Prokletí imperia Ukrajina, Polsko a scestí ruských dějin

This well-founded work by a leading German historian aims to illuminate from a historical perspective the current Russian war of aggression and anti-Western attitudes with their historical roots. It traces the dynamics of Russian empire-building over the last three hundred years or so, i.e. since the time of Peter the Great. It is not, however, a study of local conflicts - the author places them in the broader European context and the interplay, cooperation or competition of the major powers, paying particular attention to the long-standing cooperation between Russia and Germany, the unfortunate consequences of which were evident until recently. The attempt to build a Russian identity on the basis of the imperial idea, in the case of Ukraine as an internal empire and Poland as part of an external empire, has always led to major conflicts that have weakened the empire and led to its disintegration - what Schulze Wessel calls "the curse of empire". In addition to the power-political aspects, he also analyses the religious and ideological contexts, especially Russian, Ukrainian and Polish nationalism, with particularly impressive portraits of its three representatives - Pushkin, Shevchenko and Mickiewicz.