Russian and Austrian Imperial Rule in Ukraine

For close to 150 years, from the late 18^th to the early 20^th centuries, Ukrainians lived in two empires: about 80% of them were subjects of the Russian emperors, and the remainder inhabited the Habsburg empire. In the 18^th and 19^th centuries the Ukrainians in the Russian Empire were usually called Little Russians (Malorossy). Those in the Austrian Empire continued to refer to themselves as Ruthenians (Rusyny). Thus, at the dawn of the modern era, Ukrainians found themselves in political systems that were radically different from those to which they had accustomed. Like all empires, those of the Russian Romanovs and the Austrian Habsburgs were vast territorial conglomerates containing huge populations of ethnically and culturally diverse peoples. Political power was highly centralized and vested in the person of the emperor, who saw no need to take into account the views and desires of his subjects. Emperors and their officials demanded absolute obedience and loyalty from their subjects, viewing these obligations not only as political duties, but also as moral and religious ones. In return for subservience, empires promised their subjects security, stability, and order. It was an arrangement that many of the empire’s subjects found reasonable and even attractive.

In governing their numerous and widely scattered subjects, emperors depended primarily on the army and the bureaucracy. The army defended and, if the opportunity arose, expanded imperial borders. It could also serve to preserve internal order. The bureaucracy extracted taxes (most of which went to support itself and the army) and attempted to arrange society in a manner that best served the interests of the empire. In contrast to the nobles – both Ukrainian starshyna and Polish szlachta – who dominated Ukrainian society in the 18^th century and acted on the principle of the less government, the better, the imperial bureaucrats who governed in the 19^th century believed that the more rules and regulations they imposed on society, the better off society would be. Although local elites continued to be important, it was increasingly imperial ministers, based in far-off capitals, who made the crucial decisions that affected the lives of Ukrainians. The Russian Empire was one of the largest in the world. Apart from its imposing size, it possessed political features that differed markedly from those of other European powers.

Austria, it has been said, was an imperial organization, not a country. In the 19^th century, it consisted of a hodgepodge of eleven major nationalities and a number of minor ethnic groups who inhabited much of Eastern Europe and comprised about one-seventh of Europe’s population in 1800. Because no nationality represented an absolute majority in the empire, no one culture molded Habsburg imperial society to the extent that Russian culture did in the tsarist empire. And although German, which was the language of the most influential nationality in the Habsburg empire, predominated in the army and bureaucracy, the Habsburg Empire’s most striking characteristic was its ethnic diversity.

In expanding its sovereignty over its subjects, the Habsburg dynasty did not, at least at the outset, tamper with the traditional forms of government in the various kingdoms, duchies, provinces, and cities that it acquired. It was not merely that the Habsburgs did not wish needlessly to arouse opposition, but they lacked the strong, centralized institutions necessary to standardize administration. Therefore, well into the 18^th century, their empire was a ramshackle, uncoordinated conglomerate, which was frequently in a state of crisis because of internal discord or external pressure.

The vast majority of Ukrainians in the Austrian Empire lived in Galicia, a southeastern part of the old Polish Commonwealth, acquired by Habsburgs after the first partition of Poland in 1772. Two years later, Bukovyna, a small Ukrainian-inhabited area that Vienna snatched away from the faltering Ottoman Empire, was attached to Galicia. Finally, in 1795, after the third and final partition, ethnically Polish lands (including the city of Cracow) were incorporated into the province as well. Thus, while Eastern Galicia (Ukrainian: Halychyna) was inhabited primarily by Ukrainians, Western Galicia was largely Polish. The inclusion of these two peoples in one administrative province would be a future source of tension for all concerned.

There was yet another Ukrainian-inhabited region under indirect Habsburg rule. Transcarpathia, on the western slopes of the Carpathian Mountains, had since medieval times been a part of the kingdom of Hungary. In the 19^th century, it remained in the Hungarian part of the Habsburg Empire and was isolated from the other Ukrainian lands.

