Kingdom of Ukraine Гетьманщина України Hetʹmanshchyna Ukrayiny (Ukrainian) Гетманщина Украины Getmanshchina Ukrainy (Russian) |
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Capital | Kiev | |||||
Official languages | Ukrainian (de jure, national) Russian (de facto, co-official) |
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Recognised regional languages | Polish, Rusyn | |||||
Ethnic groups | 77.8% Ukrainians 10.3% Russians 3.9% Poles 1% Others |
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Demonym | Ukrainian | |||||
Government | Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy | |||||
- | Hetman | Wassily I | ||||
- | Prime Minister | Bohdan Vashchenko | ||||
Population | ||||||
- | census | 41.5 million | ||||
GDP (nominal) | estimate | |||||
- | Total | ₽2.77 trillion ($2.77 trillion OTL USD) |
The Kingdom of Ukraine more officially known as the Hetmanate of Ukraine (Ukrainian: Гетьманщина України, Hetʹmanshchyna Ukrayiny; Russian: Гетманщина Украины, Getmanshchina Ukrainy) also known as Ukraine, is a constitutional monarchy located in Eastern Europe. It borders Belarus and Russia to the north, Poland to the west and Romania to the south.
During the Middle Ages, Ukraine was the site of early Slavic expansion and the area later became a key centre of East Slavic culture under the state of Kievan Rus', which emerged in the 9th century. The state eventually disintegrated into rival regional powers and was ultimately destroyed by the Mongol invasions of the 13th century.
The area was then contested, divided, and ruled by a variety of external powers for the next 600 years, including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austrian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Tsardom of Russia. The Cossack Hetmanate emerged in central Ukraine in the 17th century, but was partitioned between Russia and Poland, and ultimately absorbed by the Russian Empire. Ukrainian nationalism developed, and following the Russian Revolution in 1917, many independent Ukrainian states were formed. After the civil war, Pavlo Skoropadskiy was placed in charge of what would become the Autonomous Ukrainian State, one of Russia's autonomous territories. During the German invasion of Russia during World War II, 704,420 Ukrainian died. During the Cold War, Ukraine emerged as Russia's second-most center of production, a facet that carried on to its independence.
Following its independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state; it formed a limited military partnership with Russia and other CIS countries while also establishing a partnership with NATO in 1994.
Ukraine is a highly-developed country and one of the wealthiest in Europe, enjoying relatively low poverty and crime rates. Because of its extensive fertile farmlands, Ukraine is also one of the largest grain and livestock exporters in the world. It also maintains the third-largest military in Europe after the Russia and Germany. It is Eastern Europe's second-most influential nation.
History[]
Russian Civil War[]
During the Russian Civil War, Ukraine became a bloodbath between many opposing groups. The two most competing governments were that of the Ukrainian People's Republic, West Ukrainian Republic and the monarchist Ukrainian State, led by Pavlo Skoropadskyi. Skoropadskyi's government faced the most resistance, and was opposed by other Ukrainian nationalist regimes, but also the Bolsheviks.
The White Russians allied with Skoropadsky's government, and after the Whites defeated the Bolsheviks in Russia, sent forces into Ukraine to help solidify and cement the Ukrainian State.
Interwar Period[]
Autonomous Ukrainian State[]
The independent Ukrainian State did not last long, as rebels continued to war against Pavlo Skoropadsky's government. The Western powers for some reason, refused to support the government of Pavlo Skoropadsky. Therefore, the Hetman of Ukraine was forced to have Russia re-annex its territory. Baron Pyotr Wrangel, who had high ties and respect for Skoropadsky, sent forces into Ukraine.
The 1921 Kiev Agreement ensured large-scale autonomy for the Autonomous Ukrainian State, under this agreement, the imperial government would support Ukrainian language and its usage in the public alongside Russian, encourage Ukrainian-owned businesses to use Ukrainian alongside Russian and give better access for ethnic Ukrainians to Ukrainian-speaking gymnasiums.
Skoropadsky remained the "Hetman" of the Ukrainian State.
