Colonialism in Ukraine - Essay Example

Introduction It is rather difficult to specify the exact date when Ukraine was finally colonized and forced into joining the Russian empire, this is primarily because the 1654 agreement between the Russian Emperor Aleksey Mikhailovich and the Ukrainian Hetman BohdanKhmelnytskyis seen to have not involved the colonization of Ukraine by Russia. However this is what eventually took place and it can as such be argued that the PereyaslavskaRada was the very beginning of the huge colonial tragedy that affected the Ukrainian People and Culture (Subtelny, 2009).

The PereyaslavskaRada was essentially a general military council that was held in 1654 in the town of Pereyaslav. In this council The Ukrainan Hetman BohdanKhmelnytsky signed a treaty with Muscovy which had the effect of causing Ukraine to lose its independence and engage in a colonial unification with Russia that was to eventually last for over 300 years. According to the Soviet propaganda that was spread after the signing of this treaty, the PereyaslavskaRada essentially crowned the constant strife by the Ukrainian people that wished to eventually be together with the Russian people.

In the same vein, the Ukrainian Hetman Khmelnytsky was regarded by the propaganda as being the treaty’s principle architect and was as such as the champion and hero of the unbreakable union. However, despite the rosy acclaim that the PereyaslavskaRada and Khmelnytsky received from the Soviet propaganda, Khmelnytsky was regarded by some as having been a traitor to Ukraine’s national interests while others still regarded him as being a victim of the devious policies that were being enforced by Russia (Shkandrij, 2001).

Russia’s colonies such as Ukraine did not generally take the form of the colonies obtained by other countries as the United Kingdom. As opposed to the coloniesoftoehrcountries, Russia’s colonies were not overseas possessions that were populated by people with different cultures and different skin colors. When Russia colonized Ukraine, its treatment of Ukraine is seen to have been rather paradigmatic for how it treated all its colonies that it usually referred to as its near-abroads (Smithee, 2014).

When Ukraine was colonized by Russia, it was officially not recognized as having a separate nationality, instead, Russia moved to ban the usage of the Ukrainian language and stopped Ukrainian children from being taught the language in school. In addition to tis the Ukrainian churches were all force to comply with the orthodox Russian religious norms or go underground. Ukraine’s colonization by Russia is seen to have been quite drastic as Russia even undertook to suppress not only the traditional Ukrainian celebrations, but also all the various Ukrainian forms of dress.

The official policy that Russia attempted to employ in its colonization of Ukraine is that of Russification whereby the Russian sate attempted to replace all the indigenous Ukrainian culture with the Russian culture and in in the end hopefully managed to turn Ukrainians into Russians (Smithee, 2014).Conclusion The colonization of Ukraine by Russia was to eventually end in July, 1990 when the Ukrainian parliament is seen to have officially passed a unanimous declaration of sovereignty. In August of the same year, the country was able to finally declare itself as being independent of the Soviet Union.

ReferencesShkandrij, M. (2001). Russia and Ukraine: Literature and the discourse of empire from Napoleonic to postcolonial times. Montreal, Que: McGill-Queen's University Press.Smithee, A. (2014). Ukraine: The Legacy of Colonialism. Retrieved on May 18, 2015 from http://c4ss.org/content/25055Subtelny, O. (2009). Ukraine: a history. University of Toronto Press.