“Europe as a Queen” the Habsburg Dynasty, 1598, public domain courtesy of Wikimedia

Timothy Snyder, at Substack, brings light to the deep, dignified and fascinating roots of Ukrainian political culture and history.

Excerpt here, Ottomans, Poles and Russians:

For me personally, this is one of the most important lectures. In space, modern Ukraine includes lands that were well beyond the reach of ancient Rus, but well within the ambit of ancient Greek, Byzantine, Ottoman, and perhaps most importantly Crimean Tatar power. The Crimean state lasted for centuries, and is wrongly neglected. In time, we are dealing here with an important moment, the eighteenth century, in which all four alternatives to Russian power in Ukraine — Crimean Tatars, Ottomans, Poland-Lithuania, and various Ukrainian Cossack entities —fade from the picture. This had as much to do with their internal institutional failures and their dealings with one another as it did with the rise of the new Russian Empire. Petersburg would soon create a story in which those prior states did not matter, one which distorts our view of the actual history of the territory to this day. But the doings of the Ottomans, the Crimeans, the Cossacks, and the Poles/Lithuanians are very much worthy of attention on their own, and indispensable for even the most basic understanding of Ukraine

And here, Habsburg Curiosity:

The Habsburg monarchy (Austria) comes late to Ukrainian history, but with a fascinating legacy, and an important contribution. The Habsburgs ruled the original empire on which the sun never set, and were arguably the most important family in modern European history. This lecture summarizes their history before the partitions of Poland in the late eighteenth century that brought Galicia under Habsburg power. The name “Galicia” like so many other things was actually a Habsburg invention; it just designated with slightly spurious Latinate grace the lands Vienna took from Poland. (The Ukrainian name is “Halychyna,” which has an ancient source.) The eastern part of these territories was inhabited by speakers of Ukrainian (and Polish and Yiddish and other languages); over the course of the nineteenth century, and especially at its end, it became very important that they were ruled from Vienna rather than from Petersburg. The modern Ukrainian movement, which began in the Russian Empire, continued, after Russian imperial oppression, in Habsburg lands. The liberal and increasingly democratic character of Habsburg rule created a special incubator for Ukrainian politics and culture.

Glory to Ukraine!