The Entire History of Ukraine

Einstellung 1 · Einführung · 15s

The Historian introduces the land that existed before Ukraine, while forests, rivers, grasslands and fertile plains unfold through an animated historical panorama.

• Before there was a country called Ukraine…
• before Kyiv had become a capital…
• before princes, Cossacks, empires, or modern borders…
• there was only the land.

Einstellung 2 · Einführung · 14s

The Historian introduces the land that existed before Ukraine, while forests, rivers, grasslands and fertile plains unfold through an animated historical panorama.

• A vast landscape of forests, rivers, grasslands, and fertile plains.
• And for thousands of years, people came here, built their homes here, fought here…
• and disappeared.

Einstellung 3 · Totale · 6s

Ancient people construct circular shelters from mammoth bones at Mezhyrich, revealing planning, cooperation and adaptation in a harsh environment.

• And one of the strangest stories begins with something enormous.
• Mammoths.

Einstellung 4 · Totale · 10s

Ancient people construct circular shelters from mammoth bones at Mezhyrich, revealing planning, cooperation and adaptation in a harsh environment.

• Around 15,000 years ago, humans living in what is now Ukraine created shelters unlike almost anything we would recognize today.

Einstellung 5 · Totale · 11s

Ancient people construct circular shelters from mammoth bones at Mezhyrich, revealing planning, cooperation and adaptation in a harsh environment.

• At Mezhyrich, archaeologists discovered circular dwellings constructed from mammoth bones.
• The remains of roughly 149 mammoths were used at the site.

Einstellung 6 · Totale · 12s

Ancient people construct circular shelters from mammoth bones at Mezhyrich, revealing planning, cooperation and adaptation in a harsh environment.

• These were not simply piles of bones.
• They were carefully arranged structures — evidence of planning, cooperation, and extraordinary adaptation to a harsh environment.

Einstellung 7 · Großaufnahme · 12s

At Mezin, bone instruments and communal music suggest that ancient people were creating culture as well as surviving.

• And nearby, at Mezin, archaeologists discovered bone instruments dating back roughly 20,000 years.
• Perhaps these ancient people were not simply trying to survive.

Einstellung 8 · Großaufnahme · 14s

At Mezin, bone instruments and communal music suggest that ancient people were creating culture as well as surviving.

• Perhaps they were already creating culture.
• Music.
• Community.
• Identity.
• Thousands of years before the first Ukrainian state would ever exist.

Einstellung 9 · Einführung · 13s

The Cucuteni–Trypillia settlement grows into a vast organized community, then fire begins to consume it, leaving the reason unknown.

• Then, thousands of years later, something extraordinary happened.
• Around 4000 BC, the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture created settlements on a scale that seems almost impossible for their time.

Einstellung 10 · Einführung · 14s

The Cucuteni–Trypillia settlement grows into a vast organized community, then fire begins to consume it, leaving the reason unknown.

• Some may have contained thousands of inhabitants.
• They produced sophisticated pottery.
• They cultivated crops.
• They organized enormous communities.
• And then…

Einstellung 11 · Einführung · 13s

The Cucuteni–Trypillia settlement grows into a vast organized community, then fire begins to consume it, leaving the reason unknown.

• they burned their cities.
• Archaeological evidence has led researchers to propose that some settlements were deliberately destroyed by fire and rebuilt repeatedly.
• But why?

Einstellung 12 · Einführung · 14s

The Cucuteni–Trypillia settlement grows into a vast organized community, then fire begins to consume it, leaving the reason unknown.

• Was fire part of a ritual?
• Was it a form of renewal?
• Was there a practical reason?
• We don't know for certain.

Einstellung 13 · Einführung · 14s

The Cucuteni–Trypillia settlement grows into a vast organized community, then fire begins to consume it, leaving the reason unknown.

• And that uncertainty is what makes the story so fascinating.
• A civilization built enormous settlements…
• only to destroy them…
• and begin again.

Einstellung 14 · Totale · 13s

The Ukrainian steppe becomes a crossroads as Scythian horsemen, traders and distant cultures move across the open grasslands before Kyiv rises.

• Long before Kyiv became the center of a powerful medieval state, the Ukrainian steppe was already a crossroads.
• Waves of peoples moved through these enormous grasslands.

