Where did the border of Ukraine pass before 1917?

The frontier of Ukraine until 1917 has become a stumbling block between veteran professors of history, well-known politicians and cultural figures. The formation of the modern state stretched for centuries, for which the ancient cities and peoples were replaced more than once or twice.

The arrival of the Cimmerians

The first people on the Ukrainian territory became the Cimmerians, who were mentioned in the reflection of the era - Odyssey.

Ancient nomads who spoke one of the dialects of the Iranian language group visited the Black Sea region around the 9th century BC It is assumed that the tribes of the Cimmerian Cimmerians from the Lower Volga region were nomads, and a favorable climate forced them to linger in the wild steppes for two hundred years . The historical borders of Ukraine until 1917 were constantly changing, and it began almost 3,000 years ago, and since that time the territory has repeatedly expanded, decreased and assumed unimaginable outlines.

As the letters of the nomads did not know, they did not leave any information about themselves, except for archaeological sites and rare references in chronicles of that time. Contemporaries had something to say about the terrible savages - most historians described the kimmer as ruthless and skillful warriors, and the customs of the tribes brought enlightened people into awe.

Wild Scythians

Herodotus ruthlessly walked through the customs and social system of the nomads and in paints described the relentless extermination of the Cimmerians by the native Black people. What was the border of Ukraine before 1917, we know, but it could lie anywhere, if the steppe horsemen did not oust the less developed forest dwellers.

However, the destiny of the black-skinned people very quickly overtook the Cimmerians. They, in turn, could not repel the Scythians, who flew to the parking lot, robbed dwellings and drove the horses with herds.

The next wave of nomads (Scythians) reached its peak in the 5th-4th centuries BC.

The first centralized bulwark of culture on the territory of Ukraine - the Great Scythia - was described by Herodotus. The borders of Ukraine until 1917, from the time of the Scythians, acquired the shape of an expanded rectangle around the Northern Black Sea coast from the Danube in the west to the eastern part of the Azov Sea.

From the north, space is confined to Pripyat and a line that runs along modern Chernigov, is caught by Kursk and Voronezh. In the III century BC Scythians in the Black Sea steppes finally replaced the Sarmatians. On the Black Sea plains the tribes did not last about six centuries (until the first millennium BC), until they were driven away by the Goths and Huns. After their invasion of the territory of Ukraine, the Slavic tribes of the Antes and their related sklavins predominate.

The frontier of Ukraine until 1917 changed a huge number of times: at a slower pace in the time of the nomads, and then changes in the shape of the territory began to occur at cosmic speeds.

Склавины, анты, венеды

The Gothic historian of the Jordan writes about and often mentions sklavins. According to him, Slavs-sklaviny had a common ancestor, and they live by three Vendian tribes - brave Wends, strong ants, their smaller brothers - sklavins. But in the 7th century the French chronicler and historian Fredegar said that "the sklavins are Wends."

Archaeologists often find ant treasures, consisting of gold and silver, mined during hikes and raids on nearby territories. The warriors of the Antes were armed with bows and arrows, shields, long swords were also included in standard equipment. The Ants were considered to be the strongest Slavic tribe: they were mercenary soldiers in the Byzantine army.

Prisoners were often used as slaves, selling them or taking ransom from the nearest neighbors was a kind of etiquette of that time. Nevertheless, after a while, the captured slave could become a free and full member of the community. The main deity of antes, Perun, was considered relatively complaisant. A bloodless victim is the fundamental principle of belief; Among the offerings on the altars of idols, archaeologists found only ready-made food, herbs and jewelry. During the Antes the process of the birth of Kiev and Volhynia began, which again changed the borders of Ukraine. Until 1917, however, it was still far away.

Origin of Kievan Rus

The next milestone in the history of the development of the modern state was Kievan Rus. The city, which became the cultural and social center of a huge territory, was repeatedly rebuilt, burned and destroyed. The border of Ukraine until 1917 changed with it - it covered the surrounding land, it narrowed to the suburbs of Kiev.

The state around the Kiev settlement began in the 9th century, when the far eastern Slavs and tribes of the Finno-Ugric group united under the rule of the prince of the Rurik dynasty. The history of Kiev as an independent city-state begins with the seizure of the capital by Oleg, which led the eastern Slavic tribes.

Blossoming of the state

The frontier of Ukraine before the revolution of 1917 (somewhere in the late 10th century, during the heyday of Kievan Rus) was beyond the Dniester and in the upper course of the Vistula River in the west, encompassed the Taman Peninsula in the southeast and was lost in the upper reaches of the Northern Dvina. Geography also helps to represent the cities of Kievan Rus and understand its territorial structure. The oldest of the sites is Kiev, and behind it came Chernigov, the ancient Pereyaslavl, the famous Smolensk, the promising Rostov, the new Ladoga, the fabulous Pskov and the new Polotsk.

The reign of princes Vladimir (960-1015) and Yaroslav (1019-1054 gg.) Was the time of the greatest prosperity of the state. It's amazing what the border of Ukraine was before the 1917 revolution! The territories have expanded enormously: from the Carpathians to the Baltic steppes and the Black Sea region.

By the middle of the 12th century, in the mighty Kievan Rus', a dark era of feudal fragmentation began, a confusion broke into a dozen separate principalities, ruled by various branches of the Rurik. The beginning of 1132 is considered the official beginning of intrafamily squabbles, when after the death of Mstislav the Great, the son of Vladimir Monomakh, the power of the prince of Kiev ceased to recognize Polotsk and Novgorod at the same time. Kiev was not officially considered the capital until the very Tatar-Mongol invasion (1237-1240 gg.). What would be the border of Ukraine before the revolution of 1917, if there were no Troubles? Perhaps Kievan Rus would have grown to the size of Rome and Carthage in order to ingloriously fall under the burden of unbearable problems for huge empires.

Collapse and Troubles

In the battle with the Mongols on the Kalka River (in the territory of the present-day Donetsk region) at the end of May 1223, almost all the South Russian princes took part, many of them, as well as many noble boyars fell in battle. With the princes, the closest relatives, servants and senior descendants fell, which led to the bleeding of the best kinds of the country. The victory fell to the Mongols, and the survivors expected captivity and shame. With the weakening of the southern Russian principalities, the Hungarian and Lithuanian feudal lords intensified their offensive, but also the influence of the princes of the Chernigov, Novgorod and Kiev regions increased. What would be the border of Ukraine before 1917, all in favor of Rusich? Historians suggest that the little princes would peregryzlis would with each other with the same result - in the battles for power and land would fall the most noble and noble people of Kievan Rus.

The fall of Kiev

In 1240 the Mongols (led by Batu Khan, grandson of the menacing Genghis Khan) turned Kiev into ashes. The remains of the city received Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, whom the Mongols recognized as the main, as his son Alexander Nevsky. But they did not transport the capital city to Kiev and stayed in Vladimir - away from the wild nomads with their arrows, herds and obscure customs.

Before the revolution in 1917, where did the border pass? Where the battle of Kievan Rus was in full swing. Then the tendency was firmly established and finally established that every inch should be taken by force.

Galicia Principality

In 1245 in Yaroslav during the battle (in modern Poland the city of Yaroslav on the San River) Danila Galitsky and his army broke the regiments of Hungarian and Polish feudal lords. Danila Galitsky on the basis of the Western alliance against the Golden Horde in 1253 received from the pope the title of king. The reign of Danil Romanovich was the period of the greatest rise of the Galicia-Volyn principality. The strength of the state caused concern in the Golden Horde. The Principality was forced to pay tribute to the Horde constantly, and the rulers undertook to send troops for joint campaigns with the Mongols. Nevertheless, the Galicia-Volyn principality managed to successfully solve in its favor many questions of foreign policy.

The frontier of Ukraine before the revolution in 1917 changed rapidly. This happened in the days of Danilo Galitsky. In the second half of the 13th century, the Galicia-Volyn principality did not control the south of the territory, but later regained control of these lands and gained access to the Black Sea. After 1323, all new territories were again lost for many centuries. Polesie was annexed by Lithuania in the early 14th century in a series of wars between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The territories that left Poland in 1349 became a symbol of the end of the heyday. Since this year the Galicia-Volyn principality was in official decline.

New territories

The border of Ukraine before the revolution of 1917, as already noted, has changed a great many times, and at that time, when Lithuania was able to resist the Mongols in the territory of modern Kirovograd, the outlines changed again beyond recognition.

Many Orthodox princes were not against rapprochement with Poland, although in 1381-1384, 1389-1392 and in 1432-1439, There were as many as three civil wars. Many cities, including, for example, Lviv, Kiev, Vladimir-Volynsky, got their own government according to the Magdeburg law.

In the 90 years of the XIV century. Cousin Jagailo Vitovt thanks to an alliance with the Mongols managed to peacefully annex the entire vast territory south of the vast Wild Field. So the historical borders of Ukraine were formed, until the revolution of 1917 they changed little later. New areas allowed the economy and society of that time to gradually acquire recognizable features.

Hetmans and Ruins

Bogdan Khmelnitsky became the next reformer and a landmark ruler. The uprising of 1648-1654. Under his leadership led to the emergence of an autonomous hetman. It is for certain unknown, before intervention of the Cossack ataman where the border of Ukraine passed. Until 1917, the state experienced many more significant events. Vague and fragmentary information was often based only on ancient, long-lost statutes and documents. In the Khmelnitsky Rada adopted a series of decisions, which resulted in the Russian-Polish war of 1654-1667. Its course contributed to the deployment of civil wars between various hetmans. Left-bank Ukraine wanted to be a part of Russia, and the Right-Bank Ukraine wanted to create a strong alliance with Poland.

Start of New Russia

Now you know where the border of Ukraine was before 1917 in different historical stages. During the Northern War, Hetman Mazepa unexpectedly took the side of the Swedish King Charles XII, who was defeated in the Battle of Poltava. As a result, the autonomy and rights of the Hetmanate were limited, and the management of the vast territory was under the jurisdiction of the Little Russian Collegium. The period after the collapse of the Russian Empire did not give any special territorial acquisitions.

The way the Ukrainian border was formed before the 1917 revolution depended on the foreign and domestic policies of the state. The name "Novorossia" and corresponding outlines of the territory of the country acquired in the late 18th century.