The Tsar also renounced the entire "Little Russian" to denote Ukrainians (being labeled as hate speech in the 1960s), and recognized Ukrainians as a separate ethnic group from Russians.
Ukrainian language experienced a massive Golden Revival during this era, and the number of Ukrainian-language medium increased. While Russian remained the dominant language in the cities of the East, such as Yekatrinoslav, Ukrainian remained the preferred public languages in the West, Central and South, with Russian being reserved for non-Ukrainians.
Ukraine emerged as the breadbasket of the Autocratic Russian State. The major cities of Kharkov and Odessa became tank-producing cities, employing Ukrainians, and Nikolayev (Mikhalaiv) fed the Russian Navy. During this era, for once, the number of All-Ukrainian Gymnasiums became extremely commonplace, and Ukrainian became the language of local public medium, the the majority of ethnic Ukrainians who could afford education were attending Ukrainian-speaking gymnasiums.
For the most part, ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Russians maintained their separate communities in a co-existing manner. Ukrainians were renowned for being self-sufficient peoples.
The agricultural breadbasket that was Ukraine was capitalized by the Russian state, and many people, who were once peasants, began to finally secure jobs, mostly in the livestock industry.
Unfortunately, the people of Ukraine and South Russia too, suffered from the Tuberculosis Crisis of the 1930s.
World War II[]
During World War II, the Hetamanate of Ukraine was invaded by Nazi Germany, via Poland. Western Ukrainian nationalists took this opportunity to declare independence, and wage war against Russia - denouncing the 1921 Kiev Agreement. Hitler was weary of Ukrainian intentions. The Ukrainian Fronts of the Imperial Russian military would deal with the Germans.
Due to having to fight a stronger Poland in their invasion of that country, the Germans are nowhere-near as lightning successful in Ukraine, and never actually reach Kiev. The Battle of Kiev is akin to the Battle of Moscow of our timeline.
After German forces were expelled from Russia, the forces in Ukraine were used to link with Romania upon that country's sided with Russia for the latter's Balkan operations.
After World War II, Ukraine developed into the "breadbasket" of the Russian Empire, and its economic potential fully-exploited. A large number of powerful Russian companies began to operate in Kiev, and saw the rise of many Ukrainian magnates. The cities of Kiev, Yekatrinoslav (today Dnipropetrovsk), Pripyat developed into modern cities. Like in the past, Ukrainian language was promoted in the public alongside Russian, and the number of Ukrainian-speaking schools and gymnasiums increased.
Independence - 1991[]
Still to be re-written...
In the 1980s, Ukraine was becoming home to seperatists once-more. The proponents of this however, did not advocate Russophobic intentions, but also resembled Pavlo Skoropadsky's early Ukrainian government, to form a Russia-friendly independent Ukrainian state, but one that would also trade with other blocs.
In 1991, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed the Belevezha Accords, granting Ukraine its independence. The Provisional Rada was established to determine the fate of the Ukrainian state. The political environment was again, quarreled over by monarchists and republicanists. Wealthy nobles, who benefited economically from the Imperial Russia days, were targeted by ultranationalist groups. However, these groups are thanks to the PoD, a minority, much like the KKK in the United States.
Miroslav Skoropadsky, who was the Hetman of Ukraine, recognized Ukrainian independence, and further-agreed to let go of his powers to democratically-elected officials.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine's independence went without much incident, retained ties to its northern Russian neighbor, and for the most part, Russian companies from the imperial era continued to operate in the country and major Russian-owned grocery chains such as Perekrestok continued to operate in the country. However, Ukraine also opened itself to the western market.
Like in our timeline, future leaders would continue to promote an independent Ukrainian identity, and promote all Ukrainian-owned businesses. While Russian continued to be widely used, society began to embrace and emphasize Ukrainian. Starting in the year 2000, the country began exporting food products to compete with Russian companies, and the country made a bid to have serious competition against Poland. Ukraine's economy began to grow at a more rapid pace than Poland, the secondary major power of Eastern Europe.
