The Gates of Europe : A History of Ukraine download it free pdf ebooks
"An outstanding depiction of Europe's least-known huge country," writes the author of this authoritative history of Ukraine. (According to the Wall Street Journal)
As Ukraine fights to maintain its territorial integrity and political independence from Russia, renowned historian Serhii Plokhy explains that the current crisis is a case of history repeating itself: the Ukrainian conflict is only the latest in a long line of disputes over the country's sovereignty. Ukraine has been formed by empires that exploited the country as a vital gateway between East and West—from the Romans and Ottomans to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union—due to its location between Central Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. Plokhy investigates Ukraine's search for identity via the lives of key Ukrainian historical personalities, from heroes to invaders, in The Gates of Europe.
Ukraine is currently in a tense standoff with Russia over the country's territorial integrity and political independence. However, today's fighting is just the latest in a long line of conflicts over Ukraine's territory and sovereignty. We must analyse Ukraine's past in order to comprehend its present and future, as award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy argues in The Gates of Europe.
Ukraine was moulded by the empires that utilised it as a vital gateway between East and West, from the Roman and Ottoman empires to the Third Reich and the Soviet Union, because of its location between Central Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. Ukraine has long been a crossroads for different cultures. On the steppe borderland, the meeting of sedentary and nomadic peoples, as well as Christianity and Islam, generated the Cossacks, a fearsome warrior class, while the meeting of the Catholic and Orthodox churches produced a religious heritage that bridged Western and Eastern Christianity. Ukraine has also housed millions of Jews, serving as the birthplace of Hassidism as well as one of the Holocaust's killing fields.
Plokhy looks at the lives of major figures in Ukrainian history, including Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Kyiv, whose daughter Anna became Queen of France; the Cossack ruler Ivan Mazepa, who was immortalised in Byron and Pushkin's poems; Nikita Khrushchev and his protégé-turned-nemesis Leonid Brezhnev, who both called Ukraine home; and the heroes of the Maidan protests of 2013 and 2014, who represent the current
As Plokhy explains, the current crisis is a tragic case of history repeating itself, with Ukraine once again at the centre of a global war. The Gates of Europe is an accurate history of this crucial country that offers a unique perspective on the beginnings of the most catastrophic worldwide crisis since the conclusion of the Cold War.
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