The scientific research of Mikhail Hrushevsky was perceived ambiguously during his lifetime; a lot of criticism was voiced against the scientist after his death. However, today in his homeland he is revered as the creator of Ukrainian history and the Ukrainian state.
Childhood and youth
Mikhail Hrushevsky was born in 1866 in the town of Kholm. Today this Polish settlement is called Chelm. The child grew up in the family of a professor of literature, the author of a textbook approved by the Russian Ministry of Education. The book was reprinted several times, the copyrights, which later inherited the son, brought good money. A stable income allowed him to come to grips with a scientific career.
The boy spent his childhood in the Caucasus. In Tiflis, he graduated from high school. After returning to Ukraine, the young man entered the Kiev University, studied history and philology. Already in those years, the diligent graduate received a gold medal and remained at the university. Mikhail began his historical research, published in "Kievskaya Starina". In addition to articles, his two-volume edition was published, which formed the basis for his master's thesis, after the defense of which, in 1894, Grushevsky received an academic degree. After that, great changes took place in the biography of the scientist.
Lviv period
Hrushevsky went to Lvov and headed the department of history of the university. There he began work on creating his own theory of the origin of Kievan Rus and the Ukrainian people. After several essays on the "history of Ukraine" were published, Mikhail set about creating the "History of Ukraine-Rus", which would fit into 8 volumes. Many of Grushevsky's historical statements do not have convincing evidence, this has been repeatedly emphasized by his colleagues. However, "Ukrainization" found support in society, and the scientist's statements began to wander in Ukrainian history textbooks.
According to Grushevsky, the historical process looked like this. He argued that Ukrainians are a people that has existed since the early Middle Ages. In the days of Ancient Russia, it was they who were the core of the state, and over time they became a separate nationality. The successor to the state of Kievan Rus, according to the scientist, was the Galicia-Volyn principality, and not the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, as previously thought.
In 1897, the historian became the center of the scientific life of Galicia. He presided over the scientific community and led national movements in the region. In 1906, the University of Kharkov awarded Grushevsky the degree of Doctor of Russian History.
The new interpretation of historical science could not suit the Russian authorities. During this period, Grushevsky intensified anti-Russian propaganda, therefore he was under the vigilant control of counterintelligence. In 1914, he was arrested in Kiev and, after several months in prison, was sent into exile, first to Simbirsk, and then to Kazan. Only the petitions of fellow scientists allowed Mikhail to return to Moscow and continue his scientific research.
After the revolution
At the general meeting of the Central Rada in Kiev after the February Revolution, Hrushevsky, who was in exile, was elected its chairman in absentia. Up to this point, the historian adhered to liberal views, but in 1917 he became the head of the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Social Democrats. The aspiring politician began to create the Ukrainian state power.
After the events of October 1917, Hrushevsky proclaimed the emergence of the Ukrainian People's Republic as part of the federation. However, the politician was at the head of the state created on paper for only a few days. Kievans delegated the scientist to the All-Russian Constituent Assembly. And in January 2018, the UPR declared independence and after the signing of a separate peace was occupied by Austria and Germany. The Central Rada as a governing body was abolished.
In 1919, the scientist left for Austria, in Vienna he opened a sociological institute. Several times Grushevsky wrote petitions to Moscow, repented of his counter-revolutionary activities. Only in 1924 he was able to return to his homeland and continue his scientific work. In 1929, the historian became a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and returned to Kiev University for a professorship. However, his many years of research caused conflicting opinions of scientists, especially in the part of the Ukrainian national movement.
In 1931, the scientist was accused of counter-revolution and arrested, but soon he was released. But the university employees were massively repressed. It is believed that the first Ukrainian "ex-president" was involved in this.
Three years later, Grushevsky was gone. His wife and daughter were repressed, and the scientist's works were sharply criticized by the scientific community. The works of the famous Ukrainian scholar were remembered in 1991, when independent states appeared on the map of the former USSR. The unconfirmed conclusions made by the scientist in the course of his many years of work ended up in Ukrainian textbooks for schools and universities. The portrait of Hrushevsky flaunts on the 50-hryvnia Ukrainian banknote.