The Ukrainian Navy began to develop on its own, outpacing Poland's navy. By 2011, Ukraine reached parity with Poland as being Eastern Europe's secondary major power, and was, the first-time, categorized as being above Poland in regional power rankings.
Key Point-of-Divergence - no Ukraine war[]
Thanks to Tsar Cyril I being Cyril the Reformer, and his culturally-tolerant policies, so much of the shit that pits Ukrainians and Russians against each other today, is for-the-most-part, non-existent. Ukrainian-Russian relations are almost like modern-day Spanish-Italian relations, broskies or bratva.
Because of this, there's no Holodomour, just as there's no Katyn Massacre in Poland.
Groups like the Right Sector or other anti-Russian groups, are pretty-much confined to the western Ukraine region, and mostly as fringe groups, and Russian is widely-embraced as a secondary language to Ukrainian. Yes, Ukrainian is still prioritized. The same can be said for Russia, groups who claim Ukrainian is not a real nation are confined to a few extreme hot-headed groups.
Just remember, this is a timeline dedicated to the rise of Russia, Slavs, Orthodox and Eastern Europe as the powerhouse of the continent, so of course I, the God of this timeline, must make Ukies and Ruskies love each other!
With the Russia as a global superpower, and the main superpower of Eastern Europe and Asia, this makes Ukraine akin to what Canada is to the United States of our OTL. Therefore, Ukraine is Eastern Europe's second-most powerful nation!
Post-1990s[]
Beginning in 2007, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko embarked on an aggressive campaign to modernize the Ukrainian economy. Tymoshenko passed laws in Ukraine, similar to 2000 in Russia banning anti-Semitic parties, and protecting Ukrainian synagogues. This saw a surge in many police and military veterans in Ukraine dodging the military. In 2008, the U.S. dollar reached its lowest point as a result of the Global Recession and she lost her popularity.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, many of Tymoshenko's policies were undone, and one-again, the Ukrainian Rada unbanned controversial political parties. As Prime Minister Yanukovych's supporters proved to be reminiscent to Trump supporters, he was removed from office in 2014. Tymoshenko again, would take the spot as the Prime Minister, and this time, without the Russophobic edge, and stating that Russian would remain co-official, winning her the majority of votes, even from conservatives.
Tymoshenko's second term as Prime Minister would begin the rapid modernization of Ukraine. Her reign as Prime Minister saw a huge reconciliation between Ukraine and the Jewish community, leading many Ukrainian Jews to re-apply for citizenship, and under her government, Roman Catholicism and Judaism were also designated as Ukrainian Heritage Religions. This brought much economic stimulus to the Ukrainian economy, and she also promoted an independent Ukrainian identity. At this point, Tymoshenko's leadership in the government marked the true end of ultra-conservativism in Ukraine.
Politics[]
Ukraine is currently a constitutional monarchy, with monarch being titled Hetman, Hetmana for females. The House of Skoropadskiy, is the current ruling royal house of Ukraine. The Hetman currently serves as the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Kingdom, however the Head of Government like other constitutional monarchies is the Prime Minister, or Royal Minister in the case that a noble is elected in the Prime Minister position.
Like the republic before it, Prime Ministers are elected every five years.
Unlike Russia to the north however, Ukraine is a multi-party state. The two most-dominant parties that are the National Sector, Pan-Slavic Front and the Progressive Front, all three parties having enjoyed installing people in positions of political authority.
Economy[]
Ukraine is currently one of Eastern Europe's most powerful economies, and is currently a breadbasket of Europe. Its major cities of Kiev, Odessa, Kharkhiv, Nikolayev, Lviv, Yekatrinoslav and Pripyat are active in the global economy and contribute significantly to Ukrainian wealth. Its nominal GDP is ₽3.17 trillion (OTE: $3.17 trillion USD). It is currently either Eastern Europe's second or third-largest economy going neck-in-neck with that of Poland, after Russia. Although the other Slavic nations are still Ukraine's largest trading partners, its economy is now global and has contributed to its massive growth. Among its largest trade partners outside of Eastern Europe are Germany, Canada, Japan, the United States, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands and China.
