Roots of Conflict: The History Behind Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 created a global shockwave which threatened the stability of Europe and created food and energy security risks globally. This lecture will focus on the twentieth-century history of RussianUkrainian relations with an eye to the deeper historical factors behind the recent conflict. Beginning with an assessment of Russia’s two main justifications for war— ideas about Ukraine in Russian nationalist ideology and the role of NATO in Eastern Europe—the lecture will review Ukraine’s Soviet history from the revolution to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This more recent history—why the Soviets drew borders the way they did, why Ukraine suffered under Stalin, how Ukraine became an independent country in 1991, and where the West fits in—provides the critical context for the war.