the gates of europe a history of ukraine

The color revolutions did not change the post-Soviet world, but they left a lasting legacy and the hope that it would change one day. The Orange Revolution gave a common name to a number of 'color revolutions' that shook authoritarian regimes from Serbia to Lebanon and from Georgia to Kyrgyzstan. The world next saw Ukraine on television screens in November 2004, when festive orange-clad crowds filled the squares and streets of Kyiv demanding fair elections and got their way. Bush declared the final victory of the West in the prolonged and exhausting Cold War. The events in Ukraine then had major international repercussions and did indeed change the course of history: the Soviet Union was dissolved one week after the Ukrainian referendum, and President George H. In December 1991, as Ukrainian citizens went to the polls en masse to vote for their independence, they also consigned the mighty Soviet Union to the dustbin of history.

U KRAINIANS PROBABLY HAVE just as much right to brag about their role in changing the world as Scots and other nationalities about which books have been written asserting their claim to have shaped the course of human history.

As Ukraine once again finds itself at the center of global attention, Plokhy brings its history to vivid life as he connects the nation’s past with its present and future. This revised edition includes new material that brings this definitive history up to the present. In The Gates of Europe, Plokhy examines Ukraine’s search for its identity through the lives of major Ukrainian historical figures, from its heroes to its conquerors. Situated between Central Europe, Russia, and the Middle East, Ukraine has been shaped by empires that exploited the nation as a strategic gateway between East and West-from the Romans and Ottomans to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. A New York Times bestseller, this definitive history of Ukraine is “an exemplary account of Europe’s least-known large country” ( Wall Street Journal).Īs Ukraine is embroiled in an ongoing struggle with Russia to preserve its territorial integrity and political independence, celebrated historian Serhii Plokhy explains that today’s crisis is a case of history repeating itself: the Ukrainian conflict is only the latest in a long history of turmoil over Ukraine’s sovereignty.

The gates of europe a history of ukraine