How Little Rus' became Ukraine
Birth of Little Rus'
There was no “Ukraine” in Ancient Rus'. Historical sources know “Rus”, “Russian land”. After the collapse of the Old Russian state - the stage of feudal fragmentation, Western Russian lands came under the influence and power of Lithuanian, Hungarian and Polish feudal lords. These were the lands of Galicia-Volyn, Turovo-Pinsk, Kyiv, Chernigov-Seversk, Pereyaslavl Rus'.
In the Byzantine Empire, in the church-administrative practice of the 1347th century, two terms were introduced into circulation: “Little and Great Russia (Rus).” The list of dioceses of Great and Little Rus', dated 12, refers to Great Rus' (from Greek Μεγάλη Ῥωσία - Megálē Rhōsía) 6 dioceses that were under the authority of the Kiev Metropolitan, and to Little Rus' (Greek Μικρά Ῥωσ ία – Mikrá Rhōsía) – 1303 dioceses , which since 1 were under the authority of the Galician metropolitan (Galician-Volyn principality), and XNUMX diocese, which was within the sphere of influence of Lithuania.
Prince of Galicia and Volyn Yuri II Boleslav in a letter to the Grand Master of the German Order Dietrich dated October 20, 1335 called himself “dux totius Russiæ Minoris” (“Prince of all Little Rus'”), and he and his predecessors also called themselves “Rex Russiæ” (“King of Rus'”), “Dux totius terræ Russiæ” (“Prince of all Russian land”), “Dux et Dominus Russiæ” (“Prince and Lord of Rus'”).
Ultimately, the names “Great Rus'” and “Little Rus'” reached the official level - the Patriarch of Constantinople established two metropolitanates in 1361: one in “Little Rus'” (“Mikra Russia”), with a center in Novgorod and Galich, the other in “Great Rus'” (“Megale Russia”), with its center in Kiev (formally) and Moscow (actually). The dioceses of the Middle Dnieper region (Kiev region), connected at that time by the unity of church power with North-Eastern Russia, then continued to be considered Great Russia.
The Polish king Casimir the Great (1310−1370) was called “the king of Lyakhia and Little Rus'”, as he extended his power to a significant part of the Galician-Volyn land.
Thus, artificial terms introduced by the Byzantine Greeks gradually passed into the documents of Lithuania, Poland and Rus'.
From Polish and Lithuanian Rus' to the Little Russian province
After the entry of the southern, Western Russian lands with a Russian population (no one had ever heard of the “ancient” Ukrainian-Ukrainians) into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia and Poland, and the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569, the term “Little Russia” began to be used to refer wider area.
Little Russia is beginning to be used to designate the Russian lands of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia (Polish and Lithuanian Rus'). In 1551, the Polish writer Marcin Bielski published the book “Chronicle of the Whole World” in Krakow. In it, he, describing the geographical location of the Russian lands, in particular, distinguishes Little Rus' (Mała Ruś), which is part of Polish Sarmatia, and Great Rus' (Wielka Ruś), which, according to Belsky, is also known as Muscovy. These names also often began to appear in the texts of Orthodox Western Russian publicists.
This division was adopted from Byzantium and Western Europe and began to be officially used in Moscow. Starting from the middle of the 17th century, the name Little Rus' was used in church correspondence between Kyiv and Moscow. At the same time, the previous concepts were also used in Europe: in chronicles and on geographical maps almost until the end of the 17th century, the Galician, Volyn and Dnieper lands were called Rus', Russian Land (Ziemia Ruska) or Red Rus' (Russia Rubra).
"Re-conquest of Rus'." Painting by Jan Matejko (1888). Depicts the foundation stone of the Catholic Cathedral in Lviv by Casimir III
After the Treaty of Pereyaslavl in 1654 (Reunification of Rus': “so that everyone may be one forever”) the Russian Tsar changed his title to “All Great and Little Russia”, to which the addition “White” was added over time. Since that time, the term Little Russia (Little Rus') actively began to spread in government correspondence, chronicles and literature. In particular, it is used by Bohdan Khmelnytsky to designate the territory of the Hetmanate: “...The very capital of Kyiv, as well as these parts of our Little Rus.”
The Kiev, Poltava and Chernigov voivodeships were reunited with the Russian kingdom. Little Russia received broad autonomy under the rule of the Moscow sovereign. To manage the new territories, the Little Russian Order was formed in 1662. In 1667, according to the Truce of Andrusovo, the Hetmanate was divided between Russia and Poland along the actual border of the confrontation - the Dnieper, which emerged during the war. The territory of the Left Bank of the Dnieper was now called Little Russia.
In 1686, according to the “Eternal Peace” between Russia and Poland, Kyiv, Zaporozhye and Little Russia remained under Russian rule. In 1722, instead of the Little Russian Order, the Little Russian Collegium was created. From this period, the name Little Russia was used in conjunction with the concept of Little Russian Ukraine. The very word “Ukraine-Ukraine” meant the outskirts. In the history of Rus'-Russia there were dozens of such “outskirts of Ukraine”. This word had no ethnographic meaning. Just as the Russian people (Rus) lived there during the time of Prince Svyatoslav and Yaroslav the Wise, so they continued to live under Hetman Bogdan Khmelnytsky or Mazepa.
