#  The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **October 25, 2023** 

 05:00PM - 06:30PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **Room K-354, CGIS-Knafel (North Building), 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138**  



 

 [ Watch on YouTube arrow\_circle\_right ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB4ucYe_vkQ&ab_channel=HarvardUkrainianResearchInstitute%28HURI%29) 

 



 

#### A book talk with author [**Serhii Plokhii**](https://huri.harvard.edu/people/serhii-plokhii), Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History and Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University.

Moderated by [**Emily Channell-Justice**](https://huri.harvard.edu/people/emily-channell-justice), Director of the Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program at the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University

**IN-PERSON and ONLINE** via Zoom Webinar (live). Registration is required to attend online.


## Book Description

*An authoritative history of Europe’s largest military conflict since World War II, from the New York Times best-selling author of The Gates of Europe.*

   ![Plokhy_The Russo-Ukrainian War](/sites/g/files/omnuum4931/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/huri/files/us_cover_crop.jpeg?itok=nORGezha) 

 

Despite repeated warnings from the White House, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shocked the world. Why did Putin start the war—and why has it unfolded in previously unimaginable ways? Ukrainians have resisted a superior military; the West has united, while Russia grows increasingly isolated.

Serhii Plokhy, a leading historian of Ukraine and the Cold War, offers a definitive account of this conflict, its origins, course, and the already apparent and possible future consequences. Though the current war began eight years before the all-out assault—on February 27, 2014, when Russian armed forces seized the building of the Crimean parliament—the roots of this conflict can be traced back even earlier, to post-Soviet tensions and imperial collapse in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Providing a broad historical context and an examination of Ukraine and Russia’s ideas and cultures, as well as domestic and international politics, Plokhy reveals that while this new Cold War was not inevitable, it was predictable. Ukraine, Plokhy argues, has remained central to Russia’s idea of itself even as Ukrainians have followed a radically different path. In a new international environment defined by the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the disintegration of the post–Cold War international order, and a resurgence of populist nationalism, Ukraine is now more than ever the most volatile fault line between authoritarianism and democratic Europe. \[[Source](https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324051190)\]

## About the Speaker

   ![Plokhii at HURI 2018](/sites/g/files/omnuum4931/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/huri/files/serhii-plokhii.jpg?itok=MEngxbYR) 

 

Serhii Plokhii is the Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History and the Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University. His interests include the intellectual, cultural, and international history of Eastern Europe, with an emphasis on Ukraine. His recent books include *The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History* (W.W. Norton, 2023); *Atoms and Ashes: A Global History of Nuclear Disasters* (W.W. Norton, 2022); *The Frontline: Essays on Ukraine's Past and Present* (HURI, 2021); *Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis* (W. W. Norton, 2021); *Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front: American Airmen behind the Soviet Lines and the Collapse of the Grand Alliance* (Oxford University Press, 2019); *Chernobyl: The History of a Nuclear Catastrophe* (Basic Books, 2018); and *The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine* (Basic Books, 2015). Serhii Plokhii's books have won numerous awards, including the Ballie Gifford Prize and the Shevchenko National Prize (2018).

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*This event is organized by Harvard's* [*Ukrainian Research Institute*](https://huri.harvard.edu/) *(HURI) as part of the weekly Seminar in Ukrainian Studies public event series and* [*Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program*](https://huri.harvard.edu/temerty-contemporary-ukraine-program)*.*

*Persons with disabilities who wish to request accommodations or who have questions about access, please contact Megan Duncan Smith, HURI Programs Coordinator, at* [*duncansmith@fas.harvard.edu*](mailto:duncansmith@fas.harvard.edu) *at least two weeks in advance of the session.*

*Watch videos of past HURI events on our* [*YouTube Channel*](https://www.youtube.com/user/huriyt) *and* [*subscribe*](https://web.lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/lists/huri-events-list.lists.fas.harvard.edu/) *to our email list to receive announcements about events and other activities.*



 

 



 

 See also:- [ Book Talk ](/event-type/book-talk)
- [ Seminar in Ukrainian Studies ](/event-type/seminar-ukrainian-studies)
- [ Contemporary Ukraine ](/fields-expertise/contemporary-ukraine)
- [ History ](/fields-expertise/history)
- [ Russia-Ukraine War ](/fields-expertise/russia-ukraine-war)
- [ Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program ](/program/temerty-contemporary-ukraine-program)
 
 

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