Ukraine's history is a bit of a mystery to most people in the West. Like other states, it has morphed from one thing to another according to the powers surrounding it, but there was a short period when it was truly free.
Like its present, Ukraine’s past is
often seen in terms of split identity, torn between Europe and
Russia, sitting along the fracture of different civilizations. For
hundreds of years and for much of the 20th century, the country saw
its fortunes determined by powerful outsiders. Russia claimed its
birthplace in Kyiv. Those in the western portions, including the
great nationalist hero Stepan Bandera—incidentally also a World War
II-era Nazi collaborator—kept Ukraine pulled toward Europe.
But a less well-remembered historical
figure offered a different vision, one opposed to both sides. Nestor
Makhno wanted a radically independent, anarchist future in Ukraine,
free from the pull of both east and west. For three years in the wake
of World War I, he succeeded in constructing a free state along the
banks of the Dnieper River, bridging the divide between
Russian-speaking and Ukrainian-speaking peoples. It was an audacious,
improbable republic, and though it crested a century ago, Makhno’s
country is worth remembering because it was perhaps the last time
Ukraine was truly free.
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