Imperial rule exposed Ukrainians to much tighter, more extensive, and intrusive forms of political, social, and economic organization than they had ever known before. Though the intermediary of its bureaucrats, the imperial state became a major presence in Ukrainian communities. With this presence came a new feeling that in the splendid if distant imperial capital an all-powerful, all-knowing emperor was ordering, indeed, molding Ukrainian lives. As the image of awesome majesty projected by the empire – be it Russian or Austrian – captivated the Ukrainian elite, its commitment to its homeland faded. Ukrainian lands were, after all, clearly only a part of a greater whole. By the same token, consciousness of a distinct Ukrainian identity – which had been strong in the 17^th- and 18^th -century Cossack Ukraine – weakened.

Another feature of the imperial age was that it highlighted the existence of two distinct Ukrainian societies, one in the Russian Empire and the other in the Austrian Empire. True, Ukrainians had lived in two very different political systems since 1654, when Moscow extended its overlordship over the Left Bank while most of the Ukrainian lands remained in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. But the political, cultural, and socioeconomic significance of the West Ukrainians in the latter stages of the Commonwealth’s existence reached such a low point that it was almost imperceptible. As we shall see in the 19^th century and under Austrian rule, this position changed dramatically and West Ukrainians again assumed a prominent role in the history of their people. Consequently the course of modern Ukrainian history has largely been the tale of two parallel paths, one tread by the West Ukrainians in Austrian Empire and the other by the East Ukrainians in the Russian Empire.

Task 2. Pronounce the words and learn their meanings:

Austrian [‘o:striәn]	dynasty [‘dinәsti]
empire [‘empaiә]	to acquire [ә’kwaiә]
emperor [‘empәrә]	frequently [‘frikwәntli]
obedience [ә’bi:djәns]	crisis [‘kraisis]
loyalty [‘loiәlti]	consciousness [‘kon∫әsnis]
bureaucracy [bju’rokrәsi]	identity [ai’dentiti]
sovereignty [‘sovrәnti]	Galicia [gә’li∫iә]

Task 3. Give Ukrainian equivalents for the following word combinations and find the sentences with them in the text:

For close to 150 years; to extract taxes; the less government the better; at least; at the outset; consciousness of a distinct; Ukrainian identity

Task 4. Give English equivalents for the following word combinations and find the sentences with them in the text:

Брати до уваги; вимагати від підлеглих абсолютної покори й вірності; як … так; відтак аж до …; колишня Речь Посполита; аналогічним чином.

Task 5. Explain word-building for:

Markedly; needlessly; uncoordinated; southeastern; to highlight; overlordship

Task 6. In the text find derivatives to the word “govern” and give their translation.

Task 7. Give synonyms for:

To acquire; vast; desire; attractive; marked

Task 8. Give antonyms for:

Last; vast; internal; frequent; majority.

Task 9. Translate the following sentences into Ukrainian:

1. How are you going to arrange your business?

2. Can you arrange a list of students in alphabetical order?

3. Let’s arrange for an appointment.

4. The deputy dean arranged for the American historian to deliver some lectures on the History Faculty.

5. There were instructions to arrange troops for battle.

Task 10. Answer the following questions:

1. How long did Ukrainians live in two empires and the subjects of what emperors were they?

2. What did the Russian Empire differ from other European powers on?

3. What language predominated in the Habsburg Empire?

4. How can you characterize the Austrian Empire of the 18^th century?

5. What was a source of tension between Eastern and Western Galicia?

Task 11. Make the written translation:

Because Ukrainians were linguistically and culturally closely related to the Russians, the government found it easy to view Ukraine essentially as a Russian land. If one were to ask an imperial official (and very few people ever dreamed of doing so) by what right Russia ruled much of Ukraine, the reply would have been similar to the inscription on a medal struck in honor of Catherine II in 1793, which read: "I have recovered what was torn away." The implication was that Ukraine had always been an integral part of Russia and that it was only as a result of historical accident that it had been temporarily separated from it. The differences that existed between Russians and Ukrainians, an imperial bureaucrat would argue, were simply the result of this temporary separation. Now that they were united once again with the Russians, Ukrainians, or "Little Russians," were expected to lose their distinguishing features and become "true Russians." Until the collapse of the empire, it was government policy to speed this "natural" process along.

Task 1. Read the text to yourself: