Total Wars and the Making of Modern Ukraine, 1914-1954

by George Liber

Overview

Between 1914 and 1954, the Ukrainian-speaking territories in East Central Europe suffered almost 15 million “excess deaths” as well as numerous large-scale evacuations and forced population transfers. These losses were the devastating consequences of the two world wars, revolutions, famines, genocidal campaigns, and purges that wracked Europe in the first half of the twentieth century and spread new ideas, created new political and economic systems, and crafted new identities.

In Total Wars and the Making of Modern Ukraine, 1914–1954, George O. Liber argues that the continuous violence of the world wars and interwar years transformed the Ukrainian-speaking population of East Central Europe into self-conscious Ukrainians. Wars, mass killings, and forced modernization drives made and re-made Ukraine’s boundaries, institutionalized its national identities, and pruned its population according to various state-sponsored political, racial, and social ideologies. In short, the two world wars, the Holodomor, and the Holocaust played critical roles in forming today’s Ukraine.

A landmark study of the terrifying scope and paradoxical consequences of mass violence in Europe’s bloodlands, Liber’s book will transform our understanding of the entangled histories of Ukraine, the USSR, Germany, and East Central Europe in the twentieth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442627086
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	03/14/2016
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

George O. Liber is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Table of Contents

Note to Readers

Note on Ukraine’s Administrative Territorial Structure

Russian, Soviet, and Ukrainian Measurements

Maps

Introduction

1. The Ukrainian-Speaking Provinces before the Great War

PART ONE: THE FIRST TOTAL WAR AND ITS AFTERSHOCKS

2. The First World War and Imperial Convulsions

3. Political Collapse, Revolutions, and Social Upheavals, 1917–1923

4. Ukrainian Movements in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Romania, 1918–1939

PART TWO: THE SECOND TOTAL WAR: SOCIAL ENGINEERING

5. Soviet Ukraine in the 1920s: Managed Diversity

6. Hypercentralization, Industrialization, and the Grain Front, 1927–1934

7 Hypercentralization and the Political / Cultural Fronts, 1929–1941

PART THREE: THE THIRD TOTAL WAR AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

8 The Second World War: The Killing Fields

9 Stalin’s Ukraine, 1945–1954

Conclusion

What People are Saying About This

Frank Sysyn

"George Liber makes the concept of 1914—1945 as a modern 'Thirty Years War' the fulcrum of a timely and interesting take on Ukrainian history in the first half of the twentieth century."

Hiroaki Kuromiya

"Total Wars and the Making of Modern Ukraine, 1914—1954 is a persuasive synthesis of the modern Ukrainian historical experience. Instead of defending or condemning that experience, Liber shows how Ukraine came to assume statehood amidst the turmoil of the violent twentieth century."

Editorial Reviews

"George O. Liber's Total Wars and the Making of Modern Ukraine, 1914-1954, is a detailed, often very competent and thoughtful synthesis...At its best, Total Wars handles great complexity impressively...it is often a very useful survey of a history whose complexities need to be confronted even-handedly and also always directly."

The American Historical Review, Volume 122, Issue 4, 1 October 2017 - Tarik Cyril Amar

"Liber's landmark study paves the way to a new understanding of the intertwined histories of Ukraine, the USSR, Germany, and East Central Europe in the twentieth century."

Harvard Ukrainian Studies - Oleksandr Zaitsev

"Liber [advances] a sophisticated argument about the role of wartime violence in the shaping of a modern Ukrainian identity... This excellent book will be of interest to an academic and general audience alike."

University of Toronto Quarterly, vol 87 3, Summer 2018 - Sery Yekelchyk

"This extensive study of forty years of Ukrainian history provides a missing link between authoritative textbooks of Ukrainian history and monographs analyzing Ukraine's importance as a geographical flashpoint."

East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies, vol VI, 1 - Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon

'This book ought to be studies by citizens everywhere who seek to understand the long duration of the current Ukrainian crisis.'

The Russian Review vol 76:02:2017 - Alan Kimball

‘This book ought to be studies by citizens everywhere who seek to understand the long duration of the current Ukrainian crisis.’

—Alan Kimball, The Russian Review vol 76:02:2017

Outstanding rated title. Essential addition to most library collections.

‘This volume is recommended for libraries with a strong AP history population or those libraries with a significant Ukrainian population… Students can utilize the material for research purpose.’

—Annemarie Roscello, American Association of School Librarians

Outstanding rated title. Essential addition to most library collections.

‘This volume is recommended for libraries with a strong AP history population or those libraries with a significant Ukrainian population… Students can utilize the material for research purpose.’

—Annemarie Roscello, American Association of School Librarians

"George O. Liber’s Total Wars and the Making of Modern Ukraine, 1914-1954, is a detailed, often very competent and thoughtful synthesis…At its best, Total Wars handles great complexity impressively…it is often a very useful survey of a history whose complexities need to be confronted even-handedly and also always directly."

—Tarik Cyril Amar, The American Historical Review, Volume 122, Issue 4, 1 October 2017

"Liber [advances] a sophisticated argument about the role of wartime violence in the shaping of a modern Ukrainian identity... This excellent book will be of interest to an academic and general audience alike."

—Sery Yekelchyk, University of Victoria, University of Toronto Quarterly, vol 87 3, Summer 2018

"This extensive study of forty years of Ukrainian history provides a missing link between authoritative textbooks of Ukrainian history and monographs analyzing Ukraine’s importance as a geographical flashpoint."

—Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon, Lee College, East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies, vol VI, 1

"Liber’s landmark study paves the way to a new understanding of the intertwined histories of Ukraine, the USSR, Germany, and East Central Europe in the twentieth century."

—Oleksandr Zaitsev, Ukrainian Catholic University, Harvard Ukrainian Studies

"Total Wars and the Making of Modern Ukraine, 1914–1954 is a persuasive synthesis of the modern Ukrainian historical experience. Instead of defending or condemning that experience, Liber shows how Ukraine came to assume statehood amidst the turmoil of the violent twentieth century."

—Hiroaki Kuromiya, Department of History, Indiana University

"George Liber makes the concept of 1914–1945 as a modern 'Thirty Years War' the fulcrum of a timely and interesting take on Ukrainian history in the first half of the twentieth century."

—Frank Sysyn, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta

From the Publisher

Outstanding rated title. Essential addition to most library collections.

'This volume is recommended for libraries with a strong AP history population or those libraries with a significant Ukrainian population... Students can utilize the material for research purpose.'

American Association of School Librarians - Annemarie Roscello

'The book gives a clear, concise, and convincing account and is well documented by a wide range of English and Slavic language literature. It is a valuable addition to synthetizing historical accounts on the history of Ukraine.'

Slavic Review summer 2017 - Kai Struve