This course will consider Vladimir Putin’s claim that Ukraine “isn’t even a country.” We’ll review a millennium in which large chunks were seized by Mongols, Turks, Poles, Austrians, Germans, Russians—even Swedes and Lithuanians. We’ll mourn its 20th century devastation by Stalin and Hitler. We’ll sample development of its identity, language, literature, and independence movements. Finally, we’ll explore the distinct identities of Crimea in the south, Galicia in the west, and Donbas in the east.