As many
people know, Ukraine has been having a very large geopolitical crisis with
Russia over Crimea (refers to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea). Crimea is a
peninsula on the northern coast of the Black Sea and is a part of Ukraine. When
Ukraine declared its independence from the USSR in 1991, Crimea became part of
Ukraine, even though the majority of its population is Russian. Russian’s
President, Vladimir Putin, wants to reclaim Crimea as part of Russia again. The
unrest in Ukraine this year has given Putin the pretext he needs to be able to
reclaim it.
The
Ukrainian government was prepared to sign an agreement with the European Union,
but about a week before they were due to sign it, they changed their mind. This cause small protests that were about to
fizzle out when the government used police brutality to drive protestors out of
Independence square. The aggression caused the number of people protesting to
increase. After the skirmishes following the increase in size of the protests, the
government of President Viktor Yanukovych dissolved and he fled to Russia.
Oleksandr Turchynov stepped up as the acting President for Ukraine.
Turchynov
has decided not to try to seize back land from Russian troops because he was
highly outnumbered. He is thinking about what is good for the people and his
country while he is ruling. This reminds me of James II, and William &
Mary.
James II was
overthrown by Parliament and his son-in-law, because they felt that he was not
what was best for the people of England. The majority of the population at the
time was Protestant, but James II was rumored to be Catholic and produced a
Catholic heir. When this happened, his son-in-law and daughter were called upon
to bring in invasion forces and overthrow him. James fled England and only made
one serious attempt to recover his crown from William and Mary.
Yanukovych was
forced to leave Ukraine because of the fighting and because the people wanted a
new leader to solve their problem with Russia. Yanukovych was pro-Russian and
fled there. The new president is making decisions rationally and has recently
asked for help from the west.
Sources:
Pictures:
“Map of
Ukraine” Wordpress.com http://socioecohistory.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/experts-fear-crimea-could-become-next-flashpoint/
“Viktor
Yanukovych” Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Yanukovych
“William and
Mary” Pennsbury Manor http://www.pennsburymanor.org/the-manor/william-penn-timeline/
I really liked your post!!! Your title was very catchy and caught my attention pretty quickly. I also really liked your connection because the Ukraine and Russia problem is a very hot topic! I can't watch the news without hearing about this situation! I also though the connection you made between the countries and William and Mary was very clever and I agree with you! Yanukovych is a lot like James II and William and Turchynov seems to have performed the same actions as Mary and William. It's History all over again!!! In conclusion, I think you did very good job with this topic and connecting it to the time of William and Mary; both times of revolution!
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