Ukraine has long been a country rent by linguistic differences, ethnic strife and divided political loyalties. This book provides the crucial historical background for understanding the conflict in Ukraine. It also looks beyond the appearance of ethnic strife to the conflict's deeper causes, the clash of different political models and concepts of citizenship.

Acknowledgments ; Chronology ; Chapter 1: Why Ukraine? ; What is the Maidan, and what made it top news around the world? ; How and why did Russia annex the Crimea from Ukraine? ; Why did fighting break out in eastern Ukraine in the spring of 2014? ; Why did the Ukrainian crisis cause tensions between Russia and the West? ; Chapter 2: The Land and the People ; What is Ukraine's geographical location, and what natural resources and industry does it possess? ; What is Ukraine's demography and ethnic composition? ; Who are the Ukrainians and what is modern Ukrainian national identity? ; Is it true that Ukraine is split into pro-Western and pro-Russian halves? ; How large is the Ukrainian diaspora, and what role does it play in North American politics? ; Chapter 3: The Making of Modern Ukraine ; Was Ukraine always part of Russia? ; What was the medieval state of Kyivan Rus and was it a Russian or Ukrainian polity? ; Who were the Cossacks? ; Is it true that Ukraine was "reunited" with Russia in 1654? ; Who was Ivan Mazepa and why is he considered a "traitor" in Russia? ; What were Russia's imperial policies in Ukraine? ; Did the Austrian Empire govern its Ukrainian lands differently? ; What happened in the Ukrainian lands during the revolutionary turmoil of 1917-20? ; Why did the Bolsheviks create a Ukrainian republic within the Soviet Union, and how did they determine its borders? ; What was the Holodomor (the Ukrainian Famine of 1932-33) and was it genocide? ; As one of the Soviet Union's main grain-producing areas, the Ukrainian SSR suffered ; Is it true that all the Ukrainian lands were united in a single polity for the first time under Stalin? ; What is Babi Yar, and how did the Holocaust unfold in Ukraine? ; Who was Stepan Bandera and what was the Ukrainian Insurgent Army? ; What were the Soviet policies in Ukraine during the postwar period? ; Who were the dissidents, and how did they contribute to the collapse of communism? ; Why did the Chernobyl accident happen, and what was its impact on Ukraine? ; Chapter 4: Ukraine after Communism ; Did the Ukrainians have to fight the Russians in order to secede from the Soviet Union? ; What is the Commonwealth of Independent States? ; When and why did Ukraine give up its nuclear arsenal? ; What were Ukraine's relations with the West and Russia in the first decade after independence? ; Did the presidents of independent Ukraine promote a united national identity? ; What religions came to prominence in Ukraine after the Soviet collapse? ; How did independent Ukraine become an inefficient economy and a paragon of crony capitalism? ; Who are the oligarchs? ; Is Ukraine dependent on Russian gas supplies? ; Chapter 5: The Orange Revolution and the EuroMaidan ; What did the two recent revolutions in Ukraine (2004 and 2013-14) have in common? ; Why did mass protests against President Kuchma develop in the early 2000s, and who led them? ; What sparked the Orange Revolution in 2004? ; Was Yushchenko poisoned and were the culprits ever prosecuted? ; How was a peaceful resolution reached in the winter of 2004-5? ; Did the victors of the Orange Revolution manage to create a new Ukraine? ; How did Viktor Yanukovych return to power, first as prime minister and later as president? ; Why was Yulia Tymoshenko imprisoned? ; What caused the new popular revolt in late 2013? ; What role did the Ukrainian radical right play in the protests, and what symbols did they use? ; What led to the high number of casualties on the Maidan in 2013-14, as opposed to 2004? ; Where did Yanukovych escape and how was the transfer of power formalized? ; Was either of the two Ukrainian revolutions the result of a Western conspiracy? ; Chapter 6: Russia's Annexation of the Crimea and the War in the Donbas ; What shared characteristics led the Crimean Peninsula and the Donbas region to become conflict zones? ; What was "New Russia," and why did President Putin revive this concept? ; Who are the Crimean Tatars? ; Why was the Crimea transferred from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954? ; Did the Crimea try to separate from Ukraine in the 1990s? ; Was there a previous conflict between Russia and Ukraine over the Black Sea Fleet, and how was it resolved? ; Why was Russia able to take over the Crimea so quickly and with so little resistance? ; How is the Crimea being absorbed into Russia? ; Was the Donbas historically a Russian region? ; Is it true that a separate republic existed in the Donbas during the revolutionary era? ; Did the Donbas stand out among other Ukrainian regions during the late Soviet period and the post-communist transformation? ; Why did the armed conflict with the new Ukrainian authorities start in the Donbas and not in other eastern regions in the spring of 2014? ; What polities did the separatists create in the Donbas and why did Russia not annex them outright, as was the case with the Crimea? ; Why did the Ukrainian army perform poorly compared to the pro-Russian forces in the Donbas? ; Under what circumstances was the Malaysian Airlines passenger flight shot down over the Donbas on 17 July 2014? ; What has been the human cost of the armed conflict in the Donbas? ; Chapter 7: Building a New Ukraine in a Globalized World ; What sanctions did the West introduce against Russia, and did they work? ; Did Western diplomatic mediation assist in the de-escalation of the conflict in the Donbas? ; How should the results of the 2014 presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine be interpreted? ; What was the composition of the new Ukrainian government, and what were its first steps? ; What are the consequences of Ukraine's Association Agreement with the EU? ; Has the Ukrainian crisis sparked a new Cold War? ; Notes ; Further Reading ; Index

"Excellent... a succinct, lucid text that is ideal for newcomers to recent Ukrainian events." --The Financial Times "This reliable and accessible sourcebook by an accomplished and gifted Ukrainian historian beautifully conveys the knowledge we need to prevent misunderstandings, avoid stereotypes, and decode propaganda. It should be on the desk, the bedside, or the airplane tray table of everyone who is working to understand Ukraine or to help Europe resolve its major crisis." --Timothy Snyder, author of Bloodlands and Black Earth

Selling point: Concise introduction to the current conflict in Ukraine Selling point: Written by one of the leading scholars of Ukrainian, Russian and East European history Selling point: Interprets the conflict in Ukraine as primarily a clash of political models rather than ethnic strife

Born and educated in Ukraine, Serhy Yekelchyk has published widely on modern Ukrainian history and Russian-Ukrainian relations. His Ukraine: Birth of a Modern Nation was the first historical survey to include the 2004 Orange Revolution and has since been translated into five languages. A professor at the University of Victoria, Dr. Yekelchyk currently serves as president of the Canadian Association of Ukrainian Studies.

Selling point: Concise introduction to the current conflict in Ukraine Selling point: Written by one of the leading scholars of Ukrainian, Russian and East European history Selling point: Interprets the conflict in Ukraine as primarily a clash of political models rather than ethnic strife