Recently the Internet witnessed one of the most Millennial arguments between the official Twitter accounts of the Russian and Ukrainian governments. It would seem that nowadays diplomatic relationships have trespassed the rigid protocols. What happened? In a conference, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin mentioned the story of Anna Yaroslavna, or Anne of Kiev, who during the eleventh century became Queen of France, hence establishing international relationships between France and Russia. Immediately, Ukraine wrote a tweet reminding its followers (and Russia’s, since they included the account) that when Anne de Kiev was crowned, Moscow was still a rural town. In response to this, Russia claimed that by that time they had already built the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Veliky Novgorod, one of the oldest cities of Russia, thus stating that they weren’t as rural as Ukraine implied. The caption of this description was that they were proud of their common history, to what the Ukrainian account answered with one of the most epic replies from an official account:
Yes, we all laughed and applauded Ukraine’s sassy and accurate response, but why is this so relevant? For centuries, as you can see, Russia has been characterized for being a colonizer nation. So, yes, Russia shares a “common” history with other powerful nations, but what kind of relationship was that? In the case of Ukraine, both countries come from the early medieval tribe known as the Kievan Rus, which settled in Ukraine and then expanded throughout the territory. They both lived as a nation with a shared foundation and culture that became one of the most influential of the time, until 1242 when the Rus was destroyed. Moscow settled as the Grand Duchy of Moscow and soon became the world power we’ve read about in history books.
But what happened with Ukraine? Danylo Romanovych united three of the Rus groups and was named King, but with his death, the territory became a prize many wanted, so they were constantly invaded. It was until the seventeenth century that Ukraine had to ask Russia for help, signing a treaty in which the former had to pledge loyalty to the empire. Long story short, by the eighteenth century Ukraine went through a “Russification,” even losing their original language up until the early twentieth century when our story takes place.
With the outbreak of the First World War, Ukraine joined both sides: on the one hand, they fought next to Austria on the side of the Central Powers, but also about 3 million soldiers joined Russia. There was an obvious division in which one side voted to remain part of the Russian Empire while others demanded independence. In 1917, the same year the Russian Revolution began, the Ukrainian People’s Republic was part of the Russian Republic under the Bolshevik government. Also, the West Ukrainian Republic was formed, making the divisions even bigger and setting the atmosphere for their own civil war. Again, fighting against other countries and among themselves, in 1922 Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union.
When Stalin came to power, he started a process of collectivization to unify all the territories through working policies and social norms. Doesn’t sound that bad, right? Well, during this process, which lasted from 1928 to 1933, it’s estimated that about 10 million people died of hunger. The Collectivization wanted to end with the traditional model of agriculture. All the production was owned by the government instead of those who worked it. The Soviet Union’s population was in their majority farmers who had to give all their products and earnings to the Collectivization. Of course, they were not going to give their things that easily. There were many protests and riots around the territory. The Red Army had to intervene to stop the rebellion. By 1929, thousands were arrested (even innocent people) and sent to labor camps in Siberia.
“From 1931 to 1934 we had great harvests. The weather conditions were great. However, all the grain was taken from us. People searched the fields for mice burrows hoping to find measly amounts of grain stored by mice…” –Mykola Karlosh
Despite the protests, people were forced to give a percentage of their harvest to the government, which kept asking for more and more. Farmers started hiding food so soldiers wouldn’t take everything from them. It’s said that soldiers would enter the houses and take even the smallest seed. Then, the famine began. Out of despair, many tried to flee the country, but soon Stalin’s government closed Ukraine’s borders so that no one could cross to get food. Repression reigned in Ukraine. New laws were enforced so people could be sentenced to spend years in labor camps for hiding food.
“People were dying all over our village. The dogs ate the ones that were not buried. If people could catch the dogs they were eaten. In the neighboring village, people ate bodies that they dug up.” –Motrya Mostova
These inhuman measures provoked a forced famine in which around 30,000 people died every day, including children. Meanwhile, all the production was exported to the world at a very low price because it was so much they were afraid it would become waste. It wasn’t a matter of bad crops, but the government’s way to stop any kind of revolt. You know, many think fear is the only way to be respected.
“People were drinking a lot of water to fill stomachs, that is why the bellies and legs were swollen. The skin was swelling from the water as well. At that time the punishment for a stolen handful of grain was 5 years of prison. One was not allowed to go into the fields, the sparrows were pecking grain, though people were not allowed.” –Olexandra Rafalska
*
Naturally, the Russian government denied everything, and even today there’s a huge controversy behind the true intention of these actions. Like in any of these cases, there are many theories and versions other than what survivors and statistics show. For instance, it was believed that it was all a malign propaganda by the USSR’s enemies. Another one states that it was the Ukrainians who burned and destroyed the crops out of a nationalistic sentiment, refusing to give anything to the government. Actually, to this day the events are not officially accepted as a genocide.
***
In their quest for power, human beings have tainted history with blood and horrors. Most of these events, however, remain unknown. For instance, take the crimes committed against the Bengali people by the British. Wars are capable of showing people’s darkest side and pushes them to commit the unimaginable.
***
Sources:
BBC
Famine in Soviet Ukraine
Holodomor
