Les Kachkovsky

This year marks the 350th anniversary of the Battle of Berestechko between the Cossack and Poles (June 18-30, 1651), which certainly constituted a turning point in Ukraine’s history and East European evolution. Ukrainian history can be regarded from different perspectives: from a molehill, mountain...

Since the triumphal campaigns of Mohammed II the Conqueror and Suleiman I the Magnificent, the Turkish sultans never abandoned their ambitious intentions to expand their influence throughout Europe. The role of the bulwark of Western civilization against the onslaught of the Ottoman Empire was...

(Continued from the previous issue) This was in fact the beginning of the Ruin if the latter is to mean the period of struggle for political leadership in Ukraine. Prominent Ukrainian historian, Natalia Yakovenko, writes in her article, “A World Torn Asunder: The Culture of Ukraine-Rus’ on the...

An Act of the Unifying Sejm of All Lands of the Polish Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, establishing the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzecz pospolita), took place in Lublin, July 1, 1569, as a federal body politic in which “two peoples” were supposed to merge into a “single indivisible...

On the night of June 18, 860, a thunderstorm was raging over Constantinople (also known as Tsarhorod in Old Rus’). The secure Greeks were making merry and tower guards were drunk, being so certain that no harm could befall their queen of cities’ impregnable stone walls. In the morning,...

The baptism of Rus’ resulted in a dramatic expansion of the social horizons and the entrance of our forefathers into a social environment of the higher order, Christianity. Since the choice of the Byzantine model is explained by Prince Volodymyr’s obvious bent on totalitarian methods of government...

Our chronicles feature stories about Kyiv Prince Volodymyr Sviatoslavych and his choice of religion. He sent envoys to the Germans, Greeks, Bulgarians, even to the Arabs. He listened to a philosopher and took into consideration that “drinking makes people merry in Rus’.” But the grand prince...

Reform is the political watchword of Ukraine and the current generation has been hearing it for a year and a half. Its magic helped Leonid Kuchma be reelected as he managed to convince the electorate that his first term was enough for him to “grow up” to carry out real revolutionary reforms in...

Our Slavic forefathers are first mentioned in historical sources referring to the Volkerwanderung (Great Migration of Peoples) in Europe, with the Roman legions being forced to retreat from their defense lines along the Rhine and Danube under the onslaught of militant Germanic tribes, resulting in...

Long before Prince Volodymyr, considered by the Eastern Orthodox Church as the first baptizer of Rus’, Christianity was embraced by Prince Askold who, together with his brother Dir, ruled Kyiv in 860-880 AD. Little is known about his effort to convert Rus in the new faith. All we know from the...