ABSTRACT
Ukraine is a large country, second in Europe only to Russia (and larger than France), and with its 48 million citizens it is a potential great power. Ukraine is located to the west of Russia, with Belarus in the north, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Moldova in the west and with the Black Sea in the south. The history of Ukraine is closely knit to that of Russia, and in some respects older as well: Kiev Rus was created in the ninth century and prospered for some time as trade routes between the north and south and between west and east. The Mongols invaded in the mid-thirteenth century and ruled for several centuries. Western Ukraine remained free for some time but came under Polish rule in the fourteenth century and Polish society and culture dominated. This rule was fought by Ukrainian free peasants – the Cossacks – who allied themselves with Moscow. In the seventeenth century, Ukraine was split up between Poland and Russia. When Poland was divided in the eighteenth century, Russia expanded to the west. It would take until the late eighteenth century before Russia defeated the Crimean khanate in the south.