Industry, sciences and agriculture are the two predominant areas of Ukrainian economy and in the 21st century, Ukraine has become considered to the likes of Germany in Eastern Europe and has seriously outpaced Poland as being a secondary major power of Eastern Europe. Antonov is one of the world's most famous aircraft companies, although originating in the Imperial Russia days, is a legitimately Ukrainian company. Ukraine provides 60% of agricultural products imported into Russia, which during the days that Ukraine was part of it, had become the "breadbasket" . Ukraine is currently Eastern Europe's largest exporter of wheat, cattle-exporter and one of the largest exporters of horses, thanks to the nation's equestrian culture due to the Cossack heritage.
The city of Pripyat has grown to stereotypically become the "science city" of Ukraine. It maintains close ties to Roscomos, as many wealthy scientists, not only in Ukraine, but also Russia, Belarus and Poland have made homes in Pripyat.
The Nikolayev Shipyards, once one of the key facilities of the Imperial Russian Navy, sitll produces ships - both commercial and military, and exports naval equipment to Russia, as well as commercial equipment to other nations.
Sports[]
The four most-popular sports in Ukraine are soccer/football, basketball, sport-shooting and horseback-riding. The Ukrainian men's national team competes in FIBA Europe. However, certain cities, such as Royal Club Kiev and Royal Club Kharkiv, competes in the Russian NBF, where Royal Club Kiev has won one RNBF championship.
Horse-back riding is due to Ukraine's Cossack heritage, and has become a heritage sport in Ukraine, akin to rodeos in the west. The National Equestrian Tournament is Ukraine's national, teams from other nations compete as well. Winning teams are awarded the Gold Hetmans-of-the-Year Award. Ukraine is also a member of the worldwide World Equestrian Federation, which Ukraine has won five Gold World Championships.
Military[]
Main article: Royal Ukrainian Forces
The Royal Ukrainian Forces are the official fighting force, and is considered Eastern Europe's 2nd-most powerful military, below its northern Russian neighbor. It is divided into the Royal Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Rocket Forces and the Royal Guards.
Ukraine has Eastern Europe's 2nd-largest rocket force, much of it having originated from Imperial Russian-era. In the recent, the Royal Ukrainian Navy has made a rise in becoming a formidable regional naval force. The Nikolayev Shipyards, which had once been one of the building backbones of the Imperial Russian Navy, is now the center of Ukraine's maritime industry, both military and commercial, and continues to ship naval supplies to the Russian and Polish Navies.
The reason for such a powerful military is during that Imperial Russia days, many of the Russian military's most important plants, factories and ports were in Ukraine. Kharkov and Odessa are style tank-producing cities. Mikolaiv still produce naval vessels, for not only itself, but also Russia.
Language[]
Ukraine has two government-recognized languages, Ukrainian and Russian. Ukrainian is the national language and the native language of the country, and thus, the national anthem of the Kingdom is exclusively in Ukrainian, and is the native language of at least 80% of Ukrainian citizens. It is an Eastern Slavic language, and preserves many Old East Slavic roots, and many Ukrainians argue it is the original language of the Kievan Rus'. With approximately 40 million speakers worldwide, including Ukraine, it also the third-most spoken Slavic language behind Polish and Russian, and second-most spoken Eastern Slavic language. All public schools must also make Ukrainian compulsory. In the recent days, the country has been increasing the emphasis on making Ukrainian the language of national identity, having been nationalized during the leadership of Prime Minister Yulia Tymshenko, who favored stripping Russian from written recognition. Prior, Ukraine's language status was rather vague, and while the 1992 Ukrainian Constitution was written in both Ukrainian, with later government-approved copies in Russian, these two were the de facto official languages, with Tymoshenko stressing there needs to be a written legislation nationalizing Ukrainian. Prior, both Ukrainian and Russian were being used in government and political functions, until Tymoshenko passed a new law, requiring all government functions to be in Ukrainian, resulting in a high number of Russian political parties exiting the nationa political scape. In addition, public services would no longer be sponsoring Russian-language signage. In spite of this, many in the public services had continued to use Russian alongside Ukrainian, with almost no opposition and within three years, the law was struck down due to so much opposition, even amongst native Ukrainians - though most agreed that Ukrainian needed to be nationalized and prioratized. In addition, during bilateral meetings, translation from Ukrainian to another language are used, not Russian in order to enforce the Ukrainian identity. However when in Russia or Belarus, Russian is used.
