Imperial practices of nation building under the conditions of the 19th and their modifications during World War I: ukrainian context

Abstract

The aim of the research. The purpose of the article is to study the influence of the practices of the Austrian / Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires, their “official” nationalisms during the 19th century and World War I on the processes of nation-building of the peoples oppressed by them, the formation of the Ukrainian national project. The research methodology, in addition to general scientific principles and methods, is primarily based on the approaches of modern national studies, intellectual history, and visual anthropology. The scientific novelty consists in the systematic analysis of the influence of the imperial situation of the 19th century, which was associated with national movements and nation-building of the so-called “oppressed peoples”, as well as “official” nationalisms, on the formation of the Ukrainian national project, which had different development trajectories under the conditions of two monarchies . It is argued that the situation provoked by World War I did not deepen the gap between the Ukrainians of the two empires, but contributed to the achievement of an understanding of their unity outside the imperial contexts. At the same time, the peculiarities of the formation of “official” nationalisms, which could not offer convincing options that would become an alternative to the nationalisms of the “outskirts”, have been considered. The challenges faced by intellectuals in search of their own identity have been analyzed. The content of propaganda products with a national subtext, as well as the role of famous artists in the formation of the image of the enemy during World War I have been elucidated. The Conclusion. Since the Ukrainians were subjects of the Romanov and Habsburg empires, they became a special object of attention and, accordingly, propaganda. In the Russian Empire, the formation of the foundations of “official nationalism” was influenced by the ideas of Pan-Slavism. The conditions of World WarI intensified the struggle of the two imperial centers for the preservation of Ukrainian loyalty, which had positive consequences for the development of the Ukrainian national movement and nation-building, and led to the emergence of Ukrainian states. Despite the short duration of their existence in the interwar period, they had far-reaching political consequences