Table of Contents
Introduction: Reflections from 2022
PART 1. VIKINGS IN UKRAINE?
Chapter 1. The Legacy of Kyivan Rus’ ∼650 CE
The Origin of the Name “Rus”
Pirate Kingdom―the Kyivan State ∼862
The Sudden Christianization of Kyivan Rus' 988
How Kyivan Rus' Got Fat―and Fell 1054-1242
Northern Gods and Forgotten Graves―Society and Culture of Kyivan Rus'
Language
Beliefs, Values, Symbols, and Artifacts
The Golden Horde and Galicia-Volhynia 1237-1241
Key Takeaways
Chapter 2.
Lithuanians, Poles, and Cossacks in Ukraine 1349-1795Under Polish-Lithuanian Rule
Social and Economic Change, and Everything the Same
Religion and Culture
The Formative Phase
The Great Revolt and the Rule of the Cossacks 1648
The Ruin 1654–1687
The Hetmanate
The Disappearance of Poland-Lithuania
Key Takeaways
Chapter 3. Ukraine Under Imperial Rule 1795-1917
Two Eagles, Four Heads―Two Empires in Ukraine
Ukraine Under the Austrian Empire
The Stirrings of Ukrainian National Consciousness 1848
Crimean War and the Emancipation of Ukrainian Serfs 1856
Socioeconomic Change
Don’t Educate the Peasants! Intelligentsia and Ukrainian Activism
Eastern Galicia: A Bastion of Ukrainianism
Key Takeaways
PART 2. UKRAINE IN THE 20th CENTURY
Chapter 4. The Start of the 20th Century for Ukraine 1900-1922
The Power of Culture: How Ukraine Survived
Language
Religion
Education
Overseas Populations
Economics
Revolutionary Organization
Brewing Revolution: Russian Communists and Ukrainian Peasants Raise the Stakes
Ukraine, Russian Revolution, and Hungary 1917
Brief Independence for Ukraine 1918-1922
Key Takeaways
Chapter 5. Lenin, Stalin, and WWII 1922-1953
Vladimir Lenin and Ukraine
The USSR Harvest of Ukrainian Wheat
The Ukrainization of Ukraine?
Stalin’s Pacification of Ukraine and the Holodomor
Industrialization of Ukraine
Ukraine During the Second World War
Key Takeaways
Chapter 6.
Ukraine After Stalin—Khrushev’s “Thaw” 1953-1990Stalin’s Dying Days
Crimea Handed Over to Ukraine 1954
Walking Back the Stalin Years
The Thaw
Stagnation and Attempts at Reform
The Immigrants
The Ukrainian Diaspora
Key Takeaways
Chapter 7. Ukraine—Free After Eight Centuries 1991-2022
The Real Dominos: The Soviet Union’s Sudden Collapse
The Troubled Transition to 30 Years of Peace
Ukraine in the Age of Globalization
Social Media and Propaganda in Ukraine
Globalized Technology and Commerce in Ukraine
Religion, Globalization, and Ukraine
The Rise of the Global Criminals
Key Takeaways
Chapter 8. Fighting Over Facts—What Really Happened in Ukraine?
The Control of History
Competing Historical Memories—Ukraine versus Russia
The Heritage of Kyivan Rus’
Hetman Ivan Mazepa—Traitor or National Hero?
Lenin—Founder or Oppressor of the Ukrainian State?
The Holodomor—Non-Event or Genocide by Starvation?
Great Patriotic War—Who Was Patriotic to Which Motherland?
Ukraine—Whole-Land Independence or Foreign Fragmentation?
Key Takeaways
Chapter 9. Culture Wars—Who Is Ukraine?
Competing Cultural Institutions of Ukraine
The Glorious Party or Iron Wolf?
The Glorious Church or Foolish Superstition
Russian Language versus Ukrainian Language
News Media—Information on a Mission
Monuments and Place Names
Ukrainian Alienation from the Means of Production
Key Takeaways
PART 3. UKRAINE—WAR AGAIN
Chapter 10. Russia Sets Its Pieces
Media Chum: Russia Sets the Mood for War
Personality in Power: Putin
Russia as the Slavic Policeman
The New Svyatogor—the “Ukrainian Nazi”
Developing a Pro-Russian Population Inside Ukraine
Long-Term Infiltration
Far-Right Parties and the Revolution
Russian Orthodox Support of Ukrainian-Russian Separatism
Military Moves
Modernization of the Russian Army
Encrypted Communications
The Hi-Tech T-14 Armata Battle Tank
Assemble Overwhelming Force
Strategy—Obliterate and Liberate
Key Takeaways
Chapter 11.
Ukraine Sets Its PiecesMedia Chum: Ukraine Sets the Mood for Resistance
Personality in Power: Zelensky
Developing Ukrainian Nationalism
Politics Minus Crimea and Donbas
More to Lose: The Education of Ukrainian Peasants
The Euromaidan Movement
Military Moves
A Large Standing National Army
Trained Local Militias
Hi-Tech Army
Strategy for Tanks
International Visibility
Key Takeaways
Chapter 12. Tanks versus Drones in a “Tiktok War”
Ukrainian Invasion—Beta Test Crimea 2014
Lightning Strike
Model Battle Plan for Attack on Ukraine
A Bridge Too Far?
The Post-Covid Invasion of Ukraine
The Battle for Kyiv
Kyiv in Three Days, Ukraine in a Week
The Battle for Kherson
The Battle for Mariupol
The Battle for the Donbas
Political Operations
Putin’s Special Military Operation
Bots and the Battle for Media Supremacy
Zelensky on TikTok
Glitches in the Russian War Machine
No New Tanks
Communications Failures
The Problem of Drones
The Moskva
High Casualty Count
Weapons of a Postmodern World
International Alliances
Weapons Deals and Gifts
Sanctions & the Power of Global Opinion
Hack Attack
Key Takeaways
Conclusion—Vladimir versus Volodymyr
Appendix. Milestone Moments in History That Explain the 2022 Invasion
References
Image References