The Making of Modern Ukraine, Lecture 5

The Kyiv State: Vikings, Slaves, and Law

Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago on Putin’s claim that Ukraine and Russia, neither of which existed at the time, were somehow eternally unified by the baptism of a Viking warlord more than a thousand years ago. As we know from previous lectures, these sorts of myths of power get in the way of history, and are meant to stop us from thinking historicall…