The events involving Ukraine, Russia, and the now-annexed Crimean peninsula have shocked observers around the world. This month, historian Serhy Yekelchyk examines the deep history of tensions between Russia and Ukraine by getting at the very heart of the story: the longstanding question of Ukrainian national identity and the historical importance of external powers, especially Russia and the Soviet Union, in determining the fate of the Ukrainian people. Amid the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ukraine votes for independence in a referendum, with 92 percent of Ukrainians supporting independence, and elects Leonid Kravchuk as president. Ukraine had the second-largest population and economy of the fifteen Soviet republics. The Ukrainian War of Independence was a series of conflicts involving many adversaries that lasted from 1917 to 1921 and resulted in the establishment and development of a Ukrainian republic, most of which was later absorbed into the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of 1922–1991. The war consisted of military conflicts between different governmental, political and military forces. Belligerents included Ukrainian nationalists, Ukrainian anarchists, Bolsheviks, the forces of Germany and Austria-Hungary, the White Russian Volunteer Army, and Second Polish Republic forces. They struggled for control of Ukraine after the February Revolution (March 1917) in the Russian Empire. The Allied forces of Romania and France also became involved. The struggle lasted from February 1917 to November 1921 and resulted in the division of Ukraine between the Bolshevik Ukrainian SSR, Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. This book makes an interesting reading for historians, defence and policy analysts, researchers and general readers alike.
About the Author:
Major S. K. Sharma (Retd.), M.A. and LL.B. from Meerut University, is a versatile genius and joined the defence in Capacity of Second Lieutenant and in view of his performances during his job tenure he was elevated to various post and retired as Major. Since very beginning you have been very keen towards writing and after the retirement from job you are sparing your time for academic work you have written a number of articles concerning the field of defence. |
