Ukrainian Independence in Historical Perspective

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The ongoing situation in Eastern Europe and the Crimea has found a great deal of attention in media and public circles alike. Much of the focus has been on the volatility of military action and the potential for increased hostility in the immediate region, while media coverage of the situation internationally has explored in significant detail the impact of economic sanctions on Russian action. It is unfortunate that the civilian story often seems tertiary to events most told, so in today’s post we focus on the history of Ukrainian nationalism with an eye to understanding government response in Canada to episodes in the push for Ukrainian independence.

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Is Russia of 2014 like Germany of the 1930s? Some Historical Context to Austria's Anschluss, Czechoslovakia and the Munich Agreement

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For many, the evolving situation in Ukraine harkens back to European history of the 1930s. Whether it is the German-Austrian Anschluss or the German claim to Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland, many across the world (and within Russia itself) have made the comparison between Russia's recent aggressive stance in the Crimea and the actions of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Such comparisons can be useful as they place the situation in Ukraine in a comprehensible (if perhaps simplified) framework. Most informed observers of contemporary affairs are broadly familiar with the events leading up to the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, and can easily understand a conception of Russia's action within such a comparison. Given the number of sources that have made the comparison in the last week, we thought it would be fruitful to remind our readers of those events in more detail.

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