ABSTRACT
In the nineteenth century, a distinction was drawn in Europe between what were termed "historical" and "ahistorical" nations. "Historical" nations were those that had existed as separate states in the past, whether or not they continued to do so. These periods are not seen as preincarnations of today's independent Baltic states. Ukraine had never been part of the Russian empire but had been annexed by the Soviet Union after the signing of the pact between German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov in 1939. When it is maintained that the Ukrainians have a centuries-old state tradition, what is being referred to is not Kievan Rus' but the Ukrainian Cossacks. The Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic was established in January 1919, initially encompassing the easternmost portions of today's Belarus. The historiography of Soviet Moldavia emphasized the Slavic cultural influence and the close historical ties to Russia.
