Ukraine in the World War Two - Essay Example

Ukraine in the World War Two Introduction The First World War resulted in the revolution of Ukraine, a nation that fought so hard to release the grip the Russians had on them in that time. The Ukrainians did not have the capacity to rule themselves, something clearly depicted by the unjust rule of the Central Rada. The apparent forceful help they got from the Hetmanate orchestrated by the Germans did not serve the needs of the Ukrainians. At the start of World War Two, the nation of Ukraine did not have a state. About seven million of the total thirty million nationals of Ukraine ended up in different countries. Czechoslovakia, Poland and Romania had nationals of Ukraine living in their states, most of them seeking exile. The attempted revolution of the country had terribly failed because the country was not in a position to provide a strong ruling to its nationals. Condition of Ukraine before the World War II The Ukrainians who resided in Poland underwent a lot of discrimination because they were the minority in the country. The Polish made sure that the Ukrainian culture and language demised through the establishment of Pro-Polish laws, for example, the ban of the use of Ukrainian language in the education system and the government agencies. The condition extended to the prohibition of children of Ukrainian origin to study in the prestigious schools of Poland, such as the L’viv University (Weiner 2012, p. 166). The Ukrainian peasants in Polish did not get the same right to land during the distribution of land in the country. The Ukrainians in Czechoslovakia, however, gained some autonomy from residing in the country. The period just before the war witnessed the establishment of the Ukrainian nationalism, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationals (OUN). It quickly and effectively spread its ideology to the Ukrainians through school children and University. The main goal for this organization was the attainment of Independence of the Ukrainians. The attempted revolution had failed, and they all rested their hope on the organization in helping them achieve a different nationalism than at the time of the revolution, and gain the absolute goal of independence. The World War Two in Ukraine The western Ukraine experienced the First World War when the month of September started in the year 1939. The German leader, Adolf Hitler, first attacked Poland where the western Ukrainians resided. The Soviet troops, consequently, occupied the area after the Germans subdued it. The Ukrainians describe this invasion of their land as the first phase of the Second World War. The leaders of the two major regimes of the World War II, Stalin of the Soviet and Hitler of German, had apparently met in secret just before the commencement of the war (Glantz 2012, p.134). The two divided up the region of the Eastern Europe because they felt that they would not encounter much opposition from the nationals that resided there. Stalin took the western region of the Ukrainians and had a strategy of peacefully and democratically take over the control of the region. As a show of good intentions, the Soviet Union tried to conquer the region peacefully on their settlement in Poland. They showed their support to the Ukrainians through allowing them to attend the prestigious schools they earlier had the prohibition of attending. They also lifted the ban of speaking Ukrainian in the region. The show of goodwill, however, ended when the Soviet decided to penetrate the political system of the region. Any resistance by the residents led to immediate deportation. In a divide and rule type of conquer, the soviet managed to divide the leadership of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationals, especially after the demise of their influential leader, Yevhen Konovalets. Two years later, the whole of the Ukraine region experienced the full horrors of the war, as the Germans fought with the Soviet Union. The soviet troops and the Nazi involved themselves in a fierce war that placed the Ukrainians at the full exposure of the wars and destructions caused by the two totalitarian commands. Just as after the World War One, the Ukrainian still had faith in the power and savior abilities of the regime (Weiner 2012). The second phase of the war started with Germany attacking the Soviet Union. The Ukrainians, tired of the cruelty of the soviet, welcomed the Germans and after Germany won over the Soviet, the command firmly established itself in the Ukraine. The welcome of the Nazis by the Ukrainians proved as the worst decision for the Ukrainians. The Nazi conquerors had more cruelty and hate for the Ukrainians than the Soviet. The Nazi used and turned the Ukrainians into slaves of labor, after disintegrating the OUN through killing its leaders. Effect of the World War Two in Ukraine Ukraine experienced the Second World War more than the other countries. Majorities of the Ukrainians died at the hands of both the Nazi and the Soviet. Their dream of ever becoming an independent state died after the ruthless occupation of the Nazi in Ukraine (Glantz 2012). The irony of it is that the Ukrainians had warmly welcomed the Germans, even helping them in attacking the soviet. They participated in the auxiliary police of the Germans and even helped in the persecution and killing of the Jews because the Ukrainians blamed the Jews for wrongfully occupying their lands. The OUN and UPA strongly collaborated with the Germans, only to end up summarily executed by the Nazi when the Germans felt that they could no longer help further their cause. They also had bitterness that the Jews had worked with the Polish and the Soviets against the Ukrainians (Weiner 2012). The Ukrainians actively participated in causing the Holocaust that killed thousands of Jews. Stalin took back the control of Ukraine through evacuating the Germans and made efforts of eliminating the UPA. He threatened the immediate deportation of Ukrainians who opposed the soviet, and a purge to remove the western ideologies from the Ukrainian population, something that never happened due to his demise. Conclusion The effects of the world war two on the Ukrainians will forever remain in their history, and some of the bitterness against their conquerors may never stop. However, a positive impact of the world war two was that it united the Eastern and the Western Ukrainians in one country. They developed their spirit of nationalism in a stronger dimension than during the existence of the OUN. The attempts of the Ukrainians in gaining their independence, surviving through several regimes of conquerors and wars only shows their determination and the love they have for their country. The presence of intellectuals in the country helped in the eventual attainment of the independence of Ukraine in 1991. Works Cited Glantz, David M. Soviet Military Deception in the Second World War. New York, NY: Routledge. 2012. Print. Weiner, Amir. Making Sense of War: The Second World War and the Fate of the Bolshevik Revolution. Mason, OH: Princeton University Press. 2012. Print. Read More