Einstellung 15 · Totale · 13s

The Ukrainian steppe becomes a crossroads as Scythian horsemen, traders and distant cultures move across the open grasslands before Kyiv rises.

• Trade routes connected distant regions.
• Warriors crossed the plains.
• Cultures collided, mixed, and transformed.
• Among the most famous were the Scythians.

Einstellung 16 · Totale · 13s

The Ukrainian steppe becomes a crossroads as Scythian horsemen, traders and distant cultures move across the open grasslands before Kyiv rises.

• Their world was one of horses, warfare, trade, gold, and vast open landscapes.
• The steppe was never empty.
• It was a highway.

Einstellung 17 · Totale · 6s

The Ukrainian steppe becomes a crossroads as Scythian horsemen, traders and distant cultures move across the open grasslands before Kyiv rises.

• And whoever controlled it could influence the world around it.

Einstellung 18 · Einführung · 14s

Kyiv rises above the Dnieper as river traffic carries merchants, warriors and ideas, making the city the center of Kyivan Rus'.

• Then came Kyiv.
• Built along the Dnieper River, Kyiv occupied a position that would become enormously important.
• The river connected northern lands with the Black Sea.

Einstellung 19 · Einführung · 14s

Kyiv rises above the Dnieper as river traffic carries merchants, warriors and ideas, making the city the center of Kyivan Rus'.

• Merchants traveled.
• Warriors traveled.
• Ideas traveled.
• And gradually, Kyiv became the center of a powerful medieval political world known as Kyivan Rus'.

Einstellung 20 · Einführung · 5s

Kyiv rises above the Dnieper as river traffic carries merchants, warriors and ideas, making the city the center of Kyivan Rus'.

• Its influence stretched far beyond the city itself.

Einstellung 21 · Halbnah · 12s

Prince Volodymyr chooses Christianity, and Kyiv's political decision begins a transformation of churches, writing and artistic traditions.

• In the late tenth century, Prince Volodymyr faced a decision that would transform the future of the region.
• Religion was not merely about faith.

Einstellung 22 · Halbnah · 12s

Prince Volodymyr chooses Christianity, and Kyiv's political decision begins a transformation of churches, writing and artistic traditions.

• It was politics.
• Culture.
• Diplomacy.
• Identity.
• Volodymyr adopted Christianity, and Kyiv entered a new cultural world.
• Churches rose.
• Written culture expanded.

Einstellung 23 · Halbnah · 9s

Prince Volodymyr chooses Christianity, and Kyiv's political decision begins a transformation of churches, writing and artistic traditions.

• New artistic traditions appeared.
• And the transformation of Kyiv had consequences that would last for centuries.

Einstellung 24 · Totale · 11s

Under Yaroslav the Wise, Kyiv reaches a height of medieval power through European connections and royal marriages, while Anna's future comes into view.

• Under Yaroslav the Wise, Kyiv reached one of the great heights of its medieval power.
• Yaroslav strengthened political connections across Europe.

Einstellung 25 · Totale · 13s

Under Yaroslav the Wise, Kyiv reaches a height of medieval power through European connections and royal marriages, while Anna's future comes into view.

• His family became part of a network of royal marriages.
• His daughters married into European dynasties.
• And one of them became particularly famous.

Einstellung 26 · Totale · 5s

Under Yaroslav the Wise, Kyiv reaches a height of medieval power through European connections and royal marriages, while Anna's future comes into view.

• Anna of Kyiv.

Einstellung 27 · Halbnah · 13s

Anna arrives at the French court in 1051, becomes Queen of France and carries the education and literacy of Kyiv into a European royal world.

• In 1051, Anna of Kyiv married King Henry I of France.
• She became Queen of France.
• Her story reveals something important about medieval Kyiv.

Einstellung 28 · Halbnah · 10s

Anna arrives at the French court in 1051, becomes Queen of France and carries the education and literacy of Kyiv into a European royal world.

• It was not an isolated frontier.
• It was connected to the political and cultural networks of Europe.

Einstellung 29 · Halbnah · 13s

Anna arrives at the French court in 1051, becomes Queen of France and carries the education and literacy of Kyiv into a European royal world.

• Anna was educated in Kyiv and became associated with literacy at the French court.
• A woman who had grown up thousands of kilometers from Paris had