The 2011 Constitution of Ukraine dictates Ukrainian as the national language. Communities of Ukrainian-speakers can also be in southern Russia, mostly in the Grand Principality of South Russia - who also form large expatriate communities in major Russian cities such as Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Port Arthur. The language is regulated by the National Royal Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and the National Royal Ukrainian Language Institute.
Additionally, Ukraine is also Russophone, and the majority of Ukrainians can still speak Russian as a second language, or at the very least, having working practical knowledge of Russian. A poll indicated that 80.6% of Ukrainian citizens, regardless of ethnic origin, can still speak Russian. The Constitution of Ukraine currently designates Russian as co-official in media, business, entertainment, education and tourism - to which it still retains its influence in, and many Ukrainian artists have found great fame and fortune in Russia as a result. Russian music remains popular in Ukraine. As a native language, some 904,200 Ukrainian citizens, almost all being ethnic Russians. In addition, the Russian Language Academy also has a Kiev branch, the Royal Russian Academy of Kiev. Russian is used almost as much as, if not more than Ukrainian in the major economic cities, with the exception of Lviv and western Ukrainian cities. Most tourists to Ukraine tend to learn Russian over Ukrainian. There are attempts by ultranationalists to strip Russian from its official status.
In spite of the growing and overbearing influence of Russian, according to a poll done by several research organizations, 97.4% of native Ukrainian-speakers stated that they oppose linguistic assimilation into Russian, reject Ukrainian being a Russian dialect, and only 55.6% of Russophone Ukrainians using Russian outside of the home, while the overall population of Ukraine - only 40.4% of respondents stating using Russian outside the house, with the majority in the big cities and border communities near Russia. Many stated that Overseas Ukrainian communities need to promote Ukrainian as the language of the national identity, and 90.3% support keeping Russian co-official.
Ever since the reforms of Cyril, Ukrainian has seen extremely successful revival, by the 1930s, it was the language being mostly used, with Russian being reserved for non-Ukrainian, a trend that was not changed since the 1930s.
Polish is spoken by the Polish minority, who reside in far-western Ukraine, and make up 30% of Lviv's population. and make up the majority in Kremenets and Vyshnivets. It is a regional official alongside Rusyn. Polish is a Western Slavic language.
The majority of native Russian and native Polish-speakers in Ukraine attend Private Autonomous Schools catering in their respective languages.
Religion[]
The overwhelming majority of Ukraine is Eastern Orthodox, more than 70%, with 15% being Roman and Greek Catholic, and 5% Jewish. Eastern Orthodoxy, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and Roman Catholicism are currently considered "national religions" of Ukraine, with the status of Judaism being reviewed by the National Spiritual Council of Ukraine. Ukraine currently has the 3rd-largest Eastern Orthodox population in the world, after Greece.
Within the Eastern Orthodox, there are two churches, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate and the Autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church, both claiming Kiev as their capital of spiritual jurisdiction. The majority of Ukrainians now follow the Autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Roman Catholicism and Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church dominates the far-western regions of Ukraine. In the city of Lviv, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church forms the majority religion. Judaism is generally widespread, but is most concentrated in the major cities. The Jewish population of Ukraine is 643,000, and currently has the world's fifth-largest Jewish population, apart from the United States, Russia, Poland and Germany.
Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Greek Catholic Church, Roman Catholicism, Judaism are all considered Heritage Faiths of Ukraine.