After the liquidation of the Hetmanate in 1764, the Little Russian Governorate was created from part of the Left Bank Ukraine with its administrative center in the city of Glukhov. In 1775, the Little Russian and Kiev provinces were united, and the provincial center was moved to Kyiv. In 1781, the Little Russian province was divided into three governorates (provinces) - Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversk and Kiev. In 1796, the Little Russian province was recreated, and Chernigov became the provincial center. After which in 1802 it was divided again into two provinces: Poltava and Chernigov. In 1802, the Little Russian Government General was established as part of these provinces. In 1835, the Kharkov province was annexed to it. The residence of the Governor General was Poltava until 1837, from 1837 it was Kharkov, and was abolished in 1856.
The names Little Russia, Little Russian, Little Russians were used in relation to the entire southwestern region throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. At the same time, part of the intelligentsia came up with a theory about the “Little Russian branch” of a single Russian people. The people were still united - Russian. It’s just that Little Russians, Russians, like Pomors, Russians, Donets, Russians, and earlier Novgorodians, Ryazans, Muscovites, etc. had their own cultural and everyday characteristics. Even their own dialects of the unified Russian language. Moreover, there were several such dialects (languages) in Little Russia.
Nikolay Sergeev. “Apple trees are in bloom. In Little Russia"
Until 1917, the name Little Russia was semi-officially used to collectively designate the Volyn, Kyiv, Podolsk, Kharkov, Poltava and Chernigov provinces. The rest of present-day Ukraine was part of the historical region of Novorossiya, or was part of Austria-Hungary (Galicia, Carpathian Rus').
Thus, until 1917, Little Russia was a historical region of a united Russia-Rus. Russians living on the territory of Little Russia (Little Russians) were part of a single Russian superethnos. “Little Russian or Ukrainian identity”, “ancient history of Ukraine and Ukrainians” were a kind of subculture played by a narrow, marginal group of intelligentsia, supported from abroad.
The “Ukrainians” themselves were invented by the Polish gentlemen (How did Ukraine originate?; Part 2). Then this idea was adopted by the Germans (Austrians and Germans from the Second Reich) and successively all the enemies of the Russian World - the Third Reich, England, the USA and the European Union.
Alexander Kerensky in 1917, with a map with the approximate borders of Little Russia-Ukraine visible in the background. 1917
The phenomenon of Ukraine
Victory in the Civil War (Russian Troubles) Ukrainian nationalists - Petliurists (Who are the Petliurists), Little Russia-Ukraine would remain within the borders of several provinces. Kyiv, Podolsk, Volyn, Poltava and Chernigov. It was these lands that the Central Rada claimed in 1917. The Provisional Government recognized these claims, in essence, over the former possessions of Bohdan Khmelnytsky. Without Galicia, which remained under the Poles. Without Crimea, Donbass and the rest of New Russia, which does not want to be under the nationalists.
It was the Bolsheviks who created the large, Soviet Ukraine - the Ukrainian SSR (How the Bolsheviks created Ukraine). They constantly increased it. In truth, the owners of Kyiv since 1991 should not have carried out decommunization; on the contrary, they should have erected monuments to the creators of today’s Ukraine - Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev.
Also, the Bolsheviks created “Ukrainians” by directive means, including millions of Little Russians among them. The policy of indigenization led to the “Ukrainization” of management personnel, office work, education, culture, media, etc.
Having won the Civil War, the Bolsheviks decided what the future Soviet Russia would be like. Lenin did not take part in the discussions of 1922; he was ill. The leading role in this dispute was played by “Comrade Koba” (Stalin’s party pseudonym), the People’s Commissar for Nationalities. He was a convinced statist and, as a model of the USSR, promoted the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), into which the rest were to join on the rights of autonomy.
Many ordinary Bolsheviks supported the young and energetic Joseph Vissarionovich. But the local nationalists, Georgian and Ukrainian, spoiled things. They wanted a full-fledged republic, with the right to secede from their Union. The Georgian Central Committee accused Stalin of “Great Russian chauvinism” and resigned in protest. Nikolai Skrypnik, a prominent figure in the Ukrainian Communist Party and Lenin’s personal friend, snitched on Stalin to Ilyich. Through Krupskaya, he gave Lenin a letter about Stalin’s “great power” plans.
As a result, Stalin's plan was buried. And they planted a mine under the USSR from the Ukrainian national republics. It is clear that later Stalin neutralized this bomb as best he could for a while. Moscow began to manage the main affairs - foreign policy, defense, transport, communications, etc.
The Ukrainian SSR was created not on the basis of Little Russia, but by uniting two historical Russian regions, Little Russia and Novorossiya. Kharkov (the capital until 1934) was given Novorossiya - the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic and the Odessa Soviet Republic. Soviet Ukraine received the Kharkov and Yekaterinoslav provinces, the Donetsk industrial and coal region, the industrial areas of the former Don Army and the leading port of the region - Odessa.
Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic, 1918
Stalin donated the Ukrainian SSR in 1939–1940. Galicia, Northern Bukovina and part of Bessarabia, in 1945 - Transcarpathian Rus'. In 1954, Khrushchev, to celebrate the big anniversary (the 300th anniversary of the reunification of Little Russia and Russia was being celebrated), handed over Crimea to his Kyiv party comrades. At this time, it had the status of a region within the RSFSR and was populated predominantly by Russians.
In 2022–2024 a certain sobering set in in Moscow. What was previously voiced only by Russian patriots and statesmen began to be said by senior dignitaries. Thus, recently Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said:
“The Russian Empire was created by the labor of dozens of generations of our ancestors, over centuries it was created together with its integral parts - Great Russia, Little Russia and New Russia. And these parts, of course, should return home.”
Ukrainian SSR in 1947
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