The Ukrainian National Revival () took place during a period when the territory of modern Ukraine was divided between the Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, and the Russian Empire after the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century. The period took place soon after the Haidamaka Uprisings (also known as Koliivshchyna) rocked lands of the former Cossack Hetmanate.
The movement arose at a time when the Ukrainian national resistance was almost entirely subjugated and largely driven underground. All state institutions under the Cossack Hetmanate were completely liquidated along with the Cossack movement. The European territory of the Russian Empire had successfully crossed the Dnieper and extended towards Central Europe, as well as reaching the shores of Black Sea.
Nonetheless, the period is also considered to be the beginning of modern Ukrainian literature, foremostly the works of Ivan Kotliarevsky. A number of Ukrainian historians such as Volodymyr Doroshenko and Mykhailo Hrushevsky divided the period into three stages. The first stage stretches from the end of the 18th century to the 1840s, the second stage covers the period of the 1840s–1850s, and the third stage is the second half of the 19th century.
Beginnings (late 18th century–1840s) In the Russian Empire After the liquidation of the Cossack Hetmanate, autonomist ideas retained their popularity among the Ukrainian political elite. This fact is demonstrated by the 1791 secret mission of Vasily Kapnist to Berlin, during which a plan of Prussian support for the separation of Ukraine from the Russian Empire was discussed. The failure of that mission forced members of the Ukrainian elite to emphasize cultural rather than political goals, and that process resulted in the emergence of modern Ukrainian literature with the publication of Ivan Kotliarevsky's Eneida in 1798.
Prior to the French invasion of Russia in 1812, a circle of Ukrainian patriotic activists was active in Novhorod-Siverskyi. Among its members were Andriy Hudovych, Tymofiy Kalynsky, Ivan Khalansky, Arkhyp Khudorba, Pavlo Koropchevsky, Opanas Lobysevych, Mykhailo Myklashevsky, Hryhoriy Poletyka, Andriy Rachynsky, Bishop Varlaam Shyshatsky, Fedir Tumansky, Melkhysedek Znachko-Yavorsky, H. Dolynsky, S. Shyrai, and A. Pryhara. The circle played a key role in the revival of Cossack regiments, and its members voiced support for the political rights of Ukrainian nobility along with activists such as Adrian Chepa and Vasyl Poletyka. During the early 19th century, History of the Ruthenians was created, promoting the cause of Ukrainian autonomy.
During the early decades of the 19th century, a major centre of Ukrainian culture emerged in Kharkiv, where a university was established in 1805 thanks to the work of Vasyl Karazin and members of Sloboda Ukraine's nobility and merchants. A group of authors and cultural activists emerged at the university, including figures such as Hryhorii Kvitka-Osnovianenko, Petro Hulak-Artemovsky, Levko Borovykovsky, Izmail Sreznevsky, Amvrosy Metlinsky and Mykola Kostomarov. Several magazines dedicated to Ukrainian topics were published in Kharkiv during that period.
The rise of Napoleon encouraged some members of Ukrainian intelligentsia to see him as a potential liberator of their land from Russian rule. However, following the French invasion of 1812, the majority of Ukrainian elite remained loyal to the tsarist government. According to the order of central authorities, Little Russian governor-general Lobanov-Rostovsky started the recruitment of Cossack regiments, which was met with great enthusiasm. In total, 15 regiments were established and equipped with the support of Ukraine's Cossack population. It was initially promised, that the regiments would remain functioning on a constant basis following the end of the war, however in the aftermath they were incorporated into the regular army.
Following the end of Napoleonic Wars, the regime of emperor Alexander I was becoming increasingly reactionary, and its policies caused great dissatisfaction among many Ukrainians. A notable event during that period was the uprising in Chuhuiv, directed against the government policy of establishing military settlements. Popular dissatisfaction with the governing regime among the elite also resulted in the rise of Freemasonry in Ukrainian lands, with the most prominent lodges being established in Kyiv and Poltava. During the early 1820s, two secret organizations of imperial army officers emerged in Ukraine: Southern Society of the Decembrists and Union of United Slavs. Members of both groups opposed tsarist autocracy and promoted the abolition of social estates, but mostly neglected the national question.
In December 1825 soldiers of the Chernigov Regiment, led by Sergey Muravyov-Apostol, a descendant of hetman Danylo Apostol, rose in revolt in the town of Vasylkiv and attempted to march on Kyiv in order to spread the uprising across the whole country. However, the uprising was swiftly suppressed, with its leaders being executed, and many of its participants, including many Ukrainian nobles, exiled to Siberia. In the aftermath, participants of the revolt became known as Decembrists. The government crackdown also spread on other secret societies in Ukraine, leading to arrests of their members.
During the 1830 Polish uprising, which also engulfed parts of Right-bank Ukraine, Russian authorities once again resorted to recruitment of Cossacks, forming a total of 8 regiments, which following the suppression of the revolt in 1831 were incorporated into the regular army, with some units being transferred to the Caucasus. Russificatory policies of Russian authorities became especially harsh under the rule of Nicholas I, which saw increasing censorship, liquidation of the Greek Catholic Church, abolition of Magdeburg Law and replacement of the Statutes of Lithuania in Ukrainian lands with imperial law.
In the Habsburg Empire
Galicia became something of a "Ukrainian Piedmont" under Austrian rule. During the first decades of Habsburg rule (1770s–1780s), Austrian officials recognized the existence of the Ruthenian people, introduced a system of universal elementary education to be taught in the vernacular Ruthenian language, and recognized the Eastern Rite Uniate Catholic Church, to which the overwhelming majority of the Ruthenian populace in Austrian-ruled Galicia belonged, as an equal to the Western Rite Roman Catholic Church.
During the 1820s and 1830s, a circle of scholars and priests emerged around the Peremyshl bishop Ivan Snihurskyi, promoting the organization of popular schools and publishing of educational literature. This was typical for Galicia, where the local clergy played a leading role in social and cultural development. At the same time, conservatism of the clerics contributed to the preservation of Church Slavonic as the main literary tongue, and stunted the development of literature in the language of the common folk. The situation changed under the influence of Western ideas of Romanticism, democracy and liberalism. The start of Ukrainian national revival in what is today Western Ukraine is traditionally connected with the activities of "Ruthenian Triad", whose participants Markiyan Shashkevych, Ivan Vahylevych, and Yakiv Holovatsky published in 1837 the Rusalka Dnistrovaya, an almanac of Ukrainian folk songs in Buda, Hungary.
Early political movements (1840s–1860s) In the Russian Empire
A new generation of Ukrainian activists emerged during that period, first among ethnic Ukrainians living or studying in Saint-Petersburg, and later in Ukraine proper. Inspired by Western Romanticism and visions of Ukrainian past contained in the works of Hohol, this generation found its most important representative in the figure of Taras Shevchenko. After settling in Kyiv, Shevchenko became an associate of a group of Ukrainian activists, who formed the underground Brotherhood of Sts Cyril and Methodius. Its members promoted the ideas of republicanism and Pan-Slavism, envisioning the creation of a free Ukrainian republic in a federal union with other Slavic nations. The society's program was formulated in the Books of the Genesis of the Ukrainian People written by Mykola Kostomarov. After only one year of existence, in 1847 the Brotherhood was disbanded by authorities, with its members being arrested and sentenced to exile.
Following the Russian defeat in Crimean War and start of liberal reforms by Alexander II, former members of the Brotherhood of Sts Cyril and Methodius were able to return from exile and contributed to the revival of Ukrainian cultural life. That process was initially centered in Saint Petersburg, where the Osnova magazine was published in 1861-1862. The magazine's editors made an emphasis on cultural work and opposition to Russian and Polish claims against Ukrainians. A network of Ukrainian hromada communities emerged, first in Saint Petersburg, where its notable members invcluded Volodymyr Leontovych and Petro Stebnytsky, and later around Ukraine.
During that period Ukrainian cultural life benefitted from the emergence of new publications, establishment of Sunday schools and organization of Ukrainian concerts and performances. A notable phenomenon of the Ukrainian national movement during the mid-19th century was Khlopomanstvo, which involved members of Polonized nobility in Right-bank Ukraine. Led by figures such as Volodymyr Antonovych, Tadey Rylsky and Borys Poznansky, members of that movement promoted the studies of Ukrainian history, folklore and language, and opposed Polish claims on Ukrainian territories.
In the Habsburg Empire
During the Revolution of 1848, the Supreme Ruthenian Council was founded in Lviv, becoming the first legal Ukrainian political organization. Headed by bishop Hryhoriy Yakhymovych, its manifesto proclaimed Galician Ruthenians to be a part of a distinct Ukrainian people. The council's members promoted the separation of Galicia into two administrative parts based on the dominant ethnicity; additionally, they supported the unification of Eastern Galicia with Transcarpathia. In order to oppose Polish claims on the whole region, the Supreme Ruthenian Council allied itself with Austrian authorities, and popular militias established with the support of its members took part in suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Despite this, the plans to divide Galicia into autonomous Polish and Ruthenian parts failed to gain support in Vienna.
Along with politics, the Supreme Ruthenian Council also engaged in the organization of cultural life. With its support, Ruthenian representatives took part in the Panslavic Congress in Prague, a congress of Ruthenian scientists was organized in Lviv, a Ruthenian literary-scientific organization (matica) was established, and a chair of Ruthenian language and literature was founded at Lviv University. In May 1848, Zoria Halytska started publishing as the first newspaper in Ukrainian language. According to an Austrian governmental decree from 1854, a separate judicial district was established in Lviv, encompassing the eastern part of Galicia and allowing the usage of Ruthenian/Ukrainian in court proceedings in that area. Following the government crackdown against revolutionaries, the Supreme Ruthenian Council was forced to disband, and political power in Galicia was de-facto monopolized by Poles under the leadership of Agenor Romuald Gołuchowski. Attempts of Austrian authorities to introduce Latin alphabet among Galician Ukrainians resulted in the so-called Alphabet War, meanwhile Russian propaganda spread under the supervision of Mikhail Pogodin led to the emergence of a Moscophile movement in the region.