O.Ohloblyn on the Scheme of the History of Ukraine of the Nineteenth – Early Twentieth Century (To the 50th Anniversary of the Creative Testament of the Historian)

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to analyse the circumstances of the formation and reveal the content of the scientific scheme of history of Ukraine, which covers the period from the end of 18 to the beginning of 20 century (until 1917), developed in emigration by the prominent Ukrainian historian O.Ohloblyn.

The research methodology is based on a combination of general scientific (analytical and synthetic, inductive and deductive), general historical (historical-comparative, problem-chronological, retrospective, synchronic, diachronic) and interdisciplinary methods of scientific knowledge.

The scientific novelty. For the first time, it is shown how O.Ohloblyn updated his view of the historical process during the half-century of scientific research, which was embodied in his scheme of Ukrainian history from the end of the 18 to the beginning of the 20 century.

Conclusions. The necessity of creating a new analytical scheme was caused by the objective conditions prevailing in the historical science after the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917–1921. The previous analytical scheme of history by M.Hrushevskyi, developed in 1904, was generalizing and could not sufficiently account for important historical processes that took place in Ukraine in the 19 – the beginning of 20 century. There was a need to update it in line with these historical conditions. The attempt was made by O.Ohloblyn, whose creative path began in 1920 in Kyiv and continued in emigration after World War II. The successful work on the scheme was facilitated by the experience of research work in Ukraine, which he conducted with other young researchers of Ukrainian neo-romantic historiographic current in the 1920s. The concept by O.Ohloblyn is a continuation and concretization for the conditions of the “long 19 century” scheme by M.Hrushevskyi. The historian has identified seven major interdependent processes, the complex development of which is necessary to form a scientific vision of the historical process in Ukraine in the 19 and 20 centuries. It is about territorial, economic and political processes, as well as the processes of formation of the Ukrainian leadership, social structure, development of Ukrainian culture and formation of the modern Ukrainian nation. As a result of consolidation on the basis of these processes, the population of the Left Bank, Right Bank and Southern Ukraine have formed the modern Ukrainian nation as a necessary condition for achieving state independence. This analytical scheme by O.Ohloblyn was finalized in the United States in December 1970. The practical significance of the research is that its materials and conclusions open the possibility for a significant deepening and updating of modern ideas about the historical past of Ukraine.