Two Ukraines: The Origin of Today’s Divide

The Historical Divergence of Galicia-Volhynia from the Rest of The Ukraine

Note: This is the first installment of a three-part series for paid subscribers on the historical development of Medieval Russia. It will cover three historical periods cataloguing the bifurcation of the population which led to “Great” and “Little” Russia; the captivity of “Little Russia,” the Union of Brest and rise of the Cossacks; and how the domination of Western Ukraine by Poland and Austria led to two Ukraines - which are currently fighting for the soul of Ukraine in the midst of the Russo-Ukrainian War.

Part One of Three: The Decline of Kiev & Mongol Invasions

It’s an unfortunate reality that most Americans are disinterested in history, especially the period between the fall of the Western Roman Empire and Second World War. While they certainly understand events of the eighteenth century onward to bear some relevance, these are largely seen as little more than a prelude to the American Century - the apex of history. As a result, they struggle to see the Russo-Ukrainian War and the internal strife in the Ukraine outside of the frame of the Cold War and the Holodomor - an event they’ve only just become even vaguely familiar with.

Recently, I wrote an article on Western Ukraine, and Lviv in particular, being a center of Banderite/Neo-Nazi activity. To understand how this came to be, and what Lviv and the wider region of Galicia mean to Ukrainian Nationalists, we need to understand the historical processes which led to Western Ukraine’s unique identity in contradistinction to the broader Ukrainian ethnos.

Our story really begins with the Mongol invasions, when an already fracturing Kievan Rus was finally smashed into pieces. From this time on much of Western Rus (what today makes up parts of Belarus and much of western and central Ukraine) became dominated by the Catholic powers of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Austrian Empire. These historical processes have largely resulted in the emergence of two Ukraines.¹

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The Decline of Kiev & The Great Migration

Medieval Kievan Russia² was a vast realm with immense wealth. Though bound by ties of oath and kinship to Kiev, the various constituent principalities enjoyed a great deal of independence, thanks to being spread out across the broad Eastern European plain. In spite of the geospatial obstacles to centralized authority, the Grand Princes of Kiev served as a central point of unity and were more than capable, when necessary, of corralling rebellious princes. While Kiev itself carried a great deal of cultural weight, its position and authority were largely the result of the vast wealth it acquired from the Dnieper trade routes to Constantinople. Kievan power reached its zenith during the eleventh century reign of Grand Prince Yaroslav the Wise, after which its power steadily declined.

Artistic depiction of Kiev as it would have appeared around the death of Yaroslav the Wise [Credit: Artist D. Mazyukevych]

Hoping to avoid a civil war upon his death, Yaroslav established a regulated system of succession in which every prince would receive an inheritance. The system, however, was overly complex and many of the lesser princes would not be content with their assigned lot. Upon his death in 1054 AD, Yaroslav’s descendants would spend the rest of the eleventh and twelfth centuries fighting amongst themselves.

While the Dnieper River basin served as the heartland of the united Russian realm, the infighting of the princes made it increasingly difficult for Kiev’s rulers to respond to nomadic raiding parties of the Kuman Federation. This led the region’s population to migrate in ever greater numbers to the principalities of northern Russia such as Novgorod, Vladimir and Suzdal. They also migrated, though to a lesser extent, west/southwest to Galicia and Volhynia, and northwest to Polotsk and Minsk. The migrations left Kiev less capable of defending against raids, which sped up the pace of migration - creating a sort of negative feedback loop. This in turn strengthened the positions of the other principalities, and bolstered their rulers’ claims to the throne in Kiev.

Prince Mstislav II of Volhynia seized the Kievan throne in 1157, precipitating its final decline. A carousel of princes seized the city and throne until it was finally sacked and burned by Prince Andrey Bogolyubski of Suzdal and Rostov in 1169. Bogolyubski proclaimed himself Grand Prince and moved the Russian capital to Vladimir.

Bololyubski’s decision was not unwarranted; the forests of Northern Russia were far more secure than the open steppe. The region between Muscovy and Vladimir had by now become the largest population center for the Russian people and had, along with the Republic of Novgorod, established profitable trading relations with Western Europe.

The Mongols and The Bifurcation of Russian Civilization