of Viktor fled to Caucasia to escape pursuing Ukrainian authorities. When Ivan II heard of this news, he met with the Nazi rebels and swore to no longer pursue them, so long as they rooted out the Communists. While the Nazi's did do this, Ivan II was subject to the same fate as his father and in 1905 he was killed by rioting communists while giving a speech. In 1905, the Nazi leader Oleksandr Martyniuk was given the throne of the country according to the will of the late Tsar Ivan, upon taking the leadership position, Oleksandr abolished the monarchy, gave the state more power over the lives of the people, and passed a code of laws to "protect the Slavic people of Ruthenia and to protect civilization within the empire."

The Imperial State of Ruthenia
Along with the Nazi's rise to power in 1905 and with the passing of the totalitarian laws, Verkhovnyy Lider (Supreme Leader) Oleksandr also declared Ruthenia to be the Third Vymir. (Ukrainian for Realm, the first being Kievan Rus, and the second being Ukraine-Romania) With the declaration and the passing of even more restrictive acts by the government (Most notably the Slavic Purity Act, which deported Tatar and Turkish children, but kept the parents behind and shipped them off to concentration camps where they were subject to anything from slavery to experimentation. This lead to the death of about 4 million Tatars and 2 million turks, completely eradicating the Turkish population and reducing the Tatar population to 23 thousand.) The Ruthenian regime, while it was popular with the rich in Romania and in Moldavia, it left Ukraine full of over-industrialized slums and overall lowered living conditions in the region.

The Revolution of 1918
With growing unrest in Ukraine, the capital of Ruthenia was moved to Bucharest, where the government was more liked and accepted. This sparked more outrage at the government and was one of the main causes of March on Kiev in 1917. The protest itself was met with governmental aggression, as Oleksandr believed the communists would back down if he showed force, and when the protesters were killed, Antony Belinsky who was at the time was living in Russia with his family in Moscow decided to sneak into Ruthenia to organize these potential revolutionaries into the Bilʹshistʹ, or Bolshevik movement which would overtake Kiev in 1918 and split Ruthenia in half.

Civil War
Following the communists capturing Kiev and most of Ukraine joining them, Oleksandr renamed Ruthenia, back to its old name for the region, Romania. For the next several years, both Romania and Ukraine would be engaged in what would be known as the Ruthenian Civil War (To the outside world. Ukraine knew it as "The Great Patriotic War" and Romania knew it as "The War of Bolshevik Aggression" or "The Ukrainian-Romanian War") The war was initially triggered by border skirmishes over the region of Moldavia and who its true owner would be, after a few years when the Ukrainian attacks became more organized and more pervasive, Oleksandr of Romania made a compromise with President Grigory Petrovsky of the Bolshevik Republic of Ukraine and ceded eastern Moldavia to Ukraine, while the west would become an independent* nation. This aggrement, however resulted only in a ceasefire, and not a true end to the war.

Post-Civil War Tensions and the Balkan War
Despite Moldavia being officially divided between Romania and the Soviets, (see above) there was still Moldavian claims on soviet land, and vice versa. The lowest point mostly being when a Moldavian tank battalion entered the northern provinces of Soviet Moldavia, resulting in the Soviet army destroying the battalion. Cosmin Primorsky (Chancellor of Moldavia) was in the process of writing a declaration of war on the Ukrainians, though he later withdrew it after he had learned he would not be gaining any Romanian support. In 1936, Alexandr Albusel, Imperial Director of Romania was unsatisfied with his western conquests in Yugoslavia and Hungary, mostly due to the recent failures in both of the campaigns, and as a result he decided to officially declare war on Ukraine, hoping to reunify Ruthenia.

On December 12th, 1936 Alexandr Albusel betrayed the treaty of Bucharest and invaded Ukraine, in which the Romanians saw success in, well enough to the point where the Ukrainians were pushed back to Kiev. Many claim that the Romanian's success in Ukraine was due to its more advanced technology, its superior tactics, and its professional army vs. Ukraines less advanced, human wave conscript army. With Romanian success in the east, it boosted the morale of soldiers pushing west and allowed more victory. This was, however turned around in 1945 when the Romanian armies were halted in the battles of Pavlenkograd, Ukraine (formerly known as Cherkasy), Uzice, Yugoslavia, and in Debrecen, Hungary. It was in Pavlenkograd that the entire Romanian army attacking the city was encircled by Ukrainian partisans and 80% of the army was destroyed, sending the Romanians back into Kirovohrad and giving more breathing room for the soldiers in Kiev.

With the Romanian failure in the three cities, the three nations decided to finally cooperate against Romania (Hungary and Yugoslavia already were allies, though they did not make an alliance with the Ukrainians until now.) The Romanians soon found themselves unable to fight the three nations, and on May 2nd 1947 the Romanians surrendered to the three nations following the Ukrainians finally taking the day before. The terms of the war were that Ukraine would annex both Romania and Moldavia, and that both Ruthenian and Romanian war crimes would be admitted and the perpetrators would be put on trial in Belgrade.

Nuclear Era and New Age Communism
As the years would go on, the Japanese Fukushima Project resulted in a new form of weapon, the nuclear bomb. While the first bomb was dropped in 1945, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics would not gain nuclear arms successfully until 1960, however the first official detonation was in 1965 when the Soviet's launched the R-7 missile in the deserts of eastern Ilkhanate. While initially, the tests were kept secret, Stanislav Pavlenko was forced to make a statement on the radiation leaks that went into British India, Kazakhstan, and Russia. It was there that he admitted the Soviets had nuclear weapons, and he also announced the Soviet Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). This began a race for other countries to try and make their own ICBM's.

During the New Age Communism movement of the late 1980's, the Soviet Union would see its first Crimean politician to rise above the lower ranks of the government. Mustafa Agibeli, was elected as Head of the Council of the Peoples Commissars, and earned the title as the first non-Ukrainian to hold that position. As 1989 continued, the USSR and other members of ComIntern began to liberalise their governments, mainly influenced by Juche, Che Guevara's Venezuela, and the Rome Spring. By 1991, most governments in the ComIntern had adopted democratic governments, but retained their strict socialist economies.

Government and Politics
For most of Ukraine's existance, it had been an absolute monarchy with a feudal system. Ruled absolutely by the Tsar of the realm, and many local titles (Duchies, counties, etc.) were handed to feudal lords be either inheriting said title, or being granted said title by order of the Tsar. Following the end of the Ukrainian monarchy in 1914 and the rise of Ruthenian Nazism, local titles were still handed out the similarly, except titles were no longer inherited and granted by the leader of the state. (Duchies, and counties were also replaced with States and provinces.)

With the communist revolution in 1918, Ukraine became a "Dictatorship of the Proletariat", which while there were elections, there was only one single party in the entire nation after opposition parties were banned in 1919. With the annexation of Romania and Moldavia, another level was added to the federal hierarchy, that of the Peoples Republic. (Examples: The Peoples Republic of Romania, The Peoples Republic of Moldavia, The Peoples Republic of Ukraine) The implementation of these new federal titles was done by President Pavlenko in 1947 to give the people of Moldavia and Romania a sense of semi-autonomy.

Following the New Age Communism movement in Italy and in most of the European Communist nations, the now reformed Soviet government abandoned the old Dictatorship of the Proletariat and instead installed a Workers Republic with multiple parties incluiding as the Loyalistiv partiyi, a controversial party dedicated to the restoration of the monarchy and pre-Ruthenian ideals. The Nazi party and the Ruthenian rune, however, remain illegal in the nation due to a popular vote conducted in 1991.

Japan
Prior to the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Ukraine is seen by Japan as a typical European state, looking after themselves rather than others. Neutral relations between the two overall.

Relations between Japan and the USSR have been turbulent. During Petrovsky's rule over the USSR, Japan viewed the Soviets as a true defender of Socialism in Europe, and had positive relations. However, during the days of Pavlenko and most Soviet leaders prior to the liberalisation the Japanese viewed the USSR as mere pretenders to the socialist cause, and that they gave communism a bad name. Relations did improve during the New Age Socialism movement, as now Japan and the Soviets view one another as brothers in struggle for international tolerance